4 Month Sleep Regression...

I so hear you. My little guy was sleeping great till the 4 month sleep regression, and now we are on the 6 month sleep regression. I am a total zombie and super grumpy mommy to my 2 year old!

My plan is to just keep hanging on, and hope that he sleeps again soon. I know it's all about habits, so I doubt that will happen. What I do know is that putting them to bed later just makes it worse. Try 15 minutes earlier every night.

Also, just hang in there. You are in wonder week hell zone --from roughly 15 weeks to 26 weeks there is just so much going on! My guy has been wide awake from 10-12 every night, and then is wide awake at 5!

They will settle down again soon.

Babies and toddlers have stages. What they are doing at 8 weeks, you can't expect them to be doing at 12 weeks. In my opinion, there is no "training" an infant. Their needs for food change, their comfort level changes as they begin to get teeth, and their need for the comforting touch of a parent changes. I'm sorry that you are worn out, but that just comes with having an infant. You'll blink and your baby will be school age and you'll wonder how it went so fast. Just enjoy the very early morning snuggles:)

Hello!
I read your post and cannot help thinking that Reiki would help. Reiki is energy, and there is a simple way to learn to give this energy to others and even to ourselves. If you take Reiki training, you will be able to give treatments to your child and also to yourself. Believe me, you will be glad.

My Reiki teacher, who lives in Jerusalem, Israel, will be coming to teach in the SF Bay Area during the first two weeks in June. Please get back to me so that I can send you more information about the classes, and even get you in touch with her so that you can ask her questions directly. Hurry, because she will be leaving Jerusalem on May 27th, and after that it will be hard for her to answer you.

sincerely,

S.

She's too early for sleep training, but babies will always benefit from having a similar routine every day and night. Sleep during the day if and when you can until the nights get easier. Her sleep will change and evolve constantly through the next few years, and some kids don't have a consistent sleeping schedule (same amount every night) until age 5 or older. I don't say that to scare you; I tell you this to help you feel a bit better and that your daughter's sleeping is the same as everyone else's :) Naps are also tricky; my daughter started taking 20-30 minute naps at that age!! She's also getting ready to go through another growth spurt and is at an age developmentally where she's learning new things that are possibly disrupting her sleep. I would recommend to stay patient and know that this, too, shall pass!!!

Is she teething? My kids got very little sleep when they were teething. It was miserable for all of us!

Sleep patterns are the 1st thing to change when your baby hits a developmental change. Is she teething? That always made my son wake up every two hours. Is she rolling over? Learning to sit up? So much happens in the 1st year or more that you can never expect them to be regular. I think the Big Baby Book goes into it with more detail.

Every child is different, but don't expect them to sleep like an adult for a long while (sometimes never as some adults have lots of sleep issues). If you are fortunate enough for a great sleeping child, then great! =D

This may not help but my first from 4 months to 6 months was up every 2 hours as well and I was a zombie until I began co- sleeping. What's nice about co-sleeping Is that I usually fell asleep nursing and so would she so it didn't seem like a full wake up for me all night long. For naps I took her out on walks so she slept in the carrier/stroller a lot or I would resort to nursing down at nap times and sleeping with her. People say don't nurse down... But she's 20 months now and goes to sleep just fine. She naturally weaned herself at 10 months and has a bottle of milk before bedtime. I'm sure she could do without but we use it as a little treat.
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Try to avoid sleep training. As Denise mentioned, so much is going on for the little ones at this time and they need the comfort...My second one is now 15 weeks and is needing more comfort going to bed at night and has been waking up more so we'll see what happens!

She may need to have more activity during her awake times. As she grows and develops, she is going to need more stimulation and activity. Try playing more with her... doing "patty cake", "peek a boo" etc, and just helping her move her little body. Also some outdoor time can work wonders. Put her in a stroller and go for a walk, or just take her outdoors and lie together on a blanket in the yard. The fresh air and different atmosphere outside tends to add to the child's activity and help them to sleep better.
Also, as others have indicated, keep the routine as consistent as possible.

I have to say I agree 100% with Denise G. Parenting doesn't end at night. One of the tricks is to stay consistent with your routines for nap and night, allowing for small changes that need to be and adaptations as baby gets older. I found that when my kids would have a change in their normal routine it would be anywhere from 2-4 weeks and then things would go back to normal.

You don't want to put her to bed later or let her skip naps. Sleep begets sleep. If you start going later or skipping naps you will start a cycle of an over-tired, super cranky wired baby.