19 week old forgotten how to self settle

[TinaMummy]

Hi there, looking for some advice. DS is 19 weeks old. He had cranial osteopathy when younger and since then has been sleeping well. He was one of the mythical babies you could put down drowsy but awake and he would suck his thumb to sleep. For the last few days he seems to have forgotten have to self settle. When I put him down at nap times he just cries relentlessly. I am trying to avoid adding extra soothing behaviours like rocking him but I can't leave him crying for ages so will just pick him up and cuddle. Is this part of sleep regression ? I thought the whole point of regression was babies learning to self sooth in between sleep cycles but he was already doing that but now seems to have forgotton. He would always wake 30/45 minutes into a nap but put himself back to sleep after 10 minutes or so. Any advice much appreciated.

It’s biologically impossible for a 19 week old to ‘self soothe’ the parts of the brain that allow this don’t develop until around age 3. If he was sleeping well before that’s just because he wasn’t going through anything that was making him need help from you to soothe him. There is no reason whatsoever to withhold ‘soothing behaviours’! This is your tiny baby, comfort them, hold them, soothe them. 19 weeks is absolutely nothing, another primate species wouldn’t even be born yet.

Sleep in the first 12-18 months isn’t linear, it goes up and down all the time, you’ll have periods where they sleep better and periods where it’s less good - the language of regression isn’t very helpful because they’re not going backwards, their sleep is up and down because they’re developing so quickly and moving forward. Things like learning new skills can definitely upset sleep. Naps also change all the time. The best thing you can do is go with the flow and follow your baby’s needs.