https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 12 Jun 2026 17:02:13 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1339549 Sun, 12 Jan 2014 12:56:44 +0000 tysonja 1339549@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO#1 was sleeping 12 hrs straight at 4 months, and LO#2 is 3.5 months right now and doing around 7.5 hrs stretch.</p> <p>they were/are bf and supplemented with formula, so i don't know if that maybe contributed to a fuller stomach for sttn? :)</p> <p>also, we do use a pacifier for naps and night sleep, just until they fall asleep and it falls out on it's own, or we pluck it out of their mouths. </p> <p>for motn wake ups while training, if i didn't think they were hungry, i just popped his pacifier in when he started stirring a little more, and if he truly wasn't too hungry, he would go back to sleep for another few hours. if he was hungry, the paci wouldn't cut it and he would break out in a full cry and i would feed him. that's how i judged the 'is he hungry or not' problem! :) </p> <p>hope it works out for you!! :D sleep=awesome. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1339517 Sun, 12 Jan 2014 12:35:12 +0000 marionberry 1339517@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>You're not alone! J slept great until about 13 weeks. Now he's up 4-5 times a night. I blame teething and the 4 month sleep regression. During the messed up sleep we transitioned him to his crib and he does great putting himself to sleep awake. He just is so hungry at night he won't put himself back to bed on his own. I'm really hoping this is a phase he wil get over soon. We were spoiled with a baby who slept 6-7 hours from almost birth. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1338894 Sat, 11 Jan 2014 22:52:23 +0000 Grace 1338894@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jetsa: Mine started waking every 2 hours after 16 weeks. I tried letting her cry a few min before going to her, and she'd fall back asleep, but wake 30 min later anyways, so I gave up on that. Now, 2 weeks later she's starting to stretch it to 3 hours. Still pretty awful, but a lot better. I'm blaming the 4 mo sleep regression. Oh, and she's just started fighting the fourth nap if it happens after 4:30 (unless she's in the car). I figure it just means an earlier bedtime (and maybe the other three naps will become longer??) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1336921 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 20:49:13 +0000 Foodnerd81 1336921@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@delight: I forgot- I used to often nurse her in the dark in her room an let her snooze for a bit if the stretch between last nap and bed was too long. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1336841 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 19:47:59 +0000 delight 1336841@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jetsa: my LO is 5 months next week, and she still has a little cat nap before bed. She usually falls asleep while nursing from 6-630 and then we put her to bed between 7-730. She just can't seem to go all evening without a nap. I just started putting her down awake at bedtime and it usually only takes a few minutes of fussing. She is usually only awake for 1.5 hours at a time during the day, so depending on how long her naps are, she'll have 2 or 3 naps ( not counting the little catnap before bed). She sleeps until 5am, eats, then sleeps til 730/8am. We went through the 4 month regression before Xmas and she was up 4 times a night but it only lasted a week thankfully! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1336825 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 19:37:33 +0000 jetsa 1336825@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@edelweiss: that's exactly what I was asking.</p> <p>@Foodnerd81: will do. After going down easily for 3 naps at 5:30 we tried for a fourth even though he goes to bed at 8 and it was meltdown central. He'd drift off jerk awake and scream after the 3rd time of that we got him up and he just cried and cried most likely bc he's overtired. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1336806 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 19:30:15 +0000 Foodnerd81 1336806@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jetsa: that's something I can't figure out. She won't take more than three naps a day, even if they are short and the third ended hours beire bedtime- she just will not go back to sleep from five on. So right now I'm trying to push the last nap backa little bit so she wakin up after four at least, then in bed between 7-7:30 ish. It's very much a work in progress. I've posted that question before and people responded helpfully- go through my posts to find it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1336752 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 19:08:11 +0000 edelweiss 1336752@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jetsa: i know a lot of people say don't have a nap too close to bedtime, but i have not found that to affect LO's sleep too much. at around 4 months, LO was still needing a lot of naps, and our issue was actually getting him to go down for the last nap because he would fight it a lot. still, if he did go down, it didn't make a big difference if it was close to bedtime.</p> <p>even now, at close to 1 year, LO regularly naps very close to his bedtime. he often falls asleep on the car ride from daycare (where he misses a nap anyway) and sleeps from about 4-4.45 or 5, and he's in bed by 6.30. </p> <p>if your LO starts to get too close to bedtime (like, less than an hour), then i would consider waking him up, but that's just me, and i really don't know much.</p> <p>in any case, good luck and please let me know how it goes!</p> <p>ETA: i babbled on deliriously on the assumption that your concern was having a nap too close to bedtime, but if you meant something else, let me know! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1336743 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 19:01:11 +0000 jetsa 1336743@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@edelweiss: @Foodnerd81: ok next question when is your last nap of the day? He still seems to need 4 which puts me in a conundrum for bedtime. He just can't go more than 2 hours. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1336588 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 17:34:57 +0000 jetsa 1336588@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@edelweiss: thanks this is a good solution and what we are going to do. We've got a pack and play next to the bed so we're going to have him sleep there and wait out all crying. I gave him 10 mins for naps today and it never took more than a minute. Hopefully this will mean more sleep for all of us! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1335644 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 13:08:21 +0000 edelweiss 1335644@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>around that age, for nighttime sleep, i was giving LO about 15 minutes before going in to feed him (we do not co-sleep, though). he would sometimes settle back down, and his first stretch of sleep lengthened to about 6 hours. i don't know how much of it was waiting the 15 minutes or just him doing it on his own. when your LO wakes, instead of nursing right away, maybe you could pat/comfort/soothe/pacifier to see if he falls back asleep?</p> <p>for the falling asleep part, we sleep trained around 3 months because i was at my wit's end.</p> <p>ETA: if he did not settle down after 15 minutes, i would go ahead with the nighttime feed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1335626 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 13:02:47 +0000 Foodnerd81 1335626@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jetsa: hooray! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1335550 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 12:44:27 +0000 jetsa 1335550@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Foodnerd81: well small victory today for naps I've been putting him down awake first nap 10-15 mins of tossing and turning but no crying. Second nap, slight fuss and out. So it's a step in the right direction :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1334842 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 09:31:55 +0000 Mrs. Sunshine 1334842@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD will be 4 months tomorrow....we were STTN for about a week and a half (sleep from 7 to somewhere between 4 &amp; 6 then back to sleep until about 8). Then suddenly she gets up every two to 4 hours or so every other night &amp; the nights she doesn't wake up, she doesn't make to 6...she's usually wanting to eat around 330 or 4 &amp; again at 6 &amp; up at 730. I nurse her to sleep at bedtime. I don't know why the sudden change, she hasn't woken up this often at night since she was less than a month old. We have a doctor app on Monday and I plan on asking our pediatrician for advice. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1334834 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 09:29:26 +0000 Anagram 1334834@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jetsa: at 4 months, my LO was in a massive sleep regression that started a week after 3 months and lasted until we sleep trained last week (she's almost 6 months).</p> <p>Our LO was waking up probably 4-8 times a night at 4 months. It was brutal. I really wanted to try to "wait it out" to see if she would figure out her own sleep issues, but she never did. Our problem was not the intial falling asleep (she's always fallen asleep easily without much from us), but all the wake ups. My in laws came and stayed with us for a month when she was 4.5 months-5.5 months and we started switching off who would take her overnight (they begged to help and we were exhausted so we let them).</p> <p>But starting January 1st, I decided New Year, New Habits. We moved her crib to her own room for a few nights. Then we sleep trained with the Ferber method.</p> <p>YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GIVE UP NIGHT FEEDINGS ENTIRELY TO SLEEP TRAIN. </p> <p>Our LO at 6 months is still not ready to go 12 hours without eating (I EP, so I know exactly how many oz she eats a day), but she was waking up far more often than she was wanting to eat anyway, so it was those wakings I wanted to eliminate.</p> <p>We sleep trained her to sleep 8-1 or 2 am, then feed, Then sleep till 6 and feed. Wake up for the day at 7:30-8 am. I posted about our experience here <a href="http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-to-connect-babys-sleep-cycles" rel="nofollow">http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-to-connect-babys-sleep-cycles</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1334804 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 09:21:18 +0000 Modern Daisy 1334804@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are at 4.5 months and DS went from 1 MOTN wakeup to 2-3. I am wondering the same thing, if we just leave him when we know it hasn't been long enough, will he eventually fall back asleep on his own? We might try it this weekend but so far we wait 10 minutes then just give up since we have to work the next day. Plus he is now a belly sleeper since he's learned to roll onto his belly on his own and sometimes the wakeup is him flipping out that he can't get back onto his back. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1334767 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 09:13:37 +0000 Revel 1334767@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>At four months we were having two wakeups usually - bedtime at 8, average wakeup of 2am and 4:30am. I was OK with this. We didn't hit the four month regression, but hit major major sleep problems at 5.5 months - often waking every hour, not being able to put LO down etc. It's lasted for almost two months now. </p> <p>I just didn't get to the point where I could handle CIO (not that we won't get there someday) so I've been working on rocking to sleep instead of nursing to sleep, and hopefully then transitioning to putting down more awake. I never thought it would work, but she only really protested the first few days and now one week in she's used to the new routine. The long stretch to start the night seems to be returning somewhat this last week, maybe due to the change?</p> <p>I always struggled with knowing when she's hungry, so I probably fed at all wakeups much longer than necessary, but it is hard. I still often feed when she wakes. </p> <p>My LO will cobed, but she wakes much more frequently to nurse when she's in our bed. Maybe try moving LO to his own room for the beginning of the night to see if you can get some longer stretches? It might be a rough few nights but possibly worth it in the long run? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1334679 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 08:46:40 +0000 Silva 1334679@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jetsa: first we used the co-sleeper attachment, so she'd fall asleep in that and then come into bed with us. We did parent attended extinction method, so we just laid next to her until she fell asleep, occasionally patting or sushing. After a week we moved her to the crib. She now sleeps from 7-10 in the crib (goes to sleep without any problem most nights, by herself), and then when we go to bed she comes in with us.<br /> Its been working most of the time. We hit a really rough patch these past couple weeks, so I'm a little stressed about it right now, but hopefully it will return to the way it was soon! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1333946 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 22:02:50 +0000 ZombieBullfrogHoller 1333946@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>At 3 months, he started going to sleep at 7pm-7am and only waking up once at 3am. It was amazing.</p> <p>Then 4 months hit and we've been waking up every hour from 7-am-7pm. It's been awful. I was about to break. I was nursing-to-sleep, then putting him to bed, slowly and careful as not to wake him.</p> <p>Two days ago I changed up the routine. I nurse-him-to-almost-sleep, then I would pat and bounce him for about 20 seconds, give him and kiss and tell him goodnight, lay him down with his little stuffed bear. He would stretch and get comfy, then I rubbed him tummy and whisper-sang him a couple songs until he was out. The first time we tried this he slept from 6:30pm until 6:00am without one wakeup! Then went back to sleep for another hour. Both times I woke up on my own to find him looking at me, smiling. Usually he wakes me up, crying. The next night he woke up every 3.5 hours. Tonight he's been asleep for 3 hours, so I guess we'll see how it goes again. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1333928 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 21:59:03 +0000 Foodnerd81 1333928@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jetsa: Yeah, she needed to nurse to fall asleep, so she would eat every time she woke up, even though she wasn't actually hungry. or DH would bounce her on the exercise ball for ages to get her to sleep. So for us, teaching her to fall asleep on her own at all led to the longer stretches. We still have a way to go before true STTN but I can handle one wake up a night. Last night she went from 7 to 4, ate quickly, then slept til 8. I feel like she still needs the one feeding during the night, but more than that I think she just wants the comfort, but I haven't forced it yet. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1333922 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 21:55:18 +0000 jetsa 1333922@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Foodnerd81: he eats every 2 hours still. It sounds like I just need to start somewhere and things will get easier. He can't fall asleep on his own currently </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1333898 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 21:51:34 +0000 Foodnerd81 1333898@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jetsa: We actually haven't sleep trained to get rid of the night feedings yet, we just sleep trained for the initial going down to sleep at night. Once she figured out how to fall asleep, the night time stretches naturally lengthened, or she could wake up a little and fuss but fall back asleep. But she still wakes up at least once a night at 5 months. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1333887 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 21:49:05 +0000 jetsa 1333887@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Silva: how did you sleep train and co-bed? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1333865 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 21:46:26 +0000 jetsa 1333865@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Foodnerd81: @smurfette: so you sleep trained at 4 months? I think I'm ready but how do I know he isn't hungry? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1333829 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 21:42:11 +0000 Silva 1333829@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We co bedded too. At 4 months she would sleep for a 5 hour stretch, then 2 hours, then every hour after that. At 4.5 months she started waking up every 90 minutes. This continued until 6 months when we sleep trained so shed put herself to sleep- then we started getting a longer stretch. We continued co bedding. At 8.5 months a good night is a 4 hour stretch.</p> <p>We know we have to move her out of our bed and out of our room, but aren't ready to do it yet. So instead we are tired. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1333807 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 21:38:59 +0000 Smurfette 1333807@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did CIO at 4 months, so she would sleep 8-630 with one wAk up or sometimes STTN. Then slowly the wake ups got earlier and earlier and we were back to 2 or 3 wakes up a night. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1333781 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 21:32:42 +0000 Foodnerd81 1333781@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>4 months is when it finally started to get a little better. Before that she was up 2-3 times most nights and we were nursing or bouncing to sleep and it took forever. And a lot of the time she woke up when we put her down anyway. It was brutal. Then we did CIO and she learned how to fall asleep on her own, which meant that when she woke up or stirred, she could fall back asleep. </p> <p>She's 5 months now and wakes up once or twice a night to eat, but it's quick-- like 20 minutes eating and right back to sleep. We put her down awake for naps and bedtime and she falls asleep on her own. It's so much better. I think she hit her '4 month sleep regression' at 3 months though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1333764 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 21:27:28 +0000 sslm 1333764@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>At 4 months M was sleeping through the night. At 5 months she started waking up multiple times again and that continued. Now at 8.5 months it's just starting to *maybe* get better. </p> <p>All that to say, I feel it's a crapshoot. I just wanted to maybe make you feel a little better, it should get better!!!!!! </p> <p>I realize that was probably not helpful at all... Hang in there mama :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1333721 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 21:20:01 +0000 jetsa 1333721@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No one? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-at-4-months#post-1332065 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 16:39:07 +0000 jetsa 1332065@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>J will be 4 months next week and wakes every 2 hours to eat. We've been co-sleeping so that I can be a productive member of society but I'm getting worn down and I need help.</p> <p>How much did your child sleep at 4 months? How did you get there?</p> <p>How do I put him to sleep wo feeding him? For naps we rock and then he startles when I put him in the crib and goes back to sleep. What am I doing wrong? </p>