[~SES~]

It's been going on for 3-4 weeks now, but my now 16 week old is waking every 40-60 minutes after 12-1am. Last night he woke every 20 minutes after 3am. The best it gets is him waking every 2 hours after midnight (which is maybe once/twice per week). I've turned into a zombie and am not coping.

He is breastfed, doesn't use a dummy, he can self settle (about 50% of the time).

I try to not feed him after about 4am, because otherwise he will barely feed before his first morning nap.

He will usually only sleep for about 40 minutes 3-4 times per day, and I put him to bed at around 7pm (up to 30 mins earlier or later depending on his awake times and sleep during the day.

I tried the Save Our Sleep routine, but it doesn't work for us because he can't go longer than about 3 and a half hours between feeds during the day, and won't sleep longer than one sleep cycle at a time.

I don't want to co-sleep.

I've got no idea what to do. I'd love some help.

[Sunnycat]

I'm sorry. No advice just sympathy as from about 3 months to 7.5 months my DS woke every 40-60 minutes at night. Then suddenly he grew out of it. He was in a side car cot but I ended up having to cosleep out of necessity because the only way he would go back to sleep is with boob.I tried all sorts of methods except leaving him to CIO but nothing worked. At around 7.5 months he grew out of it and was waking every 2 hours until about 11 months.

He is now nearly 13 months old and is a much better sleeper, not great but does at least 3-4 hour blocks.

I have no advice, just sympathy.

[CharliMarley]

How many feeds is he having throughout the day. Research has shown that babies in the first few months will want to breastfeed about 17 times, with the average being 11 times, so that approximately equates to feeding every 2-3 hours in the 24 hour period. It may be a good idea to feed him during the day in the light with sunshine etc. and then later at night, very quietly with no speaking and a night light on, because he has to differentiate between night and day. Carrying him around in a sling throughout the day will make him more contended and he will sleep more if he is having skin to skin with you and babies like being with their mums and not shut in a room on their own. Just a few tips you could try and I hope he grows out of this before too long.

[divineM]

you say he can self settle 50% of the time when first put to bed...are you giving him a chance to do this when he wakes during the night? my DD's night sleep deteriorated around 5 months of age because every time she woke we would pat her to sleep even though she could self settle at the start of the night. it's hard to do during the night because you just want them to go back to sleep quickly but give it a try maybe. Have you thought of sleep school/night nanny? they may be better suited to giving you age-appropriate advice. by the time we tackled night waking my DD was 8 months and old enough to be left to cry for a couple of minutes at a time.

[Ehill]

Google 4 month sleep regression. Horrible time!

[Full Time Mum]

Oh I feel for you! Sleep deprivation is one of the worst things! I went through this with my now 2.5yr old.

It also started when she was four months old. These days I know everything and anything there is to know about sleep

At four months baby's sleep cycles change and they start spending a lot more time in light sleep as opposed to deep sleep. When they are newborns and up until the four month mark they spend a lot of time in the deep sleep phase which is why they seem to be able to sleep through pretty much anything and anywhere...

At four months all this changes and they will wake up every fourty or so minutes unless they are able to and willing to self settle. I saw you mentioned that he self settles sometimes. Remember that your little bub is growing up and getting smarter and is starting to notice more. He is probably realising that if he wants to, he can have mummy to help him fall asleep...

So my advise to you is, think about what you are comfortable with doing. Are you willing to try and do the comfort cry or cry it out techniques? I know I wasnt strong enough but that is a whole other story.... But if you do not and cannot continue like this, it may be something you want to think about...

I have a blog in which I share my story as well as advsie about some common parenting issues. This is a link to one of my articles about sleep ...

http://www.fulltimemum.com/top-10-reasons-...-overcome-this/

Good Luck!

Full Time Mum
www.fulltimemum.com

[Princess.cranky....]

Could be a number of things causing the frequent wakeing waking overnight.

When you feel like you're not coping it's time to ask for some help. I know what it's like, been there. Make an appointment with child health. They might be able to give you some tips on how to settle him O/N. Also if things don't improve think about going to sleep school. Child health can do a referral for SS.

Hope things get better for you soon.