Four-month Regression

20 Sept

Despite its name, the four-month sleep regression is actually more of a progression. Between the ages of 8-18weeks our babies sleep begins to mature, their sleep patterns become clearer, and their sleep cycles change permanently. Unfortunately, this means we can’t just wait for it to pass.

Newborns who were sleeping nice long chunks day and night, begin waking after 45minutes during the day, and 2 hourly overnight. Baby’s that would once transfer easily to the cot/bassinet after they’d fallen asleep in their parents’ arms get harder and harder to put down and settling and resettling time can begin to take longer.

BUT, it doesn’t have to be as scary or as dreaded as we are made to believe! Once your baby’s sleep has matured and you start noticing the above changes, you can start working towards settling and resettling your baby to sleep in the cot, or if they are old enough, start teaching them to self-settle. It can be as gentle as slowly pulling back on whatever you are currently doing to get your Bub to sleep. For example, if you have a look at the soothing ladder below you will see number 7 is fully assisting to sleep and number 1 is reassuring them with you presence, without intervening. You can find what you are currently doing on the ladder, and gradually make small changes and move down the soothing ladder towards the bottom.

To teach our littles ones to self-settle, we must first make sure they are on an age-appropriate routine, their sleep hygiene is good, and we have chosen a settling method that suits the baby’s temperament.

As always: every babe is different, and the above information may work for some, and not for others. get in touch if you have an questions or need 1:1 support x