HELP - Sleepless nights with 4 month old

[daintree]

Hi all,

I am at my wits end with my little boys constant waking at night. Just to fill you in routine.
He has a bottle at around 7 at night the a dream feed at around 11 as recommended by Tracy Hogg (Baby Whisperer) which works well.
Then from around 2 in the morning he constantly waking up to sometimes 20 times untill 6-7 when I eventually get up and give him a bottle.
All it seems to take is to give him his dummy and he back off for another 1/2 hour - 1 hour.
I also have a 2 year old whic thankfully sleeps well, but I am so exhausted during the days I have no energy to do anything. I have been getting by on maybe 4 hours broken sleep a night for the last 4 months.

Any suggestions are very welcome.

carmel

[BIGlilBUBU]

Take the dummy away, he probably wakes because it falls out. If he learns to sleep without it hes far more likely to sleep through. Try singing him to sleep instead or doing the pick up put down method. Or try shhing and patting his back gently while hes in the cot. How is he at getting to sleep? Does he need a dummy or bottle or can he do it himself?

[Pennies]

Not persoanlly my thing but have you tried co-sleeping?

My DD2 was a bad sleeper (tho nothing like you describe) and she would wake every 10 mins from 5am unless I took her into bed with me. I was never very comfortable with it and never truly slept when she was in bed with us but I got more rest than if she was in her own cot. This was until 6 months BTW when I moved her into her own room and Got Tough!

[chipo]

I can sympathise. My dd is also 4 months old and is doing exactly the same thing. She goes to sleep ok without a dummy, but from about 11.30/12.00 when she has her dream feed she too wakes up constantly. I then feed her again at around 6ish, she sometimes sleeps an hour or so after that, If I'm lucky. I feel like a zombie.

[megusta]

I can fully sympathise. mine did the same thing from 4 months. the only way we got any sleep was to take him to bed with us. worked marvellously. he is still in the bed and we are all used to it now and it is very snugly and lovely. he sleeps from midnight to 7 am now so am not walking into walls with exhaustion anymore. co sleeping is not for everyone but it does seem to work for babies that night wake a lot and it allows you to get some slep too. good luck and hugs

[megusta]

oooh, btw- persevere with daytime naps, they need to go down no more than 2 hours after waking. so if woke at 7am you need to be encouraging another nap by 9am by the latest. when i cottoned on to this it really helped a lot. if they get overtired they find it hard to drop off. so first sign of eye rubbing, ear pulling- straight off to bed. i got in a stew over sleep associations for a while but when i thought' bugger it, í´ll do it my way' things got a lot easier. often he falls asleep on the boob, but sometimes in his cot, pram, granny's arms. i had a couple of weeks when all i seemed to do was try to get the little b to nap, but it was worthwhile as he goes down quickly now. (usually) anywya, point is, when they nap better in the day they often sleep better at night aswell.