My 4 month old will not sleep at night. Waking up every 2 hours to eat...What should I do??? PLEASE HELP!!!?

Question

My son wakes up every 2 hours (or less) at night & eats 4 onces or more. He naps only a few times a day for 30-45 minutes. I think the problem is that he does not eat much during the day & wants to make up for it at night. From 8am to 8pm he had only drank 10 onces of soy formula (he has a milk protein allergy), but I know that tonight he will wake up & drink the rest of the much needed 32 onces. At night we've tried everything to get him to go back to sleep without eating & he continues to wail as if we were killing the poor thing. He will not go back to sleep without eating all that he feels is necessary. He's still gaining weight & growing & is not dehydrated, but if I try to feed him more during the day at any feeding he screams (and I do mean screams, quite the temper) and pushes the bottle away.There's no way to get him to eat more. How should I solve this problem? I really need help, I'm exhausted & so is his daddy. I appriciate any advice anybody can give. Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

lmao...im sure glad those days are over...but around 4 months that was pretty much my schedule...thats how my son wound up sleeping in the bed with me so i wouldnt actually have to get up out of bed i would roll over and grab a bottle from the cooler and give it to him..lazy? i guess so...but realistically i needed sleep and i wasnt going to let him cry all night...another thing that helped was by "stuffing" him prior to bed by putting cereal in his bottle so he would not be as hungry during the night...that helped eliminate one feeding in the middle of the night...good luck with your baby and remember...this too shall pass...lol...and then you will be on to other issues...lol

Answer 2

try baby cereal in his bottles, it tends to help because it weighs so much more than just formula. My daughter is on Lacto free and she did the same thing at first, but now she is 2 months and only gets up once a night between 9pm and 5am, usually about 1-2. Also try establishing a routine. Around 7:30 pm give him a bath, read him a story and give him his bottle he should fall asleep by 9pm and sleep untill at least 1 or 2. then when you feed him again during the night make sure not to put on any lights so that he knows that night time is "boring" time and will go right back to sleep after his bottle.

Answer 3

It sounds like he has his night and day mixed up. My son had that problem. But you say he only naps during the day so he should be tired at night and want to sleep and eat mostly in the day. Maybe you should change the routine. If you feed him a certain way at night like in a rocking chair something that he is familiar with to kind of "trick" him that it is night time. Like turn off the lights and all the extra sounds (t.v.) pull the blinds and make it seem like night time and see if he begins to eat more that way. Not sure what else other than asking your pediatrician. Well good luck, hope this helps a little bit, and you all get some sleep real soon.

Answer 4

Well they usually do go through a growth spurt at 4 months and yes sometimes it can last a week. Could be to that he has just gotten used to waking up to eat so keeps doing it even though he's through the growth spurt. Also babies tend to change things up on us. At about 2 months my son was sleeping at least 6 hours straight a night then all of a sudden at about 3.5 months he stopped and it was back to every couple hours and at 5 months is still every 2-3 hours.

Answer 5

It may be the soy formula also. I had a baby who had to be put on the formula called Nutramagin (sp) You can try relaxing music or some play and stimulation before his naps during the day. Try infant massage. And your best bet of all is to talk to your babies doctor. It may be something else all together. Good luck. I am sure things will work out soon. Just remember above all else problems and all to ENJOY!!! They are only little once ;)

Answer 6

My son was the same, he was on soy and he's three now and drinks soy milk... Anyway I had to start feeding my son rice cereal mixed with his soy in the morning and evening before bed. That's the problem these boys are hungry. Don't listen to the doctors, give him rice cereal then eventually you can start with some babyfood fruits mixed in the cereal do it..He's hungry, my son started cereal right at 2 months 4 months will be just fine. Good luck.

Answer 7

I had that prob to and his doctor told me to try to put like a tablespoon of rice cereal in his bottle (not anymore though...I did that once and my son was really constipated). He's 4 months old so he is ok to put on a few solids. If you give him this bottle before he goes to sleep you should get better rest to. Also try to get him on a night time schedule...like a bath story and then bottle and then its goodnight time. Good Luck with everything!

Answer 8

my 4 month old babies do the same thing. it drives me crazy! the doctor told me that at twelve pounds they can make it through the night without food, (from 10 to 6) but i think they just want the food cause they wake up and are bored. sometimes if i give them a binky they fall asleep again. I've also been thinking about giving them warm water to drink at night instead of milk.

Answer 9

when you think of it the milk is nothing but water, it's not enough .you can go to the store and buy a box of rice cereal put a few gains in the baby bottle with milk and see will that work , iknow because i went through the same thing i'm a mother

Answer 10

I don't think there is anything you can do. Sorry. But feed him all he wants at nite and hope he goes back to sleep quickly. If you don't work, sleep when he sleeps in the day. Ppl will probably not like this suggestion but if he is not sleeping in your bed try it. I breastfed mine and found when i would fall asleep with them next to me they tended to sleep longer. Hang in there, the first 6 mo are always tough.
Oh yeah as working mom said put cereal in the bottle. I think dr. discourage this but i did it with all 3 of mine.