Sleep Crutches & Advice on 4 Month Old Sleep

She is 4 months old... an INFANT... how much do you expect from such an extremely young, mentally/emotionally/physically immature child - when adults cannot even stay asleep all night, wake up for the bathroom, drink, food, nightmares?

Don't expect way too much from your infant - you will be disappointed and blame your child rather than yourself for your too high expectations. How would you feel if you were unable to move - yet you woke up alone, scared, wet, hungry, or thirsty in a dark room by yourself?

The first year of life, infants are biologically designed to need Mother's skin to skin contact and breastmilk. Most American Moms refuse to offer their infants such a necessity, yet ALL OTHER MAMMALS offer it.

Oh good lord, the response below is ridiculous. I love the notion that we are "cruel" to our children if we don't attach them to ourselves 24/7.

Mine is 4.5mos, and although I've had her in her crib since she was 4 weeks old, she still wakes up 1-2x/night. I'm working on that. I've changed it so that I only feed her if it's been at least 4 hrs since her last bottle, and the rest of the time, I'll go pop a paci in her mouth and leave the room - all business. It's working for now, although I'm quickly approaching CIO for her. She doens't need that bottle in the middle of the night, it's becomming habit.

I would just put her in the crib "cold turkey" and stop swaddling her. Start a new routine, and after a day or two, she'll get the hang of it. You'll probably still need to go to her when she wakes, but make it all business. No rocking, etc... I'd let her cry a bit, too. Give her 10 minutes or so before you go in and see how she does.

Hmm...well you can check out these sleeping routine ideas, there are also a few suggestions as to what kind of objects you can use to calm and soothe your LO (i.e. white noise machines)..hope it helps!

http://www.theskinnyscoop.com/search/sleep?utm_campaign=t...

Start putting her to bed early in the evening with a peaceful bedtime routine that gives her cues that sleep is near (i.e. lower the lights, bathtime if that relaxes her, reading, cuddling, sound machine, saying "i love you", putting her in the crib, rubbing her back, etc). Do these in the same order each night. Infants also sleep better at night if they nap well during the day.

But please keep in mind that the way infants sleep has more to do with their temperament and less to do with how us moms and dads "train" them.

In regard to your specific questions: Babies naturally outgrow the swaddle when they become strong enough to breakout of it consistently. The pacifier is a great alternative if you are unwilling to feed during the night. Is there a reason that you don't want to swaddle your daughter or have her use a pacifier for self-soothing?

Also, if you are breastfeeding avoid eating foods for dinner that might keep her up like spicy foods, high fat and protein dishes. If you are nursing please seriously reconsider sleep training until your daughter is older as breastmilk is more easily digested than formula.

I fully understand wanting a good night sleep. I have 2 little ones and when we go through times of teething or illness I get why sleep depravation is a form of torture. There are other ways to help children sleep better without "sleep training". I found the No Cry Sleep Solution worked wonders for our family - http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/books/0071381392.php?nid...

"Sleep training" is a relatively new concept that come on the parenting scene. I see it as a fad. Think about all those thousands of years that humans have been raising their young and they all managed to learn to sleep with out being "trained". And in all honest when you "sleep train" you aren't teaching your child to sleep. You are teaching them that you cannot be depended on and will not be there when she needs you the most.

I transitioned my son to his crib in his room from a cradle in our room at 5 1/2 mos.
He stopped being swaddled at 5 1/2 mos because he'd wiggle free of it.
He'd wake up in his cradle in our room at 11pm so I'd give him a feeding & diaper change at that time then instead of putting him back into his cradle, I would put him into his crib in his room (mind you he was asleep).
With a nightlight and the baby monitor on.
Now keep in mind, he still woke up for night feedings every 3 hours or so until he was about a year old but again I would put him back to bed in his crib once he was asleep.