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4 month old and sleeping, have i messed him all up?

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11:54 am
April 29, 2010

amya

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my son is 4 month and 2 weeks old. He has a schedule pretty much during the day, with some variation on times due to when he wakes up in the morning or the stretch of his nap… he goes to bed every night by 7:30 or so. Most of the time this first one, he falls asleep at breast or right after i go to burp him. He was doing fine, with a few 6 hours stretches in there, but those are gone! he can do a 4 hour the first time block at night sometimes, but then mostly he is up again every 3 hours to feed. I don't know how to get him to four hours at night or during the day. He will do 4 hours during the day if he is sleepy and sleeps through the 3 hour time, then i can distract him till it has been 4.

my other question is, he wakes up between 5:30-7:30, different most days. he will eat and then generally 30 mins to one hour after he awakes, he is ready to sleep again. This first one he willl give me at least 2 hours……. i have come to need this time, b/c the other daytime naps are not that long. sometimes one hour or even just 30 mins. have i messed him up? all the books say to have a wake up time…… what to do?

4:50 pm
April 29, 2010

Miriam

Australia

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Hey there! Given he's only 4 months, maybe you could try keeping on a 3 hourly routine (roughly) during the day, even if it means waking him by say 3.5 hours. Perhaps he's not quite getting enough during the day and is waking more at night to compensate. I think 4 months is also about a growth spurt age??? so maybe he's just hungrier generally. My son is only 6 months but easily you forget! I have no suggestions for the second issue with waking. I can only say that both my children have done exactly the same thing. The first wake time of the day is ALWAYS the shortest which defies logic as you think if they have slept overnight it would be the longest but apparently not. And the first nap of the day is always the best too! I do try and have a consistent wake time give or take half an hour (even if it means waking him) but this doesn't seem to make a difference with the wake or nap time length. Also, if you've read Babywise I'd just be careful not to take it all too literally and not to feel like you've done something wrong if your baby doesn't do what the book says they should. I learned that the hard way! If only the little ones didn't keep changing on us life would be a lot easier hey!

Good luck.

Miriam

8:12 pm
April 29, 2010

amya

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Miram, thanks so much for your support, just a hard day, nice to know others struggle!

i will keep pressing on! Let you know how it goes!

~ amy

11:37 am
May 7, 2010

Kimberly

Admin

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Hi Amya,

Miriam has given you some good advice. I would just add that you might want to check out these two posts related to 4 month old sleep. One explains sleep for a 4 month old and the other talks about what kind of schedule works well for a 4 month old.

http://www.babysleepsite.com/h…..old-sleep/

http://www.babysleepsite.com/s…..-schedule/

I would definitely compare your schedule with the one Nicole recommends as a good day time schedule can help with night time sleep.

At this age, you can expect he will need 2-3 feedings every 3-6 hours, so what you're experiencing isn't uncommon. (That's not to say, it isn't exhausting!) But if you are getting 3, 4, or 6 hour blocks a night, that's actually pretty good. I would just offer that you also try to rest when he's napping during the day to avoid becoming overtired.

It's often tempting to try to get a bunch of stuff done while they nap during the day because this is your only free time. But really, some of that time, while they are this young, should be set aside for you to rest. If he's napping for 2 hours in the morning, then it may not be realistic to expect he's going to nap longer during his other day time naps. Two hours in the morning is a really good nap length and seems like that's what his body is saying he needs.

Hang in there! It sounds like you are on the right track. It's very likely as he gets older here in the next month or two, that you will see longer sleep stretches. Just try to avoid creating any sleep associations such as rocking to sleep during this time.

Kimberly

The Baby Sleep Site (TM)

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