Baby will not stop

tom_tarbucket

Hello

As I write this, I'm awake yet again. Our baby is just 4 months old. He does not have any sickness and is healthy, normal weight etc. he is very well looked after ( in fact I think too well looked after - we do everything we can for him ) Our doctor and health nurse say he is perfectly healthy. He does not have colic or reflux.

This is our first baby, he is being breast fed and sometimes we mix in bottles.


In the 4 months, the longest he has slept non stop is max 3 hours. It's just getting ridiculous at this stage, every fookin night, it's the same thing, in the cot, sleep for an hour or 2, then bloody crying again.

I know babies for the first while are a bit unsettled but after 3 or 4 months, I was expecting some slight settling down.

We have tried different cots, tried his pram, with him in the bed etc and still no good.

My friends have babies of a similar age and they seem to get 6 hours stretches or even more.

He is totally taking our lives over, yes I know that's what they do but this lad hasn't given us one half decent night in 4 months. It's seriously driving us insane.

Does this seem normal ?

I'm wondering is there something wrong with him.

alexuszane

Not sure if it's normal, but thought I would share my sympathy with you. My partner is due in October so I'm sure I'll share your experience. Hope you get some rest soon

tom_tarbucket

alexuszane wrote: »

Not sure if it's normal, but thought I would share my sympathy with you. My partner is due in October so I'm sure I'll share your experience. Hope you get some rest soon

Thanks !

bbam

Really there's no "normal".
If the baby is healthy then the sleep will happen at some stage..

Not what you want to hear, some sleep, some don't.. And friends sometimes exaggerate too !!

Try and relax.. find some system that works for you to get you beyond this problem..

People will say "you must do this", " we always do this", "this always works", fine, nod be polite and even try some of the stuff you hear... But your baby isn't their baby so it needs something different..

Soon enough this will have passed... even if its just replaced with another seemingly impassable thing like teething... it too will pass...

Baby could be Hungry.

Could have upset tummy if he hasnt been burped properly or the milk was too cold.

Have you tried some calpol to settle him at night?

tom_tarbucket

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Baby could be Hungry.

Could have upset tummy if he hasnt been burped properly or the milk was too cold.

Have you tried some calpol to settle him at night?

He is being fed every 3 hours. Or sometimes more often. We always be sure and get wind up. We spend longer at winding sometimes than we do at feeding. We heat his milk bottles.

Might try some calpol.

tom_tarbucket

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

He is being fed every 3 hours. Or sometimes more often. We always be sure and get wind up. We spend longer at winding sometimes than we do at feeding. We heat his milk bottles.

Might try some calpol.

Hopefully the Calpol will help, my daughter is 2 and she wakes up every few hours to have her soother put back in her mouth!

The joys of parenting!

mikom

You using pacifier/dummy OP?

tom_tarbucket

mikom wrote: »

You using pacifier/dummy OP?

Tried it multiples of times, manually holding it in for ages during day trying to get him used to it, dipping it in milk etc.

But he just spits it out within a minute or 2. Have tried 4 different brands of dummy.

DM addict

If he keeps spitting out the dummy he's probably not interested in one.

Hate to say it, but this could just be the way he is right now. If you don't think there's anything wrong in terms of bottles-wind-nappy then you might just have to live with it for now. Sorry

Millem

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Hello

As I write this, I'm awake yet again. Our baby is just 4 months old. He does not have any sickness and is healthy, normal weight etc. he is very well looked after ( in fact I think too well looked after - we do everything we can for him ) Our doctor and health nurse say he is perfectly healthy. He does not have colic or reflux.

This is our first baby, he is being breast fed and sometimes we mix in bottles.


In the 4 months, the longest he has slept non stop is max 3 hours. It's just getting ridiculous at this stage, every fookin night, it's the same thing, in the cot, sleep for an hour or 2, then bloody crying again.

I know babies for the first while are a bit unsettled but after 3 or 4 months, I was expecting some slight settling down.

We have tried different cots, tried his pram, with him in the bed etc and still no good.

My friends have babies of a similar age and they seem to get 6 hours stretches or even more.

He is totally taking our lives over, yes I know that's what they do but this lad hasn't given us one half decent night in 4 months. It's seriously driving us insane.

Does this seem normal ?

I'm wondering is there something wrong with him.

My baby is 9 weeks and is a very very hungry baby. When he was breast fed/ combination fed he would literally look for it every 90 mins! I was so exhausted my milk dried up. I will never forget the tiredness I don't know how I was functioning. Since being fully formula fed he is a different baby he sleeps for long stretches during the night (he got a dream feed at 10pm and is getting fed now). Sometimes he goes for longer! He then goes straight back to sleep.

bp

I am all for breast feeding but at that stage we were giving a bottle of formula at bed time as we found we would get a long stretch in formula - an extra hour at least.

Also there is something called sleep regression at about 18 weeks where they don't sleep very well for up to a week....we found we got more sleep after that

Cunning Stunt

OP have you tried using one of the formulas available for 'hungrier babies'? Maybe he will sleep a bit longer if you use that.

tom_tarbucket

Millem wrote: »

My baby is 9 weeks and is a very very hungry baby. When he was breast fed/ combination fed he would literally look for it every 90 mins! I was so exhausted my milk dried up. I will never forget the tiredness I don't know how I was functioning. Since being fully formula fed he is a different baby he sleeps for long stretches during the night (he got a dream feed at 10pm and is getting fed now). Sometimes he goes for longer! He then goes straight back to sleep.

We tend to give him a an aptamil bottle at about 8 or 9 pm some nights. He drinks it all down, but still does not seem to make him sleep any longer.......maybe he just needs to be on aptamil bottles full time for the sleeping to change.

Roesy

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

We tend to give him a an aptamil bottle at about 8 or 9 pm some nights. He drinks it all down, but still does not seem to make him sleep any longer.......maybe he just needs to be on aptamil bottles full time for the sleeping to change.

How many oz's is he taking in that bottle? If he is consistently clearing the bottle maybe offer him another oz. He's being breastfed most of the time right? I combination fed until about 6 weeks. Her last bottle at night used be formula but I would still be up once or twice during the night to feed her myself. Breast milk is apparently digested quicker than formula so the baby will wake sooner. My supply was fairly poor and she never seemed completely satisfied after feeds and also had reflux so I did change over to anti reflux formula. It helped immediately with the discomfort but still woke at least once during the night for a feed for a few weeks so changing to bottles didn't stop night time waking for us. However, she is sleeping through the night since about 12 weeks.

Millem

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

We tend to give him a an aptamil bottle at about 8 or 9 pm some nights. He drinks it all down, but still does not seem to make him sleep any longer.......maybe he just needs to be on aptamil bottles full time for the sleeping to change.

I hate to say it but my mum always says they need to be filled up during the day! My lad is on apatmil too and nurse said he is so much more contented! Sometimes he guzzles 9oz in one bottle!

Roesy

Millem wrote: »

I hate to say it but my mum always says they need to be filled up during the day! My lad is on apatmil too and nurse said he is so much more contented! Sometimes he guzzles 9oz in one bottle!

When my lady was guzzling all day the doctor said that she was filling up for night time.

jaffusmax

If baby is normal weight then an extra oz or two may do the trick at the night feed.

On the bright side you are 4 months in and once over this hump you can look forward to a full night sleep. My 1 year old gets put to bed at 7pm since 6/7 months after 7 oz aptamil and sleeps till 7am. Routine for us was the key she is bathed every night at 6 so knows bedtime is soon. Also could be some early teething going on.

Maybe moving on to formula completely may take some pressure off?

Saying that every child is different. It will end though

clappyhappy

Personally I was always of the belief fill them up before bed. Use formula, maybe try the “for hungrier babies" first during the day in case it unsettles him. Then if he likes it give him a good feed before bed time.
I would also take turns in sleeping in the spare room. Both of ye awake every night is not good. At least if one of ye gets a good sleep it dies help the next day. Take turns it does help.
At 4 months my youngest was starting on solids, some kids are hungrier than others.
Only consolation is that it will get easier.

Best of luck.

lollsangel

Op I didnt get a full nights sleep til my 2 were 18 months....my daughter used to wake 4 or 5 time a night til shes was 9mths, and our son at least twice. They settle eventually...I found gentky rubbing their back while humming usually worked xx

Millem

jaffusmax wrote: »

If baby is normal weight then an extra oz or two may do the trick at the night feed.

On the bright side you are 4 months in and once over this hump you can look forward to a full night sleep. My 1 year old gets put to bed at 7pm since 6/7 months after 7 oz aptamil and sleeps till 7am. Routine for us was the key she is bathed every night at 6 so knows bedtime is soon. Also could be some early teething going on.

Maybe moving on to formula completely may take some pressure off?

Saying that every child is different. It will end though

I would have to agree! I was all for the breast feeding even renting a hospital grade pump, it was insane no wonder my milk dried up from exhaustion . I look back now and think how did I do it! As soon as we moved to formula he got into a routine straight away it was like a different baby! Your babs has had 4 months of breast milk which is amazing even if you do go to formula now

Sweet_pea

She doesn't have to stop breastfeeding completely though, can just add formula top ups maybe.

tom_tarbucket

Roesy wrote: »

How many oz's is he taking in that bottle? If he is consistently clearing the bottle maybe offer him another oz. He's being breastfed most of the time right? I combination fed until about 6 weeks. Her last bottle at night used be formula but I would still be up once or twice during the night to feed her myself. Breast milk is apparently digested quicker than formula so the baby will wake sooner. My supply was fairly poor and she never seemed completely satisfied after feeds and also had reflux so I did change over to anti reflux formula. It helped immediately with the discomfort but still woke at least once during the night for a feed for a few weeks so changing to bottles didn't stop night time waking for us. However, she is sleeping through the night since about 12 weeks.

He takes 200ml, which I think is 7 oz.
yep, he is breastfed most if the time, bout 90%.

Our lad can wake 3, 4 and 5 times during the night.

tom_tarbucket

Roesy wrote: »

When my lady was guzzling all day the doctor said that she was filling up for night time.

We do feed him a lot during the day too.

tom_tarbucket

jaffusmax wrote: »

If baby is normal weight then an extra oz or two may do the trick at the night feed.

On the bright side you are 4 months in and once over this hump you can look forward to a full night sleep. My 1 year old gets put to bed at 7pm since 6/7 months after 7 oz aptamil and sleeps till 7am. Routine for us was the key she is bathed every night at 6 so knows bedtime is soon. Also could be some early teething going on.

Maybe moving on to formula completely may take some pressure off?

Saying that every child is different. It will end though

I always hear that moving from breast to formula will make the baby sleep longer. But it is hard for the mother to give up breast feeding emotionally etc.

Roesy

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

We do feed him a lot during the day too.

I don't doubt that! It's pretty draining when you feel like a milking parlour during the day and then you are up and down like a yo-yo during the night. I started adding in another bottle during the day after about 5 weeks and then after a few days introduced another one. It didn't help my already poor supply but mentally I felt a lot better for it and I had pretty much made the decision that I was stopping breastfeeding at that stage anyway. It didn't help with the night wakings initially but I was definitely less tired and more able for them. I suppose they did reduce in number quite soon after starting formula full time though. Breastfeeding can be hard but ye have given the baby a great start. Whether ye keep it up or not is a decision only ye can make. We had colic and reflux to contend with, it was mainly worse during the day. For some funny reason even when she was waking pretty frequently during the night she wasn't too difficult. It was feed, wind, change, 20 mins upright time and back to bed. She used not be that upset really but that whole routine could take 45-60 mins and repeated at least once or twice. It does get better though. At 19 weeks she now goes to bed between 7.30-8 and usually sleeps until 6.45-7.30. She is having a lot of trouble with her teeth at the moment so we'll be lucky if she stays that good though.

Millem

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

I always hear that moving from breast to formula will make the baby sleep longer. But it is hard for the mother to give up breast feeding emotionally etc.

I know! And I know you can combo feed (which is what I was doing!) but it was still every couple of hours it was shattering.

pwurple

Could be teething. A little early, but plenty of babies get them early too. Try calpol once and see if it helps.

My 2 week old has day and night switched again! Arg!

Sweet_pea

I combo feed as I had problems with a tongue tie, it works really well for me as I didn't want to just give up on the breast feeding. I feed on breast alone through the night as I co sleep and we do the lying down position so we don't have to wake up fully. I them increase the formula top ups through the day as my supply goes down, I also pump to add in with bottles.

If breastfeeding is important to her than it's not that hard to do, does she go to a BF group at all.

Might not be the feeding either as purple said there could be teeth, there is a reason just trial and error to find what it is

highly1111

OP, is the baby in his own room? If not, definitely do that. You could be waking each other.

otherwise, definitely hunger. Our messer used to down 2 bottles before bed at that age. I'm not messing. Honestly, about 12 oz. No one could believe it. First night we refilled the bottle he slept from 8-9am. Also, make sure you have the right size teat on the bottle. He should be at least on size 2 now. Also make sure he's not cold.

tom_tarbucket

highly1111 wrote: »

OP, is the baby in his own room? If not, definitely do that. You could be waking each other.

otherwise, definitely hunger. Our messer used to down 2 bottles before bed at that age. I'm not messing. Honestly, about 12 oz. No one could believe it. First night we refilled the bottle he slept from 8-9am. Also, make sure you have the right size teat on the bottle. He should be at least on size 2 now. Also make sure he's not cold.

Baby is not in his own room.
Don't understand the rest of your first paragraph.

No, he is not cold