Babies: 3 - 6 Months
amawerling
member
12 Week Old Sleep Regression?
amawerling
member
This is more for my sanity and not feeling so alone, but our 12 week old goes down by 9, wakes around 12-1, then again at 3, then AGAIN at 5, and again between 6-8. When he was around 8 weeks old, he was doing 6-8 hour stretches, and now this! I feel like I am a failure as a mom because I can't get my baby to sleep! I don't know what I am doing wrong, but it's probably a combination of things. He had RSV, then a double ear infection. Now he's healthy and breaking out of his swaddle, still nurses to sleep at night. Letting him cry doesn't work; even if he does fall asleep from crying he will sleep like crap and wake up in 30 minutes. I think I need a refill at the patience station. It doesn't help when I hear moms that say their baby sleeps in 8-10 hour stretches by now. Not fair!
Answers
My 3mth old goes down around 7/8pm and sleeps until around 2am. Then wakes every 2 hrs either to eat or have her paci. Which makes for a tired momma.
You aren't doing anything wrong at all. I hate hearing moms that think that! Babies change constantly, especially sleep patterns. Once you get used to something, they change and most of the time there is NOTHING you can do about it but power through.
Adjust your expectations and you won't get so frustrated. Naps suck and night time sleep gets seriously messed up starting at 4 months old. This is totally normal.
Also, just because he had a period of sleeping longer a few weeks really isn't enough time to set a new standard to. He is so little that a "normal" hadn't really been established yet. And I've always found with both my kids (1 great sleeper, 1 crappy sleeper) that being sick recently means all bets are off in any sort of sleep pattern for a little while. Hang in there.
DD1 born 5/24/10.
Missed M/C at 14 wks Feb 2012.
DD2 born 5/14/13.
Missed M/C at 9 wks July 2015.