Baby and sleeping?!

[P19T]

Hi all, I wondered if anyone could shed some light/advice on our daughter. We have a beautiful girl who is 10 weeks old, she’s truly a dream and we’ve been incredibly lucky. She has slept through the night for about 2 weeks now and was previously only waking up at 3am for a feed since about 5 weeks. We do have a routine now and she’s sticking with it well so far which is lovely!

Now, lots of close friends have told us that it only goes down hill from here so we are naturally terrified now! We understand there’s teething/ vaccinations/ illnesses but does it seriously mean we will never sleep again after 4 months? She’s clearly led us into a false sense of security!

Does anyone have any positive stories or if not, advice on how we can prevent/ support the sleeping moving forward?

Thank you!

Honestly, there's no point worrying over it. Sleep for babies/toddlers tends to be up and down as they age but your daughter might just sail right through it all, there's no way of knowing.

Just roll with it and tackle any rough patches (if there are any) as they come

The worst thing at this age is to have expectations! Just take each day as it comes. Good day? Wonderful! Bad day-oh well, it'll probably be better tomorrow!

@P19T I would try not to worry about the future. Things are great right now. Our DD (now 4) had a few "sleep regressions" but she came back to normal after a short while and has basically always slept through aside from the odd bad dream or wet bed. For us personally we just went with it when she regressed and supported her as needed and then when she was ready we shifted her gently back into her original sleep routine. I think it's the luck of the draw but if you have a good sleeper the chances are that she will stay that way x

Hi OP, my baby is 11 months old now and his sleep hasn’t been affected by vaccinations / teething / 4 month sleep regression. We have the odd night where he doesn’t manage to sleep until 8.30/9pm, but he’s consistently slept through the night since he was around 6 months old and before that was only waking for one night feed.

Mine both slept through at around the same age. Eldest never so much as a blip. Youngest didn’t have a full blown regression but occasionally needed his dummy popped back in at 3am until he learned to do it himself at 6.5 months, then had a few periods of resisting bedtime and some toddler early rising but it was all easily solved with a bit of sleep training and/or adjusting the nap schedule. Neither ever fed in the night again. Neither were bothered much by teething and illnesses tend to knock them out and result in more sleep not less.

Is your baby falling asleep by themselves? I’ve heard that post 4 months they become more aware of being transferred so can wake at the end of each 45 minute sleep cycle if they clock they’re no longer being rocked in your arms or feeding on the boob. It could be nonsense but mine did always go down awake and we didn’t have that issue so maybe there’s something in it?

Sleep isn't linear. It doesn't go from X to Y. It is almost always up and down over infancy, with teething, illness, development stages, life/environment changes etc impacting on how much a child sleeps just like all these things impact on adults too.

I do remember being one of the few mums who didn't notice a four month sleep progression because my first was never sleeping longer than 90mins anyway. But who can say what happens next. Just go with it. Haven't sleep trained either of mine and my eldest recently started sleeping through at 20m. Youngest is still only a few weeks and sleeping longer than eldest did until 16 months. Definitely agree luck of the draw is a thing! Despite the industry around sleep trying to make money by selling us solutions to biologically normal life phases.

Both mine slept through by four and five months and never had any 'regressions'.

Neither of mine had any sort of 'sleep regression' or were affected by teething at all, as far as I could tell.

My 13 week old seems to do one of two patterns overnight (one great one rubbish 🤣). I am hoping the good pattern will increase in frequency. My older child was a great (but not a unicorn baby) sleeper and he tended to stick to his latest pattern bar illness and occasional nights where he needed resettling.

It might all fall apart at 16/17 weeks. Or it might not. I'm afraid you won't know till you get there!

Whatever happens, I promise you will survive and one way or another you will get a decent amount of sleep, you just don't know exactly when. Just always try to deal with the situation as it now is and don't worry about what hasn't happened yet with sleep. My eldest was miserable when teething, my twins you wouldn't have known they could feel anything at all. Illness can obviously stop you sleeping - if they get a tummy bug and are throwing up every hour obviously you won't sleep! but you cant predict if/when that might happen

Some people just can't wait to tell you about the 4 month sleep regression when you have a good sleeper. They act like it will absolutely happen which simply isn't true.

Mine is 6 months next week and I'm still waiting for this 4 month sleep regression 😂he has slept through since 8 weeks.

Can she self settle yet and be put down awake? If not, that is something I would try to work on now that you have a routine down which could potentially help.

My previous 2 were amazing sleepers which was helpful as I was back at work in 8 and 10 weeks! They were both sleeping through from before then and neither had a sleep regression or anything.

I'm 13 weeks with my final baby now, and I'm keeping everything crossed I have another great sleeper!!!

DD slept through finally at about 4 months, lasted maybe a week and then she didn't do it again for 2 years. Worst was either taking ages to go to sleep at bedtime and back to sleep in the night at 8-19 months and waking every 45 mins at 2...

DS was good from birth and got better till about 6 months, 4 month regression was weird as he refused to drop a nap so went to bed at like 1/2am 🤦‍♀️ he's still moderate sleep needs but need a lot of nap at nearly 2. Anyway he started waking more and more peaking around 10 months and then got better but still wakes a bit now BUT hes not massively disruptive to my sleep, DD was

I agree - don't stress about it and just go with the flow. We never noticed a 4 month regression. DD was a great sleeper until 10 months. Then it went terrible again, then she started sleeping through but waking up hideously early, it finally levelled out around 18months and she's slept pretty much consistently from 7-7, but it's been a hard time getting here!

I hate the 'its all down hill from here' brigade. Like what are they trying to achieve??!

Easier said then done but try not to worry about what might happen. Mine has been a pretty good sleeper and we never noticed a sleep regression at 4 months. She’s still a great sleeper at 10.5 months apart from occasional teething or illness. The only thing that could possibly be described as a sleep regression occurred at 8 months and only lasted a week.

Thank you all! I also am so fed up with the “downhill brigade”. I will stop worrying and work with what we have :)

I find sleep is a just up and downs until they're about 1.5/2 then they settle (mine anyway). Like a previous poster said, enjoy the good periods and don't worry about the bad ones because they'll come good again

Mama of another dream baby here
it will be fine
partly because she’s a dream but also it’s because of how you are with her
take each step and stage as it comes and readjust to it.
well done 👏🏽

It really depends on the child. My eldest was always a great sleeper. He slept through the night from a young age and none of the 'regressions' impacted on this. He is 3 and a half now and will sleep 12 hours through night. I always had a little bed time routine I did with him, sometimes cuddled him to sleep and sometimes he settled himself.

I did exactly the same with my 2nd baby and she was totally different! Everything impacted on her sleep. Velcro baby for early weeks, 4m 'regression', every developmental leap, teething, immunisations, any light, any noise...everything! From about 12m it settled a bit but she is still a light sleeper and an early riser.
I think the child's personality has a lot to do with it so I'm not sure if there is much you can do at this stage,except gently introducing some self-settling if you haven't already.

Ignore them. My 9 month old has slept through since 10 weeks also and never had a bottle during the night since then. I have a nearly 4 year old who is also a great sleeper. Obviously there's times when they have a blip but mine have always been good.

I'm so jealous!!!!!!! The sleep deprivation with my 1st made me ill!
Honestly, if things are good, just enjoy it and don't worry!!!!!! Congratulations:)
It may get worse but it may not- just take everything one day at a time and truly treasure the good times. And if/when bad times come just breathe and get through the day (or night)