Swaddled Baby Was Sleeping Through the Night but Is Now Waking Every 2 Hours

With both of my sons, I called months 2-4 the "honeymoon period"! Although not sleeping through the night, they were sleeping very well. Neither of them slept through the night again until over a year old - sorry! I wouldn't do CIO, so maybe that is why it took so long, but as others have said their sleep habits continued to change and I continually tried new things. Good luck!

Around 4 months babies go through a HUUUUGE growth spurt and they wake up more frequently because they need to eat more frequently. This happens to most babies. During growth spurts they get about 30% of their daily intake in the nighttime!!!!
Babies are constantly changing and can not be expected to sleep/act/eat the exact same way from birth on! They are TRIPLING their size in the first year alone!
No need to stop swaddling her if she enjoys it and it works for her. You could try not swaddling her and see how that goes in conjunction with feeding her and trying out that pacifier again.
Please feed your baby when she wakes, she is growing.
"self soothing" is a term that erupted from the societal pressures of baby sleeping through the night when in almost EVERY OTHER CULTURE this is not at all an issue. At 4 months old, your baby is way too young to grasp any sort of concept of that nature. 6 months+ is when it is considered better to introduce any sort of "sleep training" if you must.
This is temporary, and she will change her sleeping habits again (and maybe even again!) several times in the coming months.
Also, why not give her the pacifier? Babies like to suck! "pacifiers" have been around for centuries! After you've fed her if she still wants to suck on something, I'd give it to her. It seems like you are really worried about her developing "bad habits", she is only 4 months old.

Please do not give your baby rice cereal to aid her to sleep through the night, as others have suggested. It has no nutritional value and it's very outdated advice since we now know that the only reason it *might* make babies sleep longer is because it takes the body longer to digest. So if you give her cereal when her body really just needs her regular food nutrients to keep growing, you are cheating her out of the nutrition she really needs in the middle of the night.
I know, I KNOW that it's so hard when she was sleeping through and now she is not and you are both more tired than you used to be..but this is only a season, this will not last forever.
(Also putting baby cereal in a bottle is also outdated advice. Something that our parents and grandparents did because there were no studies at all as to what the outcome could be. It is possible to inhale small amounts of the rice cereal into their lungs, which could lead to pulmonary problems. Also babies are born with a wonderful mechanism for knowing how much food they need. During the early months, they take their cues from the volume of what they drink. Adding cereal derails this mechanism. It forces them to take in deceptively large amounts of calories. It teaches them to overeat.)

She could be going through a growth spurt which is causing her to need/want more food during the night. They go through several phases - and a 4 months you're fortunate to have had so many restful nights. I know. My daughter (now 9 months) began sleeping through the night around 2 months. Then she went through a period where she woke up at 4 am like clockwork. Now, it's rare for her to wake but if she does, I just nurse her and she goes right back to sleep. As quickly as your baby went from sleeping through the night to waking up, she will probably settle into a new routine soon enough. They're very good at self-regulating. If she's taking the bottle, she's probably hungry. My Ped said I didn't need to worry about sleep training unless she was still waking up regularly at 9 months. Good luck.

Pediatritian suggested that we left my arm out of the swaddling blanket. Give it a try.

you could try swaddling with one arm out.

Your daughter may be teething or having a growth spurt. Babies constantly change sleeping patterns as they grow and start learning new things - so whatever she is doing now in terms of sleeping will change again. Does your daughter need to be swaddled for some reason other than she falls asleep fast? I think it's used more for new borns but by 4 months babies don't really need it unless they really like it. My son hated swaddling from day one so we never did it. Your daughter may sleep better if she has the freedom to move around or she may be too hot. If she is really hungry in the middle of the night, try feeding her more before bed time. At 4 months my son started cereal because he was hungry and a big eater. Your doctor may suggest the same thing. Hope this helps! Good luck!

so lucky at 2 months.. but there is teething, growth spurts and other things that will now come into play. Until about 6 months I wouldnt expect to sleep through the night.

Rice cereal in the formula could help. If she was happy with pacifier why not give it to her ???? She obviously can not soothe herself if she is swaddled.. but I would not stop with swaddling yet if she likesit and falls asleep easily. My son also loved to be swaddled and when he was bigger (5-6 months) I stopped swaddling...we find out he wanted to sleep on his belly, it feels like to be swaddled I guess. Now my 7month old son sleeps through the night without problem (he gets his last bottle with cereal around 11 pm). I would not recommend self soothing because it is difficult toget rid of. The pacifier you can easilly get away when you see that your kid is big enough to sleep without it (1-2years?).
Good luck !
A.

At four months, she may be ready to be more active and perhaps the swaddling is getting in the way of that? I didn't swaddle my kids, but I know that at 4 months, my little one was sucking her thumb. She did it until she was 2, and it helped her sleep.

Yes- she is growing up a little! Try a bottle before bed with just a little baby cereal at night! I put about 2 tbls. spoons into a warm bottle, shake well; and feed her this. With a full tummy and warm formula, she may sleep through the night! This worked great on my own son; and my niece when I first got her as an infant! Good luck and may God bless you all....
Truly,
Kathy N.

Hi A.,
I have a wonderful on-line book called "Sleep Sense Program". I'm not sure if it would be helpful at 4 months because I know they go through growth spurts and that could cause different sleeping paterns. BUT, I would NOT recommend feeding every 2 hours at 4 months. I also would not put cereal in her bottle, thier bodies aren't ready to digest it at that age. I believe you are just training her to wake up to feed. You just have to figure out what works for her by trial and error. Feeding her is not the answer. Yes, of course she needs to eat during the night, I'm just saying it shouldn't be every 2 hours at her age. I believe my daughter was fed sometime in the middle of the night, and then again early morning. I think it was almost every 4 hours or so.
If you want me to forward this book to you, just email me at ____@____.com you have any future sleep issues with her it may be helpful. Also, if you want to sleep for longer spurts, then I wouldn't suggest picking her up when she wakes up every 2 hours. (only when you want to feed her that one time during the night) She should catch on eventually. Good luck to you!

Google 4 month sleep regression. It hit both my kids, who were swaddled, at 4 months as well. I saw the title of your post and just knew your baby was 4 months. Their sleep patterns become more adult-like at 4 months and it often leads to night waking. You could also check out the Wonder Weeks book. (Or just google it, it's online.)

she maybe going through a growth spurt.

A couple of ideas: you could put her down swaddled then gently undo the swaddle after she falls asleep (when she is really out), that one probably depends on how deep of a sleeper she is. Or you could try swaddling her with one arm out of the swaddle. My son had a REALLY hard time sleeping around 4 months, I think its really common. We eventually weaned from the swaddle which was hard for about 2 weeks but eventually he got the hang of it and started sleeping through shortly after he was used to sleeping unswaddled.
Good luck, I know how hard it is not to get sleep when you once were.