Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

So nights could be better, but they could also be worse...so I am interested to know how your 3-4 month olds are sleeping at night, especially if they are breastfed only. I am having trouble catching Immi's bedtime slot, and some nights it takes no time at all to put her down for the night, and other nights, I am picking her up and putting her down from 7 pm until 11 pm. Not good...

Immi has a bath at about 6.30 pm, she get a looooooooong feed, and I usually put her down in her co-sleeper at 7.30. She usually sleeps until about 12.15 am (which, I am embarassed to say, is usually about when I go to bed) and goes down easily again, however from that 12.45 slot, she seems to be up every two hours, until about 4-5 am when I take her in bed with me, and after that she can sleep until 9 or 10 if she can.

Please let me know, are your babies sleeping better than mine? I am ready for ONE good nights sleep!!! TIA!!!

Re: Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

DD was getting some formula for a while but we found that she prefers breastmilk so now she is only getting it on the rare occasion she's not satisfied with her bottles. She is only taking 4 oz during the day.

I BF her when I get home, around 5/6pm, and again before she goes down for the night between 7:30 and 8:30pm. Her nights are all over the place - some nights she wakes up at 2am, other nights 4am. There is no consistency!

I did find that she is not a fan of an early bedtime. If she goes down before 8 pm, she will wake up to eat an hour or so later and then THAT will be her bedtime. Otherwise she will be up, like you said, till 11pm. The funny thing is she only needs to eat a little bit to be satisfied, it's like she needs to be "topped off" for the night!

After her night feeding she usually goes back down until 6, 6:30am and then is up till her first nap (which, again, varies from day to day because she has no consistency!).

I don't know if that helped you at all but I do understand your frustration

Re: Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

Thank you! I just wanted to be sure that we weren't the only ones with no consistency yet!

Re: Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

Yael was sleeping 8-10 hours a night at that point.

In contrast, it wasn't until Alex was about 14 months old that she started sleeping through the night consistently.

Sometimes it's all about temperment and personality

Re: Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

We just started following "The Baby Sleep Solution"


Prior to this we were sleeping STTN consistently 6 hours at least. Now he sleeps 8. Book promises 12 hours STTN with a 3 hours cumulative naptime during day.

We are only at Step 2: weaning off night feedings. The author write for both breastfed and formula fed babies.

So far our schedule:

9pm fourth and last feeding
4:30 am gets fussy, but not wake up, I dream feed him a little less than previous night
6:00am up for the day - he's up happy and playing
7:30-9:00am he's exhausted and naps
9am first feeding
(I'm late today, he's still napping )
1pm second feeding
5pm third feeding


we make sure to take naps after first and second feeding, but he will usually nap after the third feeding too.
Step 4 is napping so we aren't pushing it, yet.

Step 1 was feedings, first day of the feeding schedule was a nightmare, but second day, like magic he just didn't want to eat till 4 hours passed.

Step 3 is sleeping 12 hours straight through, which is going to be difficult, he literally wakes up smiling at 5:30 am and I try to shush him and pacify him to sleep a little more, but he just charms me into play.

When I BF, he slept 3 hours max, any time of day. I only FF now. Its so much less stress for me, it was depressing as anything I ever went through to give it up, but I'm at peace with it now.

My mom argued forever with me that the schedule he's on is not healthy. Oh yeah? He's bright, playful, social, and always in a good mood. This kid knows 5 words already, we test him every day: feet, hands, up, down, tummy, bottle. He falls a sleep in his crib, in his own room on his own when its time. Its amazing what enforcing schedule has done for him.

Message edited 6/8/2010 9:35:36 AM.

Re: Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

We have been getting Mason on a bit more of a consistent schedule, but he is still far from STTN. His last feeding is at about 8-8:30pm. Then he will sleep until anywhere between 1-3am. He will eat and then go back down until about 5am, eat again and go back down for another 2 hours or so. I just started formula feeding at night last week, but it hasn't seemed to change his sleep schedule one way or another.

Re: Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

My DD is EBF.

She has a bath around 8 and eats after that (really depends on when she last ate and when she is 'supposed' to eat again).

I lotion and baby massage after bath then we read in the rocker, lights down. If she doesnt fall asleep while reading I either put her in her swing or rock her myself if she's close to sleeping. She's usually asleep by 930-10.

DD has been STTN since she was 1month old. She sleeps until 6 or 7am!!

Re: Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

DD is FF but we have somewhat of a routine down now.

I feed her about 8pm, she seems sleepy so I put her in her swing to rock her to sleep completely. Around 830 I pick her up out of the swing and bring her to the crib. She wakes up imediately
I then play with her and talk to her until about 1030-11ish where I'll give her another bottle. She'll down that bottle and pass out in the middle of drinking. I leave her on me for like 20 mins, move her to the crib where she'll FINALLY stay sleeping (she just refuses to go in her crib before 11pm)
She'll sleep from like 1130-6am. Then I change her, feed her and play. She gets sleepy again around 730 and will sleep til 9ish

Re: Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

At that age, DS had one long stretch of about 4 hours (usually the 1st part of the night). After that, he woke up to nurse at least every 3 hours. How often does DD eat during the day? You could try to feed her more often in hopes of getting her to sleep longer at night. It may or may not work though. DS didn't start STTN until he was 7 months old.

Re: Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

my DD was giving us 8 hour stretches at 2 months old (6 hours at like 5 weeks old) with an 8 pm bedtime - she peaked early - and then really regressed when her reflux got bad and some bad habits formed. we stopped even getting a 5-hour stretch - she would be up at 10, 11, 1, 2, 5, 6 and would no longer even go down easily - it was awful for awhile, but i think it sort of worked itself out. she's now 4.5 months and we decided to focus on her daytime schedule per weissbluth (i.e., napping by the clock at 9 and at noon and again in the late afternoon if she's cooperative), added a bath to her nighttime routine every night, and also pushed up her bedtime a bit (also per weissbluth) - it's flexible but sometime btw 7 and 8 so one night she was asleep by 7:15, another by 7:45. she just started STTN again - and by that i mean 12-hours, up at 8 am without any nighttime wakings (at least not ones that need us - sometimes i wake up at 6 on my own, see her awake on the monitor, use the bathroom, check her again when i go back to bed, and she's asleep). i'm hoping this continues. as much as it breaks my heart, esp when i go back to work since i'll have very little time with her at night, but weissbluth was right about the earlier bedtime and focusing on good naps - it's really helped get her back on track and the last few nights have been awesome.

Re: Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

josh was still up all the time.

jessie...baths at 6:30...i always throw her in with josh.

nurse at 7, change her.
then in the stroller for my night cardio.

home at 7:45.
at 8:30, lay in bed, feed her, change her, wrap her legs up in a swaddle and put her in the cradle. usually asleep in 5 minutes. if not, go down to swing...then transfer up to cradle.

will sleep till 5ish. feed for 5 minutes, burp, then back down to 7.

Re: Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

My DD is EBF.

9:00am - She wakes up for the day/eats

11:30am - She eats then she naps.

2-2:30pm - She wakes up and eats.

4:30-5pm - She eats and takes a nap.

6:30-7pm - She wakes up and this is bath time, play time I may nurse a little.

8:30-9pm - Her last feeding, I lay her in her bed and she goes to sleep.

She STTN until 5am when I sleep feed.


She has been STTN since 2 months.
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We all know every baby is different. I thought my DS was a good baby but my DD is just by far an easy baby. Sometimes we just have to go with the flow. My DS... I could never just lay down in a bed and walk away, he didn't STTN until 4 months. He had a 1am feeding he would not give up. Back then 1am till 7am was STTN for me. He also had an insatiable hunger where DD is so much more lax. Good Luck!

Re: Moms of 3-4 month olds...help me out with nights

DD #2 is about 15 weeks old. I find that when she goes to sleep earlier she sleeps longer. She gets SO cranky around 5 ish and usually naps for about an hour or so in her swing. Then she usually has a bath around 6 pm or so and starts eating her last bottle around 6:30 or 6:45 pm. Sometimes even 7. She goes to sleep between 7:30 and 8 most nights. And she sleeps till between 5:30 and 6:30 am! I am finding that when she goes to sleep at 7:30 she sleeps till 6:30, whereas if she goes to sleep after 8 pm, she is up earlier.

I like Weisbluth's book too and try to follow it. She is totally inconsistent with her daytime naps though.