Sleep Regression Question

ahart326

This is my first discussion post! I've been searching the Internet for an answer and can't seem to find one so I was wondering if anyone here might have any experience that they can please share?

My question is, does a baby being able to self soothe and put themselves back to sleep without any intervention prevent or drastically reduce the sleep regression? From what I can tell in reading up on it, the so called regression is caused by babies switching to adult sleep cycles where they wake up every hour and a half cycle to check their surroundings and then often need to be put back to sleep however they typically go to sleep, whether that be rocking, nursing, etc.

As my LO Grace gets closer and closer to four months old I am dreading this sleep regression. So far I have been blessed with a very good sleeper. Right now she is sleeping from approximately 7 PM until 8 AM and gets up typically once a night to eat and sometimes not at all. When I put her down at night and after a middle of the night feeding she goes back to sleep in her crib with no crying or fussing.

My first day back to work is Wednesday and I am just hoping that if this regression hits, it can wait a few days while we all get used to the new swing of things. I would really appreciate any insight or experience you have with this! Thanks!

justkeeptrying

I have no answer but I can say the regression SUCKS. We just started it and I'm going mental!!!!

My assumption would be that if a sleep trained baby went through the regression it wouldn't be as bad as one who hasn't. My LO has not been sleep trained so he relies on sleep associations (rocking, soother, etc) to fall asleep. Every 40 minutes when he finishes one REM cycle and is supposed to go to the next, he wakes up and can't go back to sleep without his sleep association. Sometimes it's as easy as popping the soother in. Other times I've had to rock him. The last 2 nights our midnight feeds have turned into a feed and then 2 HOURS of rocking before he goes back to sleep. Then he wakes up 40-45 minutes later!! (Note: I'm very tired)

So my assumption would be that your LO might wake up more but will hopefully already have the skills to put themselves back to sleep. But that's just what I assume.

Please keep us posted though. I'm very curious.

Oh and I have also heard the sleep regression can occur anywhere from 3-5 months. DS is just under 3.5 months and has started.

Curlygirl84

The other problem is that there's also often a growth spurt and lots of new brain building that goes along with it, so some of the additional wakeups may be because baby legitimately needs an additional night feeding.

We just came out of a 3 week regression. (Knock on wood.) It was brutal. But now she's back to sleeping longer stretches and we haven't done any sleep training, I nurse to sleep, etc.

rae430

https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/comment/12620235#Comment_12620235

We are two weeks in and it sucks (DS is 3.5 months). He's not sleep trained, but was sleeping 6 hours at a stretch with one MOTN feed and one early morning feed. Now he's waking every 2 hours MINIMUM. I think it's still way too early for sleep training to "stick"... Friends have told me that the regressions tend to throw everything that used to work out the window. That being said, it's worse for some babies than others- maybe yours will have an easy time of it!

brylyn79

https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/comment/12620235#Comment_12620235

Mine's the same glad to hear I'm not alone.

marijaa333

Just joining the regression train.

My LO was doing 4hours-4hours-2hours-2hours but now it's 2-hours-2-hours-2hours-4hours-2hours, meaning an extra feeding in the MOTN.

I've taken to going to bed at 8pm so I can function during the day. 

I don't know how you STMs do it!! If I had another kiddo running around, I'd be dead tired.

nolababybaby

I didn't do sleep training, but my babe just got through her regression. It was awful for ten days, mostly because I was worried the only one way for it to end was to train her. But she just started sleeping through the night again without our changing too much. So don't stress. They get through it eventually no matter what

mars8k

My LO has been waking up every 1-2 hours for a few days, at her vaccination appointment on sunday i asked her ped about it and she didn't mention the regression she said it could be reflux and that i should elevate her head while she sleeps, i spent last night at my mum's her sleeping area was uneven and had a natural lift near her head and she woke up every 3 hours which is a major improvement! Tonight we're back home and i have a semi flat baby pillow that came with her crib bedding under her head and upper back. She's been asleep for almost 2 hours now and all is good so far!

My LO used to sleep 8-10 hours a night. she now often wakes up before her official waking up where she cries but goes back to sleep if the room is dark and is wide awake if it's lit idk if that counts as regression or if my ped was off, i hope she's not! I'm back to work tomorrow..

ldmw

I had a naturally great sleeper. Went down around 7 or 8 and slept until 5 or 6. No MOTN feedings. We're in week 2 of the month 4 sleep regression and it's hard!

ahart326

Idmw- thanks for the input! when you put your baby down at night did you have to rock or nurse him or her to sleep first or did they fall asleep on their own?

ldmw

Ahart326 - sometimes rock and sometimes she'd lay in her bassinet and go to sleep on her own.

cguinn1

Sooo it appears my DD has joined the sleep regression club...

We are also in the midst of switching her from her RNP to her crib - which I guess is pretty bad timing on our part.

Would it be better to keep her in the RNP and ride out the 4 month wakeful period, before switching full time to crib -or-

Keep up the crib transition even though it is completely miserable and I am having to wake up with her every hour to either put her paci back in or rock her?

Previously she had been sleeping through night 9pm-5am without nursing or comforting...

Thoughts, suggestions, advice?

SUNshin322

cguinn1 said:

Sooo it appears my DD has joined the sleep regression club...

We are also in the midst of switching her from her RNP to her crib - which I guess is pretty bad timing on our part.

Would it be better to keep her in the RNP and ride out the 4 month wakeful period, before switching full time to crib -or-

Keep up the crib transition even though it is completely miserable and I am having to wake up with her every hour to either put her paci back in or rock her?

Previously she had been sleeping through night 9pm-5am without nursing or comforting...

Thoughts, suggestions, advice?

My daughter was going thru the same thing and I thought I was gonna to die of exhaustion. So I purchased crib blocks that put u under the front two legs of ur crib to elevate it a little and she only woke once! Only thing that helped for me

smbolton360

When I transitioned from RnP to crib I elevated the mattress a bit with a blanket and put 2 rolled up blankets by her side in the beginning. I don't know if it helped but she is in the crib now! I say keep the transition going now!

evelyn5310

My LO is will be 4 months on the 15th and we're going on the 3rd week of sleep regression. It's been EXHAUSTING. She used to sleep 4-5 hours, have a bottle, go immediately back to sleep for 3 more hours, then bottle & 2 more hrs. Now it's 1-2 hrs, then wakes up, but not crying, just sort of squirming all around and will go back to sleep if I give her the pacy. Strangely enough, this week she's started taking a long nap mid-morning (she's always only napped for 30 mins max). I also started her napping in her crib last week (at night she sleeps in a co-sleeper next to me). I'm hoping maybe we're toward the end of this regression? It gives me hope to read that some of your babes are going back to their normal sleep patterns once they get through the regression!

Curlygirl84

Ours lasted three weeks and we were so exhausted that we reverted back to RNP because bc she slept so much better. Transitioning back to crib now. She slept 8-4 last night, so apparently the RNP regression didn't hurt our progress too much!

I'm of the mind that you need to do what you have to to keep your sanity