Issues with 4 month old

[badgerbadgerbadger]

Hi, first time dad posting here, hoping that you can help me and my lovely partner through our baby issues.

Having two, probably interlinked problems at the moment with our 4 month boy, the first is that he seems to have hit the dreaded sleep regression stage with gusto - this started 3 weeks ago but seems to not be getting any better (this is particularly painful as we'd managed to get him down to only 1-2 wakeups per night before this point). In general, he will only sleep at night in 2 hour blocks (almost to the minute - if it wasn't so annoying I'd be impressed by his punctuality), and often needs a feed to get back asleep at each wake. At worst, hes up every 45 mins. Needless to say this is becoming a massive drag on both of us in terms of staying awake (as I work full time too). Were having to go to bed very early just to get enough sleep just to vaguely function. Any ideas on how to get him back to how he was before would be gratefully received.

Second problem is that he's suddenly decided that he won't take big feeds from a bottle. He's been mixed fed from very early days and was always good at taking a bottle from me, particularly before bed. Now though, he will generally only take 30-40ml (at any time, not just bed) before either screaming or falling asleep. We've tried all three teat sizes for the Dr browns bottles - size 3 he couldn't quite cope with but he doesn't eat much from size 2. Hes happy on the boob though. Obviously this means I'm useless (or even more useless...) for all the night wake ups,so my partner is much more broken than me by it. Again any tips much appreciated.

Its all building up at the moment, and it feels like we only have 2 months to crack this before he goes to nursery and my partner goes back to work. Although if we have 2 more months of this, we might have gone mad anyway :)

[poocatcherchampion]

if you are at work and your partner on maternity leave she should be doing night feeds in my opinion. If you don't have another one is entertain in the day she should be catching up on sleep during the day or at worst from when the baby goes to bed in the evening.

I say this from the position of approx 4 wakings a night and nowhere near a stretch of 2 hours on Saturday night. and with a 18 month old thrown in. so little rest in the day during the week. dh does his bit during waking hours and occasionally once a night if I am desperate.

the good news is that this does pass and should have done long before your partner is back at work.

I cant advise on the bottle thing maybe it is little and often. if your partner is going to bed early or would be amazing if you could do evening feeds.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Agree with above. How Bout sharing the night feeds too? So your partner does bottle feeds from 7pm to 1 am and you bf from then until 7am?

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Sorry should have said, welcome to Mn and try this book.

It might be worth talking to a BFC about your feeding concerns, have you got the numbers, or posting in the breast and bottle section.

[HearMyRoar]

If I were you I really wouldn't worry too much about the nursery or returning to work. Seriously, these things will sort themselves out with much less stress and bother then you think. I went back to work when dd was 4.5 months and like yours she was in the middle of sleep regression waking every 45 mins and suddenly became a bottle refuser. I am not quite sure how but we just bumbled through and dd was just fine.

In fact, going back to work proved to be really very restful and after a while dd started taking a bit of milk from a bottle and then just feeding loads in the morning and evening around work.

For sleep, we just ended up co-sleeping and riding it out to be honest as dd's 4 month regression didn't really stop until she was over a year old. My dp kept me going by doing any nappy changes so, with the co-sleeping, i never had to actually get out of bed. He also got up with her in the mornings so I could get a bit of sleep and we would both take turns sleeping at the weekends.

[badgerbadgerbadger]

Thanks all, hoping that we can power through it. Feeding before bed went a bit better after we Bonjela'd his gums before the bottle, and he took 150ml, hurrah!

To be honest, I think life at home with the boy is harder than me being in work (just an office job) - it certainly was when I was off for extended paternity leave - so I'd like life to be as easy as possible for partner. The little man has never been much of a daytime sleeper except in the pram...

[purrpurr]

4 month old here, not sleeping, not eating much. Didn't even think to use teething gel before a feed to see if that helps, even though we think she is teething. Thanks badger, might have a better night!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

If he sleeps in the pram, have you tried a sling too? We had the Close one. Dd would feed then crash out in it. Either that or get your partner to try slerping with him on the bed in the day.