What week did you go through the dreaded 4 month sleep regression?

[mumofzach]

]Hello,

My DS is 19 weeks today and upto now I thought we had managed to avoid the dreaded 4 month regression. To be fair he has always been a sleep dodger so there wasn't much to regress from!

Things had started getting better, especially at night up until 2 days ago. He did have his 16 week jabs then but I'm not sure whether him being unsettled his down to this or the sleep regression. He just keeps waking throughout the night and is really resisting naps.

Anyone have any ideas or similiar experiences?

He is now not napping at all. He woke up at 7am and I tried putting him down when he yawned and rubbed his eyes at 9am but he just cried. I'm at a loss as to what to do.

Tired of him crying every time we try and get him to sleep. Please tell me this is a phase!

X

[FATEdestiny]

Please tell me this is a phase!

Urm.... [whistles and avoids eye contact].

The change that happens in baby's sleep around this age is a perminant change. It's not realky really a regression. It's just that while in the newborn phase baby's sleep is different - it's passive like it was in the womb.

In thw womb and in the "fourth trimester" of early life, sleep is relatively easy. As long as all needs are met (primarily hunger and comfort/security), baby will be in the passive state of asleep. Baby then wakes when a need is no longer met, parent meets that need and back to the passive state. All very easy.

As baby leaves this stage (ususlly around 2-4 months), sleep changes. The change is perminant.

Sleep matures to develop like an adults - it develops into sleep cycles, with periods of light sleep and deep sleep. It also becomes an active endeavour to get baby to go to sleep. Its no longer passive and often takes so work from the parent to hel0 baby get to sleep and stay asleep through the cycles.

This isn't really a phase. A phase suggests if you keep everything the same and just wait, that you'll get through it any everything will go back to how it was.

This change is perminant. So the "phrase" lasts as long as it takes you to find a ways to get baby to sleep and to hel0 baby stay asleep.

Some well established ways that help babies sleep include:

• sucking for comfort (nipple, dummy)
  
• movement (bouncy chair, pram, rocking)
  
• security (being held, eye contact, physical touch, cosleeping, cuddles, swaddle when younger, sleepyhead)
  
• full tummy. Feed, Feed, feed and feed some more
  
• limited awake time. Ideally 60m max between naps, in a range from 45-90m.