N is 14 weeks old. She's been something of a unicorn sleeper for the last month, going anywhere from 8-11 hours straight at night. Suddenly the last few nights she's waking up again. I knew the perfect sleep wasn't likely to last, but now I'm not sure what to do at night. Do I try to get her back down without a bottle? Just go ahead and feed her? FWIW, she's like 95th percentile for height and weight. She's been more fussy in general the last few days and wanting more bottles.
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I'd try searching the boards for 4 month sleep regression. Does she go down awake or with a bottle?
The science behind the 4 month sleep regression is really interesting -- in a nut shell, baby's sleep is becoming less "babyish" and she is developing distinct sleep cycles like we have:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-patterns/4-month-sleep-regression/If it were me, I would not start bottles back in the MOTN. Once both kids dropped a feeding, we did not add it back. I think that you can't sleep train in foster case, though (correct me if I'm wrong), so I can't really give you other options.... which makes this post sort of unhelpful, I realize. Does she have a well established bedtime routine?
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@LBee: No definite rules about sleep training, but it's definitely not typically a good idea with kids with trauma. I was thinking it might be the beginning of the 4 month regression. She usually goes down semi awake for naps and night. Occasionally the timing gets screwed up because she's not really on much of a regular nap schedule yet and she ends up falling asleep with a bottle. But at least she doesn't rely on it. She doesn't have a solid routine for anything yet really, except rocking. I need to figure out how bedtime is going to look with both kids when I'm by myself.
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I agree this is likely the beginning of the 4 month sleep regression, but I wouldn't necessarily assume that she doesn't need the bottle at night. There are still quite a few growth spurts in these early months and she might be hungry for real. I would try to soothe without the bottle, but if she's still fussing after 15-20 mins, I'd feed her.
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@kiddosc: Ok that's pretty much what I did last night. She went back down the first time fairly easily, but the second time definitely couldn't settle without the bottle.
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At 14 weeks I’d venture to say she needs the MOTN bottle. I recall some moms doing a “dream feed” where you wake your LO a few hours after bedtime and give them an additional bottle and hey STTN.
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Even if she's in 6-9m clothes?
I'm kidding, mostly. She's already bigger than O was when she came to us at 8.5 months, so this is a whole different ball game.
I'm kidding, mostly. She's already bigger than O was when she came to us at 8.5 months, so this is a whole different ball game.
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6 comments