What is my baby doing?

[Guest guest]

> >My normally brilliant baby of 4 months (slept through the

> >night from 5.30pm

> >to 5.30am, then till about 9am, since aged 5 weeks) has

> all of a sudden

> >(since Saturday night) decided not to settle.

This probably doesn't help... but I have to say I think it's really

common! When I was pregnant I remember all those mums moaning that

their perfect baby had started waking up again at around 4 months, and

that it was even worse then than the first few nweborn weeks because

this time around they weren't prepared for it...

Then my perfect sleeper, DD, did exactly the same. She was a wonderful

sleeper from 6-8 weeks onwards (8 to 8...) and I thought I had

everything sorted and couldn't quite understand what the fuss was

about... Then she started waking up between 2 and 6 times a night from

around 4 months, and from 4 1/2 months I gave in to all the talks

about solids (a la she's probably hungry). This just made matters

worse, because she didn't really take much anyway and what little she

took gave her wind and stomach cramps.

Anyway... all I can say is just live it out. I agree with whoever said

that it's probably just a growing and/or an awareness thing. I

certainly thought that DD changed very much from blob to baby from 3

to 4 months, and I couldn't get away with the same things anymore (at

3 months I used to carry her sleeping into a strange cot, at 4 months

she would freak out and smell the difference; at 3 months I could put

a bottle of expressed milk in her mouth when she was half asleep; at 4

months she was having none of it... etc).

To but a long story short though, at 6 months she was back to sleeping

from 8 to 8 without a sound, and she still does (at 2 and 1/2) so

perhaps that'll make you feel better. It's a good start to " have been "

a good sleeper, I think, as then it's always a good pattern to go back

to.

(Now don't get me started on DS who has been a terrible sleeper all

his 9 1/2 months and has put all my mothering theories to shame...

(but even he was worse between 4 and 6 months...)).

Karina

Mum to Emilia (Oct 98) and Sebastian (Aug 00)