4 Month Old Wakes up a LOT!!

A.,

Your doctor is right - some babies are like that. Hang in there - and give her the formula right away, rather than letting it be a last resort. She apparently isn't "wired" to sleep for a long stretch just yet, but I'm guessing that once she is, she will be a champion sleeper!

D.

My baby did the same thing. And she still does (she is now 9 months old). She wakes up 3-4 times in the night. All she wants is to nurse for a minute and then she goes right back to sleep. I agree with your ped. Some babies ARE like that, and that is their personality. I know it disrups your sleep but I guess that is just part of motherhood. You just have to get up in the night with the baby. Some mothers will tell you to just let them cry -- but I don't believe in that approach. I think if your baby wakes up, it is your job as that babies mother to get up and give the baby what it needs. This will pass soon enough. Hang in there and know she WILL outgrow this phase. It goes by so fast. Good luck!

Please try swaddling her. You can even get blankets with velcro for this purpose. It gives the baby a feeling of security to be wrapped snugly. Arms need to be at her sides, not free. I'll bet it will work for her. Young babies can't control their arm and leg movement well, so the twitching and flailing wake them up. I'm a mother, grandmother,daycare provider for 30 years, and a retired nurse, and I've used this on all my little ones. It's amazing!

Both of my kids started sleeping better right around 3-4 months, so yours is right around then. Also, at 4 months I started feeding my kids rice cereal before bedtime.

Try putting a pillow or blanket in her crib that smells like you or daddy. This gives her something to cuddle with and should help her sleep thru the night. My son would wake up alot and once I cuddled him he would go back to sleep. For a few days he wouldn't go back to sleep until I brought him to bed with us to cuddle. So I started putting one of Daddy's pillows in the crib with him and he started sleeping thru the night right away. Good luck.

Hi A.
I love this stage and hate this stage because it is like you never know what is wrong when they are like this. My kids were somewhat the same way. It sounds like you are eliminating the major things (food, dirty diaper, paci..) what about gas? Maybe she has a sensitive stomach? Have you tried a different formula? Or what about teething? Just because you can't see them doesn't mean it isn't giving her trouble? If it were me (and I know everyone is different)and I did this with both my kids ( 3 and 1) is give them the recommended dose of infant motrin and see if that helps. We also discovered all natural teething tablets that immediately disolve when you put them in babies mouth. You can get them about anywhere and are awesome!! I still give them to my daughter before bed (just 3) as she is getting in ALL but 8 teeth (those are the ones she already has) at the same time. I can't think of the name, but they come in a small white bottle/white lid and are in the same area as the other baby items/teething products.
Good luck and hang in there. I know it is hard at this age but it will pass.

Your doctor is right--some babies are like that! I sympathize with your sleep deprivation. I went through it myself for over 2 years, with my child having GERD and teething pain. And I'm sure it is twice as hard since you also have a toddler. I recommend reading Attachment Parenting and other books by Dr. William Sears. At 4 months, you should be going to your baby every time she cries. She may just need comfort, which is just as important as food. This is too young to be trying the cry-it-out method, which in my opinion is never a good idea, but especially not with babies under 6 months. The No-Cry Sleep Solution is another good book. Some babies have a "high needs" temperament. Baby wearing, such as carrying your baby in a sling, co-sleeping or bed sharing, and nursing are all attachment parenting techniques that are especially helpful with this kind of baby. It is normal for a 4 month old to still wake frequently during the night. Some babies cannot sleep through the night consistently till the age of two. Every baby is different, and as a mother, you have to keep in mind that this won't last forever and that meeting the needs of your babies is your top priority. Try to sleep and nap when they do, and ask friends, husband, and family for help. Good luck!

at this baby's bed time put 1 TBSP of baby cereal per oz of formula and shake it up real well. when she eats - she'll sleep real well. It won't hurt her either.

Hi, A.! I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing that horrible night schedule! I went through the same thing with my daughter. She was up every 45 minutes to an hour and a half. It was brutal! It averaged her being up about 4-8 times a night. It got old REAL QUICK! If I picked her up, she stopped crying, but started right back up before I could get comfortable in my bed! Eventually, she grew out of it, but it seemed like it took forever. She didn't sleep through the night until she was 12 months old. Some kids just don't sleep. Maybe we have been the lucky ones to get one of those! Stay strong, and do your best to keep your cool. I know how frustrating it can be to get up numerous times at night. You certainly don't need two babies up crying, so do what you have to do to keep your daughter from waking up the other one! I wish you the best of luck!

First, get over the lack of sleep. A 4 months old should be up feeding every 3-4 hours. My son was up every 1.5-2 hours until 9 months.
Your doctor is right, some babies are like that. Stop trying to change it and learn to deal with it. You're lucky your doctor isn't telling you to put cereal in the bottle! Some doctors are still that stupid, even though all the evidence says it's bad for babies to get solids before about 6 months.
Don't let a 4-month-old cry it out. They wake for a reason. Don't make her scream her head off just because you don't like her reasons for waking up :(
She sounds hungry to me. What you need to work on doing is keeping her awake for a full feeding so she isn't up again a couple hours later. If she falls asleep with the bottle half gone, rouse her and keep going.
I don't know anything about bottle feeding, but I do know that when breastfed babies fall asleep nursing before they are really finished feeding, you can rubs their heads, tickle them, take off some clothes so they are cooler...do anything to keep her awake so she gets a full belly and sleeps longer.
Second, is your husband helping? I thought one of the reasons women formula feed is so they didn't have to do all the feeding. Wake him up and make him take every-other feeding. Sounds like you have your hands full with 2 under two, I know you don't get much down time and you're working all day. He needs to step up and lose a little sleep, too!