Changes to night routine/sleeping

Hi, was just wondering if anyone has experienced something similar to what we are currently going through. Our 16 wk old girl has always been a good night sleeper but just lately she's been a bit off. She usually sleeps from about 7pm to 4-5am but the past few nights she refuses her dinner after her bath. She just cries when I lay her down to feed her. She seems to be overtired so I put her in her cot and she will sleep for a couple of hours. When she wakes she's hungry and will feed but then wants to play for a couple of hours. I know this isn't a big drama but am wondering if anyone else's bub has done this. It has been extremely hot here the past few days so it might be related to the weather. Or...she's starting to roll over and I read where that can affect their sleep patterns. I am telling myself this will pass. Any advice or stories of similar situations would be mostly appreciated.

Hi Lal, my baby boy Joshua (21 wks) has had some trouble sleeping in the hot weather too. He wont sleep unless he is rapped and in the hot weather even if he does not have any clothes on underneath his sheet, he still gets extremely hot and sweaty. Then he screams the house down and then gets over tired and screams even more!!! He still feeds every 4 hours i'm having trouble getting into a good routine, but what I've found that helps is if i take him in the pool during the day or a cool bath 30 mins after his feed. Then i rap him up, put him in his cot and put his mobile on, it turns it's self off after 10 mins and by that time he is dead to the world. On really hot days i give him a little bit of cold water to drink and then pat his head with a cold face washer until he falls a sleep. I've even given him the face washer to hold himself, he usually puts it in his mouth but it soothes his gums at the same time as cooling him down. I hope that helps you a little bit.

Hi, sounds like a similar problem I am now having. My little girl is now just on 4 months and has started being unsettled during the night up to 2-3 times. We haven't had a problem with this since she was 6 weeks old. She then has a good morning sleep and seems to be awake for most of the afternoon until around 7pm when she screams from overtiredness. I have decided not to worry about her not sleeping - she'll do it if she hits a certain level of overtiredness. She also refuses the dummy until she gets to this level, then she'll take it and fall off to sleep. She also suffers from reflux and colic which I think is contributing to her night waking problem. Just remember that their sleep routines changes from about 3-4 months with their REM patterns - they are now developing the patterns we develop for our sleep and they are readjusting. I am finding that when she awakens at night unless it's her colic, all it takes is some reassurance, the dummy back in (she takes it out herself and realises she can't get it back in), restart her dreaming CD and back to sleep. Sometimes these changes interfere with her feeding times which are now regular, so if it's getting close to a feed I will just feed her to help her relax and settle, otherwise she just gets to sleep and bingo! she's hungry and awake again. I hope this helps. Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you want to chat further although I hope by the time you read this you'll be through this phase and on to the next!

Hi mums, thanks for your messages. Well, we made it through the 'phase' and quite a lot has happened. Bubs is now on the bottle (seems she just wasn't getting enough breastmilk...I may have been running out?) and we have also started solids. Bubs is much happier and loves her bottle (although she is a small eater) and rice cereal. We are back to our normal sleeping routine now which is great. Thanks again!