4 Month Old Changing Sleep Habits

B.-
My daughter just started to do this last week by waking up and changing her sleep pattern and she is 4 mths old. coincidentally, we went to the doctor on fri and the doctor told me to NOT FEED her when she wakes up. that because she has slept all night before, she does not need to eat. She said if the child needs something to drink, to give her water out of a sippy-cup. otherwise, the child becomes dependent on the bottle/breast again. my daughter was vaccinated on fri., which made her tired and we are now sleeping thru the night again.

Has your 4 month old recently been sick as to a cold? My 3 month old daughter was sleeping good threw the night until she had caught a cold and now her sleep pattern is messed up as well.

Well, most LCs will tell you that around 4 months babies become more interested in the world around them and so eat less during the day. They want to go play and check out the world around them! So many babies sleep really well between one and four months of age and then start waking in the night to eat... perfectly normal momma! A full night sleep may be a while in coming again... (sorry!)

My son did the same. At around 4 months he started falling asleep around 7-7:30 pm. Before that he was up till 8:30-9pm. He could be waking up due to teething. Another thing I did that seemed to help was streach out the feedings during the day, my Dr. sugguested this. To me that sounded crazy if he is hungry during the night, why not feed him more during the day. But to my surprised I did add 30 minutes between feedings. He ate more during those feedings and got use to the extended time so he would sleep longer at night. I wish there was a miracle cure to get a good night sleep but my son is 9 months and still wakes up as soon as my eyes close around 12ish and 4ish. The 4ish seems to be getting longer though...this morning it was 5:30! I almost feel rested.

I must once again recommend The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley! Great ideas in there and you can pick and choose what would work for your family.

Also, make sure he's eating enough during the day so he doesn't need as much of his daily nutrition at night.

It sounds like your little one is going through a growth spurt. Try feeding more during the day and he should adjust in a little while.

It is common for babies to sleep 12 hours at night and at 4 months, he probably can't go that long without eating. Make sure he isn't falling asleep too soon at his 9 pm feeding and let him cry longer at the 2 and 4 times. It could be that he is going through a growthspurt or "touchpoint" (Bradley for developmental change--his book by that name is quite good). I have 3 boys and all of them sleep 12 hours at night with naps during the day.

Good luck!

I have a 7 month old, and the one thing I've learned is that just when I start to count on a certain sleeping pattern for my baby, something changes. I'm sure the current phase for your son will change, as well, and though it's frustrating to not be getting much sleep, you're lucky that you were getting full nights sleep before this!

We've been reading "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. He says that around this age, the natural biorhythms for babies change for them to start to get tired for the night between 6-8 PM, and then wake for the day between 6-8 AM, with naps starting to organize around 9 AM and 1 PM. He also talks about ways to diminish the many wakings in the night (and not just by the Cry It Out Method). My son now goes to bed between 7-8 PM, and wakes at around 7 AM, with one feeding at around 3 AM (he's 6 mos). While I don't follow the book to the letter (I've adjusted to fit into our family), I do recommend it as a basic starting point. It really helped me understand why my son was doing certain things. Good luck!