4 1/2 Month Old Not Sleeping Through the Night or Is She

My son is now almost 3 years old. It took him a while before he started sleeping through the night. When he woke up I would feed him and then let him go back to sleep. He is a well adjusted little guy (I should say big - he is over 3 feet tall and over 40 lbs.). I don't regret feeding him when he woke up in the night. It allowed him to sleep better and longer in the morning. I think you are lucky she only wakes up once at night. My guy used to wake up 2 or 3 times at night. His doctor recommended putting a little cereal in his bottle which also helped him sleep better.

I have a great sleep book, and I've been recommending it a lot around here lately! It's called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth, MD. There is some very medical/biological sleep info at the beginning, but then as the chapters for particular ages start, the info gets much easier to understand, and there is a ton of great advice, suggestions, and stories from families.

I'm trying to remember when my son was that age. He started sleeping "through the night" around that time, I think, but I also probably would've fed him in the middle of the night if I thought he was hungry then, too. I didn't start him on any solids until 6 months...he didn't have anything besides breastmilk, so he got hungry fairly often. Now, he's this incredible sleeper, 12 or 13 hours per night, and a 2 to 3 hour nap after lunch, he's 2. I think I got lucky, but also, I take the stuff about sleep and naps really seriously, too, so I try very hard to keep to the routines.

Your daughter is completely normal and doing exactly what she should be doing at this stage of her life. I think it is wonderful that she is only waking once in an 8-10 hour time frame! Many babies are still waking several times in the night to eat at 4 1/2 months. I know mine was!

Hi M., I have a 5 year old boy and a 4 year old girl. I would feed her rice cereal at the bedtime feeding to ensure her tummy stays full through the night, if you don't want to start her on solids then I think you should still breast feed her because she is hungry. I started my kids on cereal at 6 weeks with a spoon and my mother started all of us at 3 weeks with a spoon so babies can handle it, just make it runny with breast milk or formula for the first few times. It is so fun to watch their little tongues work.
About me, I am married, 38, and retiring from the military and am the baby of 6. Good luck, K.

If the one feeding a night doesn't bother you that much, then I wouldn't bother trying to correct it. I think she is doing pretty well for her age. I had to let my daughter cry it out at one point around that age because she was waking a lot and she would go back to sleep no problem but I would be up for at least an hour or more trying to fall back to sleep. It was the best thing to do for us, but it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

I think that waking up once at that age is perfectly fine. I don't think she is missing out on too much sleep from this 10min snack. If she is only waking up though for that little of time she can probably go with out it and is just waking up from habit.

Consider yourself lucky! Nine months or more is average for an infant, and, yes, six hours is considered "sleeping through". I would feed her when she wakes. As she grows and is eventually weaned (whenever that is), that night feeding will go away, and she will just sleep through. But at 4 1/2 months, she is still really young to not eat for 8+ hours, so I wouldn't push it.

I would continue to offer your breast when she wakes. It sounds like she is "sleeping through the night" and it is completely normal for her to feed once or twice in the night. Breastmilk digests much more quickly, and she probably needs the nutrition. I offered to nurse my son when he woke in the night until just a week ago, because it was becoming more obvious that he was waking just to be with me, and not actually because he was hungry. (He's 10 months). Now he sleeps all night long (12 hours) without needing to wake to eat. Hope that helps.

First ~ congratulations!~ I also have a 4 month old daughter. She is our third...having gone through this 3 times now, I would say that sleeping 4-5 hours, eating, then going back to sleep is perfectly normal and should be considered "sleeping through the night". My daughter still nurses 1-3 times during the night also.
Enjoy your little one ~ thet get big SOOO fast!! :)

I guess the question you really should be asking yourself is.... Is my baby thriving? Is she growing and learning? I've always believed that if my baby wakes up in the middle of the night and is hungry, then he or she should be fed. What good is served by making a baby wait until morning to eat? In all actuallity, your baby will probably go back to sleep quicker and get a better rest, if you go ahead and follow her natural instincts rather than try to set the pattern for her. There will come a time to set a schedule, I'm just not a big believer in that time being at this young age. I've raised all 8 of my children thru babyhood on this belief and now at 19, 1, 15, 14, 11, 5, 4 & 2 1/2, everyone is sound and healthy. I also fould this middle of the night time to be an excellent bonding time, even if I was half asleep at the time. Good Luck and just remember Gob blessed your daughter with natural insticts and it's ok to follow them.

at this age, its important to feed them at night. its not til about 8 or 9 months that night time feedings are not necessary. 4-5 hours is considered sleeping through the night at this age and i think you are very lucky she only wakes up once for a very short amount of time. my kids each woke up 2-4 times a night. she obviously is a very good sleeper. with time, she won't need the night feeding so much and she'll start sleeping through. be patient, that 10 minutes a night is well worth it.

HI there, Dont' worry your daughter is just fine.It is totaly normal for her to wake up and feed and go back to sleep in 10min. In fact just keep doing what your doing. Also are you taking naps during the day as well. That will help you catch up on your sleep. My son is now 13mnths old and is just in the last 2 months or so sleepin where he only wakes up about 1 time or so. On a bad night it is about 2times when he is sick or somehting. Not to get you down but I have had sleep issues since he has been a newborn worse then yours. Like i said in the last couple of months we don't anymore. Also don't let any body tell you that night nurseing is bad. Do you co-sleep if you do, don't worry. My son weaned himself from that. He just doesn't sleep well with me. Now he sleeps better and is clearly more comfertable in his crib. Your doing great. In fact my son sometimes doen't nurse to sleep. He can be comforted either way, unless things start not to work for you your doing great.M.

Hi, my daughter is about the same age. Now my daughter sleeps through the night most nights, but sometimes she still needs a little something extra. When my daughter goes down for the night and then wakes up an hour or so later, I figure that is separation anxiety and not hunger (since she just ate). In this case I calm her down and get her to go back to sleep without a little milk snack. When she's been sleeping for several hours and then wakes up, I feed her so her tummy is full and she falls back to sleep. You never know, your daughter could be going through a growth spurt and needs the extra nourishment, or perhaps she is dozing off during the last feeding for the night and she isn't getting a full tummy. The books give good guidelines but I believe that the information must be based on generalizations which do not fit every aspect of every baby. I also don't think they do a good job of talking new parents through the transitions - do kids just automatically switch from eating every 2 hours at night to every 4 hours simply because they are now a certain age? Life would be much easier if the switch just happened, but these little bundles are just like us and change takes time - more time for some and less for others. Good luck.