4 month Fantastic Funk

Yep, we are in a funk. Our easy, sleeping baby is now a raging fighter.

I thought we had everything figured out. Caden’s been hitting milestones, rolls over and started sitting up by himself. He was sleeping 7-9 hours a night, going to bed between 8:30-10pm. Waking up around 6am. We started solids. Taking naps consistently at 10 / 2pm everyday in his swing for 1-2 hours. Everything was beautiful.

Then he turned 4 months old.

Now he fights sleep with all his might. Cries every time he has to go to sleep. He hates being put down in his crib, will suddenly wake up if you try and put him down. And for some reason he can’t seem to fall asleep on his own anymore resulting in him having to nurse himself to sleep (not cool).

So we are in a funk … a terrible funk that I hope to get out of soon. Hopefully way before we take our long haul to Hawaii. I couldn’t imagine dealing with this funk on a 10 hour flight.

Anyways so of course I’m trying to figure out what is going on … after some research I’m coming to find out that it could be anything.

• Solids / Formula
• Teething
• 4 month growth spurt
• 4 month regression
• His shots
• Gas / Reflux
• Just doesn’t want to go to bed
• The list can go on forever …

Freakin’ fantastic.

I did however learn that when Newborns fall asleep they go into a deep sleep instantly, hence the reason you can put them down after they pass out and why we were able to feed Caden a bottle every night and he would easily drift off to lala land. But at the age of 4 months they start sleeping like we do. They go into a light sleep and then drift off into a deep sleep half hour or so later. Hence, the reason he is waking up every time we put him down. And the reason why they tell you from the beginning to teach them to fall asleep on their own.

From the beginning he was able to go back to sleep on his own, at least we thought. It seems that he has forgotten how to do this and instead of just sleeping he fights it till he passes out. Ugh … I’ve read that routine is extremely important and although we HAD a routine, I feel the routine isn’t working for us anymore.

We use to give a bath, come down stairs hang out with dad a bit, watch TV while I get his bottle ready, head up stairs, turn on his noise machine, turn off the lights, give baby bottle, baby passes out.

This isn’t the case anymore. So we need to make some changes. It’s almost like he needs some time after his bottle now to let things settle. And I’ve also read that TV can be a stimulate to babies. So last night we changed some things up.

He got a bath, got his jammies on (instead of taking him back downstairs I kept him upstairs in his room), we read a book (quiet play) on his floor in his nursery, turned on sound / ceiling thingy machine, turned the lights off, gave him his bottle and afterwards I tried a couple of different things. I tried rocking him, holding him, made sure he burped but you can tell he just wasn’t comfortable and he was super tired. He wanted to go to sleep but just couldn’t. So I said goodnight, kissed him and put him in his crib. He didn’t like that so much. He started screaming and got so upset that I went to drastic measures I busted out …..

The Hair Dryer

Instantly, he stopped crying, relaxed and drifted off to sleep while I rubbed his forehead. He was asleep by 930.

This morning, it was the same thing. I knew he was tired and needed to go take his nap. But he just doesn’t know how to sleep on his own anymore. So again I put him in his crib (which he’s use to taking naps in his swing) he cried, I turned on the hair dryer and actually dried my hair in the process and he instantly calmed down and drifted off to sleep. Multi-tasking at it’s finest!

It’s not that he can’t sleep in his crib or doesn’t want to, or that his routine is out of whack .. it’s really just because he forgot how to put himself to sleep.

The hair dryer may be a crutch right now, but at least he’s falling asleep, alone in his crib, peacefully. Once he masters this or at least gets use to being in his crib for naps and falling asleep by himself, I’ll slowly take away the hairdryer. Although I don’t want to play my trump card too much.

These last couple weeks have been crazy and we’ve been making some major changes with Caden. We introduced solids, finally figured out a formula that works with his system. Switching from swing naps to crib naps and trying to get him to go to sleep earlier. I know it takes time but I really do believe it comes down to routine. So once we get that figured out we’ll be golden

So that’s where we are at in our fantastic Funk ….

I need Help figuring out CK’s routine …

What is your child’s bedtime routine?