Baby’s last nap please help!

[Vim22]

A few times a week my 4 month old will fight the last nap of the day so hard no matter what we try (contact nap, rocking, shushing, white noise etc..). She does eventually fall asleep but keeps waking up and will not go into deep sleep so we eventually give up and have to bring bedtime forward.

Well said bedtime is then an absolute nightmare because she is overtired. She will wake up screaming and we then need to let her sleep in our arms until late in the evening until her cortisol drops a little and she can link sleep cycles and be put down.

On the days where her last nap is so tough, her earliest naps are usually pretty short no matter what we try (pram, rocking to sleep, dark room etc). So basically it feels like we’re doing everything we should by the book and we can’t quite figure out a pattern as to why those days are like this.

Anyone has any words of wisdom to help? I know she has the ability to link sleep cycles because she has given us some 9 hours sleeps in the past but all of a sudden it’s like every two hours she’s awake trying to roll on her tummy and getting stuck because she cannot roll the other way. I had no idea 4 months was going to be so tough!

My advice would be to take it day by day and see where you are in a months time. Babies change very rapidly at this age and it will likely have resolved itself in a few weeks/ months.

Sounds like the four months sleep regression. Before that age they don't have sleep cycles the way older babies (i.e. four months and up) and adults have, so if they do sleep for longer it's just one long sleep rather than deep and then light and then deep again. I bedshared, it was the only way any of us got any sleep.

4 month sleep regression, it's well known. There is no "book", each baby is individual in their overall sleep needs and tolerance for being awake. Just keep her up with you in the evening, napping / feeding on you or your partner - you don't need a consistent / early bedtime at that age. And 'short' naps are fine, my 14 month old had mostly 30 min naps up til recently. Bedsharing at night has helped us all get the most sleep. Just do whatever works, don't worry about routines, baby sleep changes constantly and will continue to do so well into their 2nd year.

Thanks so much for all your replies. It really seems as though we are deep in the regression. The issue we are having with short naps is that she is constantly over tired and by the end of the day it’s becoming an absolute nightmare despite our best efforts.

How did you all manage the tummy sleep once they could confidently roll over? It seems recommendations have become even stricter where you need to keep flipping baby onto their backs until they can roll both ways. Well my baby can only roll back to tummy at the moment and will startle herself awake if we try and move her. I think whilst all this advice does reduce the risk of SIDS ever so slightly, they never take into account the much much higher risk of having a severely sleep deprived parent taking care of a baby all day (falls, car accidents, falling asleep on the sofa with baby in arms etc..). So we have decided to leave her be on her tummy and obviously if she wakes up wanting to be flipped onto her back we do so.

Not sure if this helps my first baby will be 22 soon. Routines were much more in vogue at the time. At 4 months he went to 2 naps 9:30-11(ish) and 2-3:30 .But he was on 3 meals a day and sleeping 7-6 at night in his own room. As I say different times. But I suppose just saying some can do on 2 naps at 4 months.

When I was at the point where a 4 nap schedule needed to move to a 3 nap schedule (sounds like your point) but I didn’t think my baby was ready yet I would take them for a walk in the pram or baby carrier to get them to do the final nap. Or you try to move to a 3 nap schedule by stretching the wake periods between naps with the aim that the earlier naps lengthen and the third nap is close enough to bedtime to tide them over. Baths are also amazing for overtired babies and calming them down before bed (I did a bedtime routine of small feed, bath, big feed, cuddles and bed at that time.

I went through the flipping stage as well (ie trying to flip my baby on to their back) - and came to the same conclusion that if a baby is strong enough to flip themselves on to their front routinely and they are on a safe mattress in a good cot then you have to accept that they are going to sleep on their front. To be fair I think most advice is “put them down on their back” but doesn’t require the flipping but it is sometimes unclear - what is clear is when I asked all my friends should I be watching my baby through the night and flipping them back they all told me “no, but you’ll still do it for a couple of days and then give up”.

Don't flip her! If she's strong enough to roll, she has reasonable neck strength. So long as they're are no other risk factors and she's healthy, it will be fine

I wouldn't flip baby back - just always put baby down on their back, and if they can move to their front/side themselves, leave them - as long as in a clear, firm sleep space.