Seeking Mom Worried About Her 4Month Old Sons Eyes

When my kids where that age, I played a radio on some soft music, that way when they woke up they heard the music. Most of the time they would go back to sleep. It got to the point that for naps I would put it one and my son would go to sleep very fast.

HI V.,
That is what they do. At 4 months old the baby still needs to be fed pretty often. Being a new mommy means being really tired most of the time. If she needs feeding she will wake unless she is wet or uncomfortable. I would try feeding and see if this works. Better to try the feeding than to struggle to make her sleep if she is hard to get to sleep because of hunger.

Good luck. Hang in there. It eventually does get easier.

He's so tiny, only 4 months old, so it's very normal for him to be waking up and needing to eat every 4 hours. Twice a night is nothing! Be grateful it's not more! My first weighed only 5 pounds at birth as she was born a little early and she was up every hour and a half. They are growing so fast they need to nurse as well as reassurance that you are close by, remember he was attached to you and inside you just 4 short months ago. Don't worry, you're tired and it's rough to get up in the night, but it's not for long. In a flash he'll be walking and running and you'll try to remember how tiny he was. Blesssings!

It is normal for 4 month old babies to wake every 4 hours or 2 times a night. Please know that giving solids to make baby sleep longer is a myth.

Some people's babies sleep through the night at this age, but it is actually not normal - especially if baby is breastfeeding. If you are nursing, it is not expected that baby will STTN right now.

***ETA I have to say I was very curious what kind of advice you've received and had to check back. I'm very disappointed in a lot of the advice you've gotten. Allowing your baby to cry in order to make him sleep all night is NOT being "strong". Dr. Ferber, father of the Ferber method and crying it out, does not suggest crying it out until at least 6 months old - earlier is not good. I don't follow Dr. Ferber because I don't believe in crying it out, but if even the creator of this cry it out method thinks 6 months is minimum, than 4 months is too young for it. I also HIGHLY discourage the book Babywise. The man who wrote it has no medical background, and it has been discounted by SO MANY EXPERTS, yet moms keep recommending it to each other. It is very cruel. It may work, but it works because mothers are teaching their babies that they can cry all they want and mom is not coming. SO they give up and don't cry anymore. I personally couldn't live with the thought that my child has GIVEN UP trying to tell me he needs me and falls asleep out of abandonment and exhaustion.

I know you are tired - all new mothers are. Don't try some fierce method of sleep "training" (and seriously, are these puppies? do we need to train them to sleep?) because you are tired. As Dr. Sears says, you need to parent your baby to sleep, not PUT your baby to sleep. Seriously, 4 months old and waking a couple of times a night is what your baby SHOULD be doing!!!!

I also recommend Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Karp, but Dr. Karp doesn't promise your 4 month old will be sleeping all night long, know that. He gives methods of healthy sleep habits that COMFORT the baby. That's what your baby wants and needs.

It is totally normal for a 4 month old to wake up every 4 hours. You don't say whether you are bottle or breast feeding, but even a bottle-fed baby is going to wake up every 4 to 5 hours at that age. Please get a couple of baby books - they will lay it all out for you. Brazelton has a very short one on sleep that is helpful. Do not put cereal in his bottle - it does nothing to stretch out sleep and it's better to delay the introduction of food until the 6th month to minimize the likelihood of food allergies.

BTW - cluster feedings are initiated by the infant, not the mother. Babies cluster feed every couple of hours when they are about to have a growth spurt and not all babies do it.

Ha, there is another mom today needing the same info. I guess these babies just want to party al night. I need to warn the kindergarten teachers about this group in 5 years!

The other mom was told her try a certain technique but it is not working. This is what I sent her.

First of all the Ferber method does not work on EVERY child. Also your child may not be ready for this technique. It is not a lost cause.

Some of these suggestions are reruns of other posts from other moms.
Be sure to check out Mamasource on Nov. 27th, 2008
“Help getting my 12 week old to sleep”

My mom suggested this technique to us and it worked great.
I always remind parents that the length of time you rile up a child is the same amount of time it will take to calm them down. Adults can stop playing instantly, but a child cannot calm down the same way.
Try bath time right before bed, close the bathroom door, play quiet music, bathe him in very warm water, do not excite your son. While bathing him, rub him with stronger rubs, almost like a massage, speak in low tones.
Wrap him in a towel take him to his room with his crib. Make sure the lights are low. Have soft music or a white noise machine playing, dry him off with strong wipes, like a massage. Put him in his pajamas.
He will be so tired and calm, he should be pretty sleepy by this time. If you can turn the heat up a few degrees, the warmth will also help him fall asleep.
Place a rolled up towel at the top of his head so he will have that pressure on his head. He is old enough to sleep on his tummy. Place him in the crib so that he is sleeping the width of the crib instead of the length. This will help to make the crib not seem so big.
If he wakes up in the middle of the night with wet diaper, or whatever, try not to talk to him, do not turn on the lights. Make it as uninteresting to him as possible, so that he will not be stimulated. You could also pat his bottom with light pats. It seems to lull them to be patted.

Our daughter never used a binky so we would place her fist in her mouth. Sometimes this would sooth her. I know many babies use the binky to sooth themselves to sleep. One friend had to place 3 or 4 of them in the crib, cause their baby would throw them out of the crib right before she fell asleep, if she would wake up in the middle of the night, as long as she could find a replacement, she would not cry.
Hope you can get some night time sleep.

I had beautiful luck with swaddling. I read Happiest Baby on the Block. They are very in to swaddling the babies. My little slept through the night at 7 weeks. It works!! The blanket I used with the Kiddopotamus for 10 bucks at Babies r us. It is my gift to every new mom. Just make sure you wrap the baby tight. Best of luck and congrats.

We started a little rice cereal with both of my kiddos at 4 months and it helped get them through the night (12 hours). Schedule during the day is also key! 8am,12pm, 4pm, and 8pm were when they ate bottles with a nap in the morning from 9ish for a few hours and between the 12pm & 4pm bottle. Maybe a cat nap before 8pm but not always necessary, cereal, bath, bottle, read, and bedtime. A nighttime routine is so important. Hope this helps.
S.
www.sanangelo.jbfsale.com

here is an awesome site I used so many times with both my kids:
http://www.babycenter.com/
But for a short answer, seems like your son is right on track! 2x/night seems very normal to me =)

Hi V.,

In my family we all gave our babies a bottle with water at nights instead of milk. Do this for 3 nights and after that he wont wake up anymore. They do cry a lot because they want milk and not water but be strong andstick to it. The 3rd night is the worst but by the fourth you will both be sleeping all night. I did this for my baby at 2 months and it worked. At 4 months she got sick and started waking up at nights again, so I did it again and it worked again. Try it. BE STRONG!!!!!! It will be hard to see him cry those nights.

Not sure if you've tried this yet but I breastfed up until my son was 6 months but I believe it was right around 4 mths or so that I added baby cereal to his dinner or would add baby cereal to the baby food jar. This would help to fill him up and it would hold him over untilabout 6am.

Read Babywise from cover to cover. Do not skim.

All of my friends have applied this to our children and all of our children sleep through the night.

Hi V. -

This actually sounds very normal to me so I would say to readjust your expectations for getting more sleep when your baby is more like 6 months old - you are 2/3 of the way through! Good luck,
Alli

His tummy is still small. I don't remember my daughter being able to sleep longer than 5 hours until around 5 or 6 months, when her stomach grew a bit and she could hold more food.

You didn't mention whether he is breastfed or formula fed. Breastfed babies tend to need to eat more often.

Of course, my motto is "Hungry children will not sleep"...

Otherwise, you might want to increase your efforts to cluster feed mre during the evening hours before his bedtime. Maybe that will help carry him through the night longer.

Hello,

My 5 month old son is the same way. The first is a formula feeding of 5-6 oz between 12a and 1a. The second is a breastfeeding session between 3a and 4a. In the last week and a half he has gone from 4oz to 5-6oz every 3-4 hours. Apparently all babies are different and since I'm a SAHM I let him make his own schedule of sleep and eating. Hang in there I hear it gets better :).

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth was a G-d send! I highly reccomend buying a copy today and give the sleep principles a try. The book is organized by age, so you can simply skip to your baby's age and follow the "rules." My two year old continues to be a great sleeper and has put herself to sleep since she was about 5-6 months old. It was a struggle at first to hear your baby cry themselves to sleep, but I can tell you from experience I would not do it any other way! Good luck-it does get better!

Hi V.,
If you have already started to give your son cereal then i suggest that you add a bit more cereal to his bottle or when you feed him with a spoon but (only before you put him to bed for the night). this will keep his tummy full throughout the night
Good Luck hope this work for you.

V.,

Are you feeding him in the middle of the night still? If so you can stop middle of the night feedings, I am a first time mommy too, and we were able to get our son at the age of 2 months to stop waking up in the middle of the night (he is formula fed). Through my mother in laws help, everytime he woke up in the middle of the night we would NOT feed him the bottle and gently put our hand on his chest and coax him back to sleep, after about a week of doing this, he stopped waking up for the middle of the night feeding. Now alot of mom's are going to say if they are waking up feed them because there hungry, but at the age of 4 months his stomache is capable of holding off of feeding in an a 8 hr period. Make sure you give him a bottle before he goes to bed, maybe even a little more to get him good and full. You basically have to teach him to stop waking up, because he has gotten used to waking up and getting a bottle. It just like getting him on a routine with anything else, hope this helps. By the way our son is 5 months, we put him to bed at 8 pm and he wakes up at 6 am. But remember your still going to have nights where he wakes up, ours has started doing that again and we are back to coaxing him back to sleep.
hope this helps.

My little one is 9 months and she just now started to move from waking up twice a night to once. I think that some people are just blessed with those children that sleep like angels and others have children like mine who like to party at night. I did notice that my daughter always slept a bit longer (not much) when she was in bed with me. It may just take some more time for you baby. Good luck to you.

I would contact his Pediatrician and let them know your concerns.Maybe they can refer you to a Pediatric Eye Doctor.

This is what we did...not sure on the age though. Buy black out shades for windows, use white noise ( ocean,rain, nature music ) and dim the lights. The program I watched also stated to keep the tempture cool 68-72 degrees. We cannot afford to do this. But as soon as I took his floor lamp out and put the night light on he started sleeping threw. Now its a bit different due to an ear infection. They also start sleeping better once they start cereral 5 or 6 months. Best of luck to you.

You've gotten a lot of responses already, but I'd like to be just one more than tells you please, please do not let your 4 month old cry it out. Babies that young need food and to be held often. You'll feel pretty tired for years to come (sorry! it's the truth!) but it will get better over the next few months. He needs you and you need to build a trusting relationship with him by attending to his needs and making him feel safe and full and clean and warm and happy. It's exhausting, but just look at that little face! Sleep when he sleeps and just plan on being up in the night for a few more months (if you're lucky!). And enjoy him so small! My boys are 7, 5 and 3 (talk about a tired mom!) but I still get up in the night for them if they are cold or have a bad dream or whatever.
I also noticed you are worried about your baby's eyes. Tell your pediatrician at his next well check, or call and take him in right away. If it's nothing you will rest easy and if he needs medical attention then it's better not to have waited too long. Good luck!