Sleep Regression?

Hi All,

I'm having a very frustrating morning. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, everything changes.

My daughter had been sleeping from 7:30 to 6. Then she came and slept with me until 7 and had her first bottle at 7. My son slept from 7:30 until around 2:30, ate a bottle and went back to sleep and got up at 6 with his sister. I have tried getting them to stay up later, but they both want to go to bed around 7:00. I even have them nap from 6 to 6:30 in the hopes that they will stay up later.

Now, Brody is waking up around 1:30 for a bottle and eating almost the whole thing. Then both of them woke up at 4:45 this morning and ate a whole bottle each. Brody went back to sleep until 8 (good boy). Julia would not go back to sleep. So not only am I dealing with a change in schedule, they are now off schedule from each other!

Naps had been getting better (they are 45 minute nappers) and were finally going to sleep on their own. But now Julia won't really nap and is crying because of it.

I have heard that babies gor through sleep regression aroudn 4 months, but I'm not sure what the heck to do about it.

They are just over 4 months and weigh about 14 pounds each. We are starting rice cereal tomorrow. Is it too early to start CIO?

 

i do think that it is a little too early to do CIO, especially since they are eating well when they wake up, they must be needing the food.

as far as the sleep regression, it will pass, and i don't think there is much you can do about it. we just had to struggle through when DD went through it. i know how hard it is to go back to bad sleeping after you get used to some good sleep. i sometimes think that everything i do throughout the day is to make sure that their sleep doesn't get messed up at night.

:hug: and i hope they go back to sleeping well for you soon!

 

Maybe they are going through a bit of a growth spurt & needing to eat a bit more frequently. Hopefully, if that's the case, they will settle back to their normal schedule soon. It's always so frustrating, just when we adjust to a schedule, they go & change it on us! :hug:

 

We had days like that about once a week. They will probably be on schedule tomorrow, but if not, wake one up to stay sane. I wouldn't do CIO yet either and agree with Tina that a growth spurt could be happening. I think that's why the 4 month sleep regression theory is there, due to the 4 month growth spurt. Is there a reason you want them to stay up later? I found that if they went to bed earlier they would sleep longer (though it did take a few days to get to that point). Hang in there!

 

QUOTE(mommymeg @ Jun 27 2009, 07:11 PM) [snapback]1371494[/snapback]
Is there a reason you want them to stay up later? I found that if they went to bed earlier they would sleep longer (though it did take a few days to get to that point). Hang in there!


We too found our daughters slept better and longer with an earlier bedtime versus staying up later. They napped better too. Between 4 and 5.5 months was a tough age for us in terms of sleep but it does get better. I hope it gets better real soon for you.

 

I've not heard of sleep regression, but might be experiencing it. My boys are suddenly sleeping less often and shorter during the day and shorter at night. I'd put it down to a growth spurt since they are eating every hour or so too (my poor breasts!). Is sleep regression something different?

 

I just found this interesting article on sleep regression -- Ask Moxie: Q&A: what are sleep regressions anyway? I also just ordered the book Wonder Weeks she refers to in the article. It sounds interesting and appeals to my scientist side.

 

The babies were up again at 5:30 this morning. But that's ok, because we had a really good day yesterday. This morning they woke at 5:30 and instead of trying to get them back to sleep I let them play in their cribs for 20 minutes. When they started to fuss, I fed them. Then I put them back in their cribs and they fell back to sleep until 7:30. This new schedule may actually work better for us. Moral of the story...listen to the babies

 

My boys went throught a sleep regression at 4 months too. I was really hard to go back to waking up at night. I would recomment the book Healthy Sleep Habbits Happy Child. A bunch of girls on this board recommended it to me and it has been a really life saver. You do not have to read the book from cover to cover you can just skip to the sections you need. I always use it as a referenence when I am having a hard time. He came out with an edition for twin, but I heard the original one is better. Hope this helps! I also found at 4 months I had to drop their last nap in the evening and went from four naps til 3 and it seemed to do the trick. But definatley it is like once you have it all figured out and are into a good grove and you feel like everything is under control they throw you for a loop. That's when I get out the book Lol