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How to Get Through 4-Month Sleep Regression
My baby boy has just turned 4 months and only contact naps, and will only feed to settle. I think he’s going through the 4 month sleep regression. He’s waking every two hours. I’m feeling very stuck and need a change but since he’s in the regression, what should I do? Any advice would be so greatly appreciated!
BETH (mother of a 4 month old in Bonner, Canberra ACT)
Baby Sleep Consultant Canberra: Q &A with Raquel Tara
Hi Raquel! Hope all is well!
I was wondering if you could possibly give me a few pointers? My baby boy has just turned 4 months and only contact naps, feeds to sleep, and will only feed to settle right now. He used to settle with a pacifier but he doesn’t want it anymore.
We shifted his bedtime from 9ish to between 7-8pm two weeks ago, and he gets 3-4 naps a day. I think he’s going through the 4 month sleep regression and, I believe, is in week 2 of it. He’s waking every two hours and has at least one false start.
With all of that being said, I’m feeling very stuck and need a change but since he’s in the regression, what should I do? Any advice would be so greatly appreciated!
Baby Sleep Consultant Raquel Tara Says:
Your baby is experiencing a normal developmental milestone as his brain matures and starts to cycle between deep and light sleep, just like you do. So in that sense, the word sleep-regression is a bit of a misnomer.
What is the Four Month Sleep Regression?
The four month sleep regression (or any sleep regression for that matter) is more a set of symptoms indicating your baby’s brain is going through a progression. Which is wonderful (even if the symptoms aren’t) — it indicates your baby’s brain growth is normal and healthy. The four month sleep ‘regression’ symptoms can happen when sleep cycles begin to mature from the newborn stage of brain development.
When does the Four Month Sleep Regression begin?
The premature signs of it begin at around 8-11 weeks, when you find that your baby is no longer ‘sleeping like a newborn’. If you have been waiting for a sign that your baby is ready to learn how to fall asleep with less ‘doing’ on your part, the four month sleep regression could be your queue.
What are the symptoms of the Four Month Sleep Regression?
When babies emerge from the newborn stage, they are becoming acutely aware of the world around them, and how they move through it. And this can be especially overwhelming for the majority infants experiencing it. However, when your baby is in this developmental stage you will often suffer through:
- frequent night waking
- shorter naps, or difficulty getting your baby to take naps
- difficulty in self-settling
- difficulty falling back to sleep after waking.
All this sleep disruption can take a huge toll on you.
What is happening to my baby during the Four Month Sleep Regression?
When you experience these symptoms, there is no need to panic. They are signifying that your baby’s capability to comprehend what needs to happen just before he goes to sleep — or what he perceives is supposed to happen — has heightened.
This brain progression means that during sleep, babies have moved from the more active state they experience in the newborn stage, into a longer deep sleep phase during sleep cycles. But this also means that when your baby wakes between sleep cycles, they will likely expect you to repeat what you did to get them to sleep. And if you didn’t ‘do’ anything as they fell asleep, and your baby has been falling asleep independently at bedtime, that wake between sleep cycles is super brief and your baby drops quickly back into active sleep, and the next sleep cycle toward deeper begins.
Babies over the age of 12 weeks are becoming more cognisant of their capabilities, so once they begin going to bed awake but relaxed – they begin to learn how to fall asleep independently of ‘sleep props’.
Sleep props are what your baby thinks she needs you to do before he can relax and let sleep come.
Due to this milestone of brain maturity and awareness, when given the opportunity; babies begin to adapt, learn and realise that they are capable of falling asleep without the need to feed to sleep, or rock, or motion or holding to sleep, or using a dummy (pacifier) – or anything else that always requires intervention on the part of the caregiver.
Of course sometimes babies need comfort at bedtime — especially when a new sleep routine is introduced — and there are ways of providing that comfort while supporting them to relax and let sleep come independently. I teach this in my 1:1 Support programs.
So in your case, if he has been fed and held to sleep that’s what he will expect you to do when he awakens between sleep cycles overnight, and at nap time as well – even if he isn’t hungry.
How do I manage the Four Month Sleep Regression?
A lot of parents misconceive the four month sleep regression as some kind of phase or malaise that they have to wait out before they can do anything. And while it’s true that adapting to the changes can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks, unfortunately a lot of the symptoms persist if changes aren’t made to the way sleep is managed. Babies become more and more attached to whatever methods are being used to treat the symptoms. These methods become what I like to call ‘band aid baby sleep solutions’. Because they only work temporarily. And over time they become unsustainable for many caregivers finding themselves in a perpetual state of exhaustion.
So what can I do to help my baby during The Four Month Sleep Regression?
Treat the root cause. The root cause is your baby hasn’t yet been given the opportunity to unlock his innate wisdom and capabilities. And because babies by nature are very adaptable, once you provide this opportunity, everything begins to improve dramatically.
To begin with, create a relaxing pre-sleep routine and then start giving your baby an opportunity to settle at bedtime without too much ‘help’. Once he is able to self-settle to sleep at bedtime, his sleep will begin to become deeper overnight as he will intrinsically know how to resettle when he wakes in active sleep – unless of course he is hungry.
At 4 months 1-2 overnight feeds is the average, with the first feed ideally taking place at least 5 hours after bedtime. By allowing for opportunities for her to fall asleep independently at bedtime – he’ll feel more able to do it at nap time as well.
You’ve got this, mamma!