4 1/2 month old has stopped sleeping through the night..first time mom..help!?

Question

My son has been sleeping through the night since he was seven weeks..and I mean like 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 or sometimes even 8:00 a.m. I know this is early but his pedi said it was fine b/c he's a big baby. Anyhow. He's 4 1/2 months old now and for the last three weeks he's been waking up all throughout the night! It started with one wake (4:00 a.m.) so I nursed him and attributed it to a growth spurt. Well that went on for one week..now he's up at 12, 3, 6. I don't know what to do or what is wrong? We started rice cereal 3 nights ago thinking he needed more food..nothing. Any suggestions for why this is happening or what I can do? I'm a first time mom. I'm open to anything! Thanks!

Answer 1

get used to it. your lucky because my son is 5 months old and has never slept through the night he was a 9 pound baby too. He wake up 2 times a night and only sleeps 11-6 so consider yourself very lucky (also my son dont nap during the day that much)

Answer 2

maybe teething? i dont know what else to  suggest cos my 6 month old has never slept through, he's always woken at least 2-3 times a night, so i say you're lucky he has been so far!! Mine is a big boy and on solids, but he still wakes and has to have a bottle otherwise he wont go to sleep. Maybe it is just a growth spurt. Also the nurses said they have what are called "wonder weeks" at certain ages where their sleeping patterns may change due to a mental growth spurt, has he just learnt a new skill? it may settle again in a week, goodluck

Answer 3

I answered a question on this yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. My little girl is the same age and she is exactly the same. I guess they must all be having a growth spurts left right and center. I'd just recommend to stick to what you're doing. It will soon pass.

Answer 4

cat nip tea @health store add to fav. drink

Answer 5

How are his diapers??  Is he fussy when awake?

Most likely this really is a growth spurt...but it also may be that he enjoys the ritual you two have when he wakes up....

Another issue may be if he doesnt nurse during the night normally your milk supply isnt at its peak at that hour ...make sure when he gets up for that first feeding that you keep him awake to get him to eat his full feeding...Does he sleep with you or his crib?

Im sure this is a phase...but if you can provide a little more detail I can give you some more options...  

Answer 6

Hi,

I think the most important thing to start with is to get your baby into a good sleep routine.  I had massive problems with getting my 4 month old son to sleep.  He would just lie awake and cry for hours, then when he finally went to sleep he would wake every hour or two hours through the night and cry again!  Talk about pulling our hair out .... we were absolutely desperate for sleep!

It was a baby sleep audio program recommended by a friend that finally saved us. We followed the advice and began by creating a baby sleep routine which included bathtime, dimming of the lights, putting James into his crib, final nappy change and then lullabies. We also made recommended changes to his naps during the day and used some of the other recommended techniques. Within two weeks he was sleeping through the night most nights with just the odd night where he would just wake once!

Definitely start by creating a good baby sleep routine though and you could find that solves most of your baby sleep problems.

Good luck!

If you want to take a look, the audio program is at http://www.babysleepsolution.com

Answer 7

This is very common at that age.  Not really sure why, maybe it is growth or teeth or sleep cycles changing... who really knows?

With my kids, I would pick one of the times and feed them 1x.  The other times I would let them cry.  Sometimes I would go into their rooms and pat them or soothe them somehow but mostly that would just make them madder.  If they were ok, I'd leave.  I also tried pacifiers and such and sometimes they worked and sometimes they didn't.  For 2 of my kids, this went on for about 3-4 months before they got back into a really good sleep cycle of 10 + hours.  I have never quite figured out if it was the sleep training or if they just got past a phase.  

Answer 8

My older son began teething at 4 months, so his sleep schedule got messed up.  Is he drooling a lot more or can you see/feel his gums getting hard where teeth might be coming through?

Answer 9

Maybe he is starting to cut some teeth, any swelling in the gum area? Its usually the bottom 2 first.

How are you getting him back to sleep?  If just comforting him then try tough love, leaving him for 5 mins, then 6 and so on.

Good luck x