# 4 month old waking 6-7 times/night



## new_mom_RS (Jan 20, 2008)

Hello. My daughter has always been a light sleeper and the past 4 nights have been awful. She wakes up to nurse but does not always go back to sleep. If she does go back to sleep, she will wake up soon after and need more rocking, patting, etc. I feel like I am always awake because I can't fall back asleep very quickly. She naps during the day, but not for more than 30 min. to 1 hour at a time. I think I have made the problem worse because I often hold her while she sleeps during the day because she wakes herself up so easily. I put her down swaddled on occasion, but those naps seem to be the very short ones, because of course she wakes herself up. Every night it feels like I am constantly trying to get her to stay asleep. I end up holding her in my arms in bed. Any others out there that can offer some suggestions or who have experienced something similar? Thanks mommas!!


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## jbirdbrain (Mar 27, 2007)

No tips here but I could have written this myself- DS is 4.5 months old and doing the same thing! Hopefully someone will have some tips...


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## bdoody11 (Aug 16, 2005)

Ask Moxie posts about the 4 month sleep regression. It sounds like it's normal. I remember going through it too...Hang in there, Mama. It'll get better.

http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006...t_are_sle.html


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## nylecoj (Apr 24, 2007)

Yep, it's pretty common.

Dd was up 8-12 times per night between 4 and 9 mos.

I thought I might die, but somehow I didn't. Now she sleeps 3 hours in a stretch! Woooooo.


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## eri_flores (Feb 8, 2006)

My boy was like this...it's just starting to get better at nearly six months. You might just have to wait it out. Don't beat yourself up thinking you've made it "worse" for her to nap by holding her a lot, either. Sometimes holding them while they sleep is just real nice! Do you use any type of carrier like a sling? Then she can sleep and you can have your arms free.

A few things we learned that helped a bit:

DS sleeps WAY better on his tummy or sometimes his side. At about 3 or 4 months I started doing that and the first time he napped for 2.5 hours straight. I had to keep going over and checking him! He sleeps that way at night as well (we cosleep).

At night, how are you dealing with elimination/diapering? We EC and one of the things we've found is that he wakes because he has to pee... You might check out the forum on EC to see if anything there resonates with the way she acts. Though if you've been conventionally diapering she's probably learned not to wake up to the feeling of having to pee, maybe there is something going on that she is reacting to, maybe something new?

Good luck! It gets easier to function with no sleep, I promise! And she'll probably just change again in a few months. (We had a blessed period of a few weeks where the little one slept for 7 hours at night!! Now I haven't seen more than 2.5 or 3 in MONTHS. And I'm still alive







)


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## pianojazzgirl (Apr 6, 2006)

Sounds just like my 4 month old ds....


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## sarahtdubb (Apr 30, 2007)

This is happening to us, too! DS goes right back to sleep, but starts squirming and kinda-crying every 45 minutes or so. Many thanks to the mamas who have posted that they lived through it-- and thanks for that blog posting! I feel encouraged.


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## veganone (May 10, 2007)

I posted a very similar thread a few weeks ago. She's now 5 months and is back to sleeping somewhat better. For us it was getting her to sleep that completely fell apart. I think sleep will get better and worse as she matures.

Could be teething? DD started teething (not coming through, but the earlier stage) and it just messed her up for a few weeks.

Nice to know it's "normal" even though it sucks! I still miss those weeks of nursing to sleep! I don't know if that will ever come back, but it was nice while it lasted...


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## riomidwife (Sep 1, 2006)

nylecoj;10473559
Dd was up 8-12 times per night between 4 and 9 mos.
[/QUOTE said:


> this is us. we're doing everything we can to prolong naps, in hopes of creating longer stretches of sleep at night, a la NCSS. it seems like it might be working as he's taken some 2 hour naps this week, which he has never done (like your LO he typically only naps for 30 minutes). you could check out the NCSS support thread, http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=715159.


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