Sleep Regression

Abandlow

My 16 week baby boy has been sleeping through the night since about 8 weeks typically 9-6 AM without a pacifier and in his own crib. Now he's waking up anywhere between 1 and 4 AM. I'm breaking baby rules by feeding him in bed when he does this on my side and letting him fall asleep with us. He sleeps through the rest of the night this way and we get rest too. Are we "breaking" our baby? I'm scared he will get accustomed to this and it get progressively worse like refusing crib all together. Thoughts? Just a short phase?

diz1313

I don't know if you are "breaking" anything. Different strokes for different folks and all. I will say that our girls are also back to waking up at night, so you are not alone there. I say, just do whatever you need to to stay sane and let tomorrow take care of tomorrow.

ajlmom

My DD has been sleeping thru the night since 8 weeks and also waking up in 1-3 hours for the past week. Most of the time I can just rock her back to sleep but one night I had to feed her. One night I held her while sitting on my bed and we both fell asleep.

I didn't think much about breaking baby rules, I think just do whatever you need to do to survive! I work so sleep is scarce in my life.

Good luck! Hopefully our LOs will go back to sleeping 7-8 hours soon

weezy29

The good thing about having a baby who has yet to sleep through the night is that these sleep regressions do not change our schedule! My little guy is breastfed and low on the weight scale so he still wakes every three hours at night. He starts out in the rock n play and then to my bed after that. I'm actually going to move him to his crib this week and I'm dreading it. Co-sleeping has at least allowed me a bit of sleep.

Williamsmarit

The 4-month regression hit us really hard this week! Went from our baby sleeping 8-630 consistent since 2.5 months to him waking up every 45-hour. last night I think we slept 3 hours total. Torture! Hoping we get through it sooner than later cause holy cow is it hard to function at work now! Seriosly feels worse than the first few weeks home. Praying it passes soon!

BBoyd2013

@Williamsmarit how old is your baby? Mine has started some pretty crazy sleep fits the past week. He's never been a great napper but now he will literally fight it to the bitter end and make himself so cranky last night it took 4 tries to get him down before he finally went to bed and he usually sleeps through the night. I hope this is not an early start to the sleep regression

Williamsmarit

He will be 4 months on Friday. How timely how old is yours? We've already had to put him back down 3 times tonight and his bedtime was an hour ago. Here we go...

teaismCAgal

Our LO — who had slept through the night since around 8 weeks — decided on Sunday he wanted to be wide awake from midnight to about 1:30 am and then wake up again around 5 am. We did transition him to the Merlin Magic Suit and — so far — it's worked very nicely. Although last night, he did wake up at 4am and need to soothed back to sleep. 

damerida

Oh my god we are here too. After getting a few great nights moving his bedtime later he's now getting up four or more times at night and takes forever to get back to sleep. And naps are short! Today he was at day care and she got him to sleep 45 minutes, then a 2.5 hour nap. He napped 40 minutes on drive home so I'm hoping we will avoid overtired baby. Husband and I are at our wits end!

ebilbao

I am DYING over here with the sleep regression. LO went from sleeping from 5pm-530am (with two feedings in between) to now fighting sleep with every fiber of his being. We struggle to get him to bed by 8pm, and then he is up every three hours like a newborn until 5am, when no force on this earth could get him to go back to sleep.

Does the regression just stop eventually, or do we have to do something to "fix it"?

skbaum01

We've been experiencing the 4 month regression since right before he turned 3 months...so 6 weeks! He wakes every 1-2 hours. It's exhausting.

He has no problem falling asleep on his own at bedtime, but if he wakes in the night, he needs to nurse. If we try to soothe any other way, he cries harder and harder. I'm realizing I need to break this sleep association in order to get sleep myself. I am struggling because he still needs to eat a couple times a night. How do I feed him for a couple wake ups and get him to soothe himself back to sleep for all the other wake ups?

mothstothemoon

I remember with my first always saying that between 4 and 6 months was the only time he had inconsistent night sleep patterns and would wake up multiple times at night. Well, that was 7 years ago and now that this little girl is 4 months, suddenly she's up at 2 and 3 (and 4 and 5 and 6) again where she has been sleeping through from 8pm to 5:30.
So, yeah, it's definitely a 4 month thing and i guess I remember it fixing itself after they hit all the new milestones and process all the new things going on inside and outside if them these days as they're more vivacious and alert and increasingly mobile. Atleast that's my take.