Fed up of leaps and regressions

[HashBrown31]

My LO is 10 weeks old. Hes not the best sleeper as it is. I’m a member of a baby group where a lot of the other mothers are really in to apps which detail leaps and regressions. It’s a constant source of conversation as we reach week 5,6,7.. what we should be expecting and what our baby will do to us this week.

all the talk of the looming 4 month sleep regression has me honestly filled with dread, but am I the only one who doesn’t buy in to the idea that all babies develop in the same way and obviously experience each leap or regression at the same time/in the same order/if at all?

i find the labelling of each and every ‘phase’ really daunting and I wish it wasn’t there as despite my doubts, I really get sucked in to the anxiety!

did anyone else find the leaps/regression more unhelpful than anything else? Did your baby follow the stages as set out?

Yeah I remember this feeling although my group weren't all into those apps.

I remember there being a change in sleep at 4 months as I think this is where they need to start linking sleep cycles or something, but it wasn't that bad as I remember. And it passed!

i did follow it. But i cant see the change in my baby. The biggest change was when he got teeth. He can have bad days and good but i cant see the relation with the leaps. But i do like knowing what my baby is capable of doing and trying to help him learn it

Same, sister 🤣 Except baby is 8.5 months now and we had more 🤣

Totally with you OP.

My NCT group were either counting down the days dreading when the next leap or whatever was going to arrive. Or counting down the days until it was meant to end.

Obviously the babies don't get the memo about these exact dates so it's a lot of pointless worrying in my opinion.

Also I think if you're expecting something to happen then it will. With DD1 I didn't even notice a 4 month 'regression'.

I have never bought into any of it. Once your friends have second babies they won't have time to give any of it a minutes thought, they'll just have to crack on!

The so called leaps don’t have any scientific basis so try to ignore it and don’t worry about something that might not happen. It’s easy to put some random fussiness down to a leap as they are so frequent. I never noticed a 4 month sleep regression with mine and some of the babies in my NCT group were just poor sleepers for most of the first year so it wasn’t really a regression in those cases either.

Completely agree with you! I have enough anxiety about my baby's sleep without needing to worry about when the next "leap" is supposed to be!

I read the book and attributed every change in dc1 as down to whatever leap/ wonder week it was due to be.

I haven't given them a moments thought with dc2 and life is better for it. I mean, as if all babies are on the same week by week schedule 🤣

To be honest it's only the people with good sleepers who even notice all that. If your baby is up every hour or two until two years old, you barely notice until they can roll, sit up, point, use multiple words in a phrase etc anything has changed.

Wonder weeks has been widely discredited for years and yet everyone (myself included!) seem to end up using it.
I think everyone just reaches for something to explain away the bad days as a “leap”.
As a previous poster said, my second baby is now 6 months and looking at leaps/developmental stuff hasn’t crossed my mind.

I found it interesting as a reference, though I never read too much into it at all. If baby was super fussy I might have a look and see if she was in a “stormy” stage. Every baby is different and develops in their own way. My DD started sleeping through the night just as the supposed regression hit 🤷🏻‍♀️ ever since then she has liked her sleep and regressions have never been a thing for her. She challenges me in other ways instead 😂

Wonder weeks is bollocks

At around 4 months, babies do start to develop adult sleep cycles, and there can be some disruption as they get used to it. This is where the idea of a 4 month "regression" comes from.

The disruption was notable for my first, but my second didn't have trouble. I really wouldn't worry - it passes.

Your baby might not go through the 4 month regression. My son didn't

Yes I think wonder weeks is a load of old nonsense.