4 month sleep regression; is it inevitable?

[Becciilouisex3]

Title says it all really!

DS is 3 months old and I've been reading up about the 4 month sleep regression as some friends of mine have little boys just a few months older and have had a bit of a nightmare with it.

When I read up about what the regression is and what causes it, apparently it's baby's sleep changing so that rather than just deep sleeping, they start to sleep lightly as well as deeply and find it hard to settle.

I was just wondering is the 4 month sleep regression inevitable? DS sleeps 10/11 hours with no dream feed and he definitely experiences light sleeping. We have the dream sheep for him and there has been occasions where it's been on for 40 minutes, he's been asleep for 40 minutes and then woke up 30 seconds after the sheep has gone off!

What were your experiences?

From 12-15 weeks, my lad slept 7-10 hours in one go every night. He hit 16 weeks and was up every 20-40 minutes.

He's now 23 weeks and his sleep isn't great. It takes 3-5 hours to settle him every night, and he'll sleep 4-6 hours before waking up. Sometimes he'll go back to sleep, but it can take 40 minutes to 2 hours to get him down. He'll sleep for another few hours.

In all honesty I don't remember my first ever having a regression at all. From 14 weeks she slept through bar the odd night here or there. She's now 2.2 years old and sleeps 12 hours.

Half the babies in my nct group have suffered, the others have been fine. Pot luck I think!

It's all bullshit!!!

Babies have ups and downs with their sleep. It's two steps forward, one step back a lot of the time. This '4 month sleep regression' is just a name for that. It might happen at 2 months, or 6, or not at all (or every other week).

Don't get hung up on it. Infant sleep is hard work and very tiring. Remember that, not clock watching on what will happen when!

Mine never did - slept 7am - 7pm from the day we got home from hospital (one very quick feed around 1am until he was around 6 months) - I think it's pure luck but I did follow a GF routine.

My Ds barely slept at all for the first 18 months or so, so wouldn't really have noticed it getting worse.
DD slept like a dream after the first few weeks and never looked back.
You may be lucky

It's not "bullshit". Yes it can happen at other times and not all babies (or parents!) suffer, but it is something that commonly occurs at around 4 months. In my own circle it's been a challenge for myself and 3 other friends who have babies born within 2 weeks either side of my DD, all round about 4 months. DD was never a good sleeper to be fair but at 4 months it just completely deteriorated and she was up every 60-90 minutes. It lasted a good 6 weeks and has very slowly improved since then. She's now almost 7 months and wakes 2 times on a good night or 4-5 times on a bad one.

I do agree though that there's no point in worrying about it now. You might be lucky, you might not. There's not much you can do to prevent it or prepare for it so just make the most of the opportunities you do get to sleep.

I'm sure it probably happens for most to be fair because the science is there but of course there'll be exceptions to the rule!

I'm not too worried about it, more curious than anything seen as apparently babies below 4 months only sleep deeply or not at all but I know my DS experiences light sleeps (a lot of the time)

All part of the job description the sleepless nights although I was hoping the good thing we've got going may continue, it seems like a heads or tails thing at the moment!

Thank you all for the responses

My little one skipped the four month sleep regression, but the ten month one hit us hard still traumatised

DS1's sleep regression wasn't very marked but it did happen, he came out of it pretty quick too. Second time round though, DS2 is a nightmare, but then he is teething really badly too, so it could be that.

Every baby is different though, your friends are suffering but you might not. Well done for getting him to sleep 10 hours straight through at 3 months though, I'd kill for that!!