Tuesday 25 August 2015

BABY: The 4 month sleep regression and us

Just as you think you've 'got' this parenting thing - your baby is settling into a delightful routine of naps during the day and sleeping during the night, you have nailed getting jobs done quickly and with only one arm free, you're sleeping more than when you were pregnant and you've finally got the two minute make up look perfected - then, out of nowhere, your baby hits four months and that all goes out of the window.
Like a horrible surprise that you've not been warned about. No one warned us about what would happen around four/five months, we only know it has a name thanks to late night/middle of the night desperate googling sessions. Apparently this stage in a baby's life is called the 'four month sleep regression' or 'four month growth spurt'. Whatever you call it it's seriously testing and tiring.

Of course every baby is different and you might be a lucky one who has skipped this phase. Lucky you. For us it started when Isabella was about 4.5 months old - she went from sleeping through the night (9.30pm-7am) consistently from 11 weeks to waking up at 4.30am and just not going back to sleep. This of course meant that we didn't go back to sleep either. My husband and I would take it in turns to stay up with her, I'd feed her while he slept then he would take her downstairs with the aim of getting her back to sleep (and letting me sleep). It was exhausting, but looking back it wasn't as bad as out situation now. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you might have seen me asking advice from other mummies - we were at a loss at what to do and why she was waking up. Thank you to everyone who offered advice, tips and tricks. We've tried them all!

After a couple of nights of this waking up at 4.30am and not going back to sleep Isabella started waking up every two/three hours throughout the night. Just like when she was a newborn baby - why? what? how? No one prepared us for that! The first night it happened we were trying to guess every reason as to why she was waking up - was it because her moses basket was too small now? Or was she too warm? Or too cold? Or hungry? Or having a night terror? Or was the light coming through from the blinds waking her up? etc etc. So we made the big move from her moses basket in our room to her cot in her own room. That was an emotional night - I cried as I looked at her lying in her cot asleep. She was perfectly happy but I was an emotional wreck, my little baby is growing up too fast. 

Did being in her own room help? Nope. It just meant that I had to wake up properly to stumble through to her room, sit in the freezing cold to feed her and then creep back to bed without waking her and try and get some sleep before it all began again in two hours time! I took for granted the convenience of having her right next to me in the moses basket, it meant I could feed her from the comfort of my own bed whilst still half asleep. I now don't want to regress and move her back into her moses basket in our room but the getting up every couple of hours is completely exhausting. 

It's even more exhausting now because, unlike newborn babies, Isabella isn't interested in cuddling all day long. She wants to see the world, be entertained, play and only nap a couple of times. I can't blame her - she's learning all the time and it's so much fun seeing her develop into this little human being. But that in itself is tiring and seriously exhausting when followed by little sleep. 

I've been told it gets better by the time they are six months and we're quickly approaching five months. So lets look on the bright side - only four more weeks to go! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

What was/is your experience of the 4 month regression/growth spurt?

Feel free to leave a comment :)

Helen x
what katy said The Twinkle Diaries
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7 comments

  1. I'm just here to make sympathetic noises. We're in the same boat (although putting off moving her through into her own room for exactly this reason - it does mean there's three of us crowded into a standard double bed, though, which is not ideal).

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  2. Molly is doing exactly the same, some nights she's awake every hour. I was completely thrown as to why to begin with too. I really hope the phase passes soon. I just put Molly's dummy back in and soothe her back to sleep as have been told not to feed her unless she's hungry because she will get used to feeding in the night again. X

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  3. My daughter has been waking early but her daddy goes to work at silly hour o'clock so I just put it down to that. #TwinklyTuesday

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  4. Oh no, I completely sympathise. We've had exactly the same experience- H slept from 5 weeks til 4.5 months and since then has woken every 2 hours. She's now almost 9 months. We found at 4.5 months she just screamed and would not let hubby put her to bed (he'd always done it). The onmy way we could get her to bed way me feeding her. I also feed her in the night and she does take a bottle I. The evening - often 4-5 oz! So try to resist feeding the night - I think that might be where we've gone wrong. Let me know if you find a solution!! X
    #twinklytuesday

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  5. I'm obviously not there yet as my little one is only 5 weeks old. I am already bracing myself for this stage though as she has been a fantastic sleeper so far. I'm scared!! lol

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  6. Oh bless you — we *thankfully* seemed to have missed this stage. Both the twins have always been good sleepers (like me and their daddy!!) and I was SO strict with their routine that we never seemed to have any problems in this department. For all your sakes I hope this new phase passes quickly! :) Thanks so much for linking up with #TwinklyTuesday — hope to see you again next week! x

    Caro | www.thetwinklediaries.co.uk

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  7. Sleep regressions are awful, I almost wish they just didn't sleep at all rather than trick you into thinking they are sleeping through, you know? We are at 22 months and having another one (sleep regression, not baby haha). Thanks for sharing in #KidsCorner x

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