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my 4 month old has his body clock set at specific time…help!

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10:43 am
November 3, 2010

Arni

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Like most of you moms, I am here on this website because I am sleep deprived and exhausted from a baby who has bad sleeping routine. I will give you background information about our routine so you guys can help me better:

I am breastfeeding but mixing formula at night since I was told that babies digest it longer (hoping for less waking at night). He is 4 months and 2 weeks now and was very consistent with the routine below since he was 2, I am so afraid that he will not outgrow this annymore Frown . I have been timing his feeding every 3 hours (most of the time possible, exclusively breastfeeding daytime unless we are out), he has no problem taking formula and would take 4-5 oz one shot. Before 4 months he was good napper, at least 3x per day, an hour each, now 3x but down to 30-45 mins catnaps. Latest nap time is at 4 in the afternoon. For every waking at night, there is no fuss or anything, so I don't see the need to CIO (tried it once and he just end up exhausted and a 2 hour trying to put him back to sleep), he easily goes back to sleep but have problem staying asleep. He rarely sleep on his own, always put asleep on his own crib in his own room with no problem ( should I change this?), no pacifier, blankie or whatever needed to put to asleep, but nursing.

Night routine:

7h00- bath then feed

8h00 – asleep

12 or 12h30 – 1st waking up, feed either 4 oz bottle of breastfeed

3h30 – up, 2nd waking (would want to feed all the time, breastfeed)

4h00 – (up, on a bad night, rare though)

5h30 – up, 3rd waking (if daddy, no feeding, but with mommy will insist on feeding and even suck on my shirt)

6h30 – up, 4th waking rocked just a bit then asleep

7h30 – final up for the day

Bottomline, I swear he has an alarm clock in his body, exactly the same time every night that he will wake up, example, no matter what time he sleep at night either 7, 8 or even 9, he will wake up at 12 or 12h30! No matter how full as well, couple of times I tried dream feeding at 10h00 hoping that he will not wake up at 12 since he is full, this failed as well, he'll wake up to be pat or rocked.

As mentioned, he was doing this since 2 months!!! it's long overdue and I am very afraid that this is his body clock setting, please help me what to do to change this bad habit.

Oh, sorry for the long note here, but I can mention as well that I have been logging his feeding and sleeping time for the past month now and seriously no improvement at all!!! I am almost at the end of my rope here, lost so much weight already (even smaller then before getting pregnant!).

Would really really appreciate any help from you guys! Thank you in advance!

2:08 pm
November 6, 2010

Kimberly

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Hi Arni,

What happens when a baby reaches the 3-4 month mark is that their sleep patterns change. Often this is known as the 4 month sleep regression. At this point, they start to sleep more light adults where they have light and deep sleep cycles which they go through about every 30 -45 minutes.

On average, a baby this age will probably still need to feed 2-3 feeding per night about 3-6 hours apart. There are babies at this age that can go 5 hours or more without a feeding but it's certainly not the majority.

He is still a little young for CIO, which we don't generally recommend trying until they are at least 6 months of age (and there are other methods that you can also try to limit crying) but by six months of age, he will be more able to self-soothe so sleep training is more likely to have a greater effect.

I would say at this age, try to feed him when you think he's truly hungry at night and for bedtime, try to feed just until drowsy then put him down to fall asleep on his own. It may not happen right away, but at the very least you are laying the groundwork for him to learn to fall asleep on his own.

If it's not a feeding time for him when he wakes, try to send dad in to get him back to sleep either by patting and shushing or rocking just until drowsy and then putting him down. However, the hours between 4-6 am are generally their lightest sleep of the night, so it would probably be to your advantage to just do what you need to get him back to sleep so he doesn't start to think 4 or 5 am is wake up time.

Hope this helps. Please read this article on 4 month sleep regression for some additional information. http://www.babysleepsite.com/h…..egression/

And you might find this post on 4 month schedules to be helpful as well: http://www.babysleepsite.com/s…..-schedule/

Keep us posted on how it's going.

Kimberly

The Baby Sleep Site (TM)

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