Why Is My 4 Month Old Waking up So Much in the Middle of the Night?

I have a 5 month old little girl, who has been doing the same thing. I try not to feed her every time she wakes up. She had a little cough last week and woke up a lot, now she has gotten in the habit of it. Good Luck, I understand your tired state!

R.
Dudes and Diamonds
www.dudesanddiamonds.com

You're not doing anything wrong. Sounds like he's a growing boy and is really hungry and possibly teething too. 4 months is notorious for sleep regressions and problems due to growth spurts, developmental milestones, teething and just general baby voodoo. My experience is, they wait until they drive you nuts with this just until the point you want to pack your car and drive to OK and then they go back to a more reasonable schedule.

Definately continue to nurse him when he's hungry. He's probably going to cluster feed for a while and once your production meets his demand, will settle back. Personally, I found it easier to cosleep with my son when it was really bad especially and he was nursing non stop (or so it felt like). All i had to do was roll over. Not sure if that would work for you or not. I had a big baby (he's always been 90+ percentile) so I think they bigger guys sometimes eat more. He's 3 now and still eats like a horse.

Good luck!

More than likely a growth spurt that will pass. They throw their little bodies way off.

He is most likely going through a growth spurt. In these cases babies will eat alot, and more frequently. He will go through these spurts rather often for the next year or so, and then it tapers. The crying when he wakes up, rather than squirming is because he is coming into full lung capacity, so get ready for the screams.

S.

From everything I read (and believe me - you can read too much!) around 4 months is when they start to realize that they can manipulate their world. Not manipulate in a bad way - they just know that if they cry you will come to get them. I still don't know how I feel about crying it out but things started to get so crazy around 4 months because he would cry all the time when he didn't before. So my husband and I did a pseudo cry it out where my husband would stay in the room with my son when he was crying and every once and awhile he would put his hand on my son's tummy and say sssshhh, which would calm him down and then eventually he would go to sleep. Within 3 days he was putting himselft to sleep and not crying anymore. It sounds like he is not hungry from what you said....best of luck!

i have a 4 month old also that still wakes up 2 or 3 times at night to breastfeed. i think it is mostly out of habit and wanting to cuddle.

Hi again! My son is doing the same thing. I think he is teething and I read that at this age they are starting to get into a schedule but are also much more aware and may get distracted from feeding and sleeping! I checked out several books from the library to help me figure things out. Let me know if you figure out what's going on.

I breast feed my child as well and when he started going through this I had to do a little more. Being a young mother(age 20), I talked to my grandmother and what I had to do is add cereal to my breast milk. Breast milk is very thin, I would add about one teaspoon or tablespoon to the milk depending on the ounces I gave him and it would feel him up for awhile. You are not doing anything wrong, he will soon come out of it. Most likely he is hungry, he is going to he needs a little more to feel him up. Hope I help, good luck.

You're not doing anything wrong:) 4 month old babies wake up at night! That's what they do! :)
Breast milk is made for your baby's sweet body and digests quickly, leaving his tummy empty and grumbly, wanting more! Babies don't typically sleep threw the night until after a year (3 years for me!). Are you eating anything that might be making him gassy? Anything spicy? Broccoli? Milk? Lots of Cheese?
Also, most babies develop colic around 4 months so that could be it, too. Try a sound machine - we used (and STILL use) a box fan on high - the noise calms them, reminds them of the womb and as an added bonus it drowns out the rest of the house noise so you don't have to tip-toe when baby sleeps:)
Good Luck! and keep giving your baby that sweet liquid gold! You'll be so proud of yourself later.
Good luck!

You are probably dealing with two possible causes given his age..

1. He may be getting teeth. It takes awhile for the teeth to cut through the gums where you can feel them. Try some Hyland's teething tablets or Orajel before bedtime (or at his dream feed). Which given the way he is acting is what I think the biggest problem is.

2. He may be getting ready for another growth spurt and may need the extra feedings.