If you are a parent, you’ve more than likely heard of the concept of “sleep regression.” My perfect, little sleeping angel had more recently starting waking up more frequently than she ever did as an infant. While searching for sensory play ideas on Pinterest, I came across an article on the 4 month sleep regression. You can find it HERE! Below is a mini summary!
Regression actually means, “a return to a former or less developed state.” For many parents, their baby waking up a bajillion times a night is akin to when you first brought them home, and thus it feels like a regression. However, this is not the case!
WHAT I LEARNED: Your baby is NOT regressing but PROgressing! Newborns have 2 sleep modes: deep sleep and REM sleep. Sometime around 4 months your little starts experiencing the 2 “early” steps of sleep, the twilight zone where you’re falling asleep but still aware of what’s going on around you, and light sleep where you are indeed asleep, but not yet in deep sleep. This means your child is developing “normally” and is taking the next step towards normalizing their sleep habits and routine! Those 2 early cycles mean baby wakes more easily throughout the night.
The bottom of the article gave tips of surviving the sleep {PRO}gression, and I didn’t agree with all of them. Flip side, I was happy to see that I was already doing many of them and didn’t even know I was helping!
Some ways to help the transition that have worked for us:
Routine! I am as guilty as most as not doing this 100%, but I like to think we have a fairly solid routine. Every night before bedtime, she gets daddy time, while I set up the nursery for bed. She gets a diaper change, usually a jammie change (SO MUCH DROOL), and then we do night-night feeding.
Environment– Making sure the nursery is consistent is also a huge help. I start the
diffuser in her room with Serenity about 30 min before we go up, and turn on the heating pad in her crib to warm it up. I have a white noise app on the iPad that we use most nights that plays the sound of a heartbeat and cat purr. The article suggests keeping the room pitch black, but being that we still have night feedings, my night vision only goes so far. We have this Pillowfort nightlightfrom Target; it gives the perfect soft glow that’s just enough for me to function in the middle of the night.
FEED!- The sleep progression often coincides with a growth spurt. All of the changes both physically and mentally make for one hungry baby! Babies, especially those nursing, may want the comfort of mom during this time, which means additional comfort nursing.
The article also suggests breaking sleep associations, swaddling, and adjusting to an earlier bedtime. Thea has never liked swaddling, her bedtime in anywhere between 8 and 9 depending on her naps during the day, and she’s already begun self-weening herself from a few of her sleep associations.
At the end of the day, the 4 month sleep PROgression can last 2-6 weeks, depending on you child and how quickly they manage the transition. I think we’re somewhere around week 3. Thankfully, the nights haven’t been too bad, and there’s hope that we’re on the downward swing.
The Nurtured Bee 