Sleep regressions
Sleep regressions are a natural part of babies’ sleep. They are a result of biological changes in their body, such as hormonal fluctuation, cognitive and physical developments. The main sleep regressions are at 4 months, 9-10 months, 12 months and 18 months.
While no amount of sleep training can prevent these regressions from occurring, good sleeping habits will minimise their impact on your baby’s sleep, and ensure they do not last for very long. Your baby will experience some changes to their sleep routine, but with your help and support, they will return to a good sleeping structure very quickly.
things that make sleep regressions worse:
Lack of awareness of baby’s sleep and wake windows and lack of routine will result in your baby getting overtired frequently. During a sleep regression, this will make it harder on your baby to nap during the day. Difficulty in napping further increases their over-tiredness, and a vicious cycle will emerge.
Awareness of baby’s sleep needs plays an important key in tackling sleep regressions. Ensuring your baby gets an adequate amount of sleep during the day, is just as important as ensuring they don’t sleep for too long. Morning nap should begin no earlier than 9am, and last 30-60min (depends on baby’s age). 3rd afternoon nap should be gone by 9 months. Keeping the 3rd nap after 9 months will prevent your baby from being tired enough to settle to sleep for the night.
Untimely morning nap (too long and/or offered too early) will lead to reverse sleep face-shift. Baby will then fight their midday nap and be very tired by bedtime. This, in turn, results in frequent night wakes and early morning wake-ups (before 6am).
4 months:
This sleep regression is caused by a 2nd burst of melatonin production (sleep hormone), which changes the structure of baby’s sleep. Night sleep cycles change from 4-6 hours to 2-4 hours. When the regression is very bad, your baby will wake up every 2 hours. They do not know why they wake up, and can feel very frustrated and tired. Establishing a good sleep ritual, observing age-appropriate feeding windows and introducing good sleeping habits, will help your baby reset their sleep debt.
At this age, a small scale of self-settling ability is emerging. Beginning sleep training can help your baby consolidate sleep cycles.
9-12 months
Developmental milestone such as a new motor skill, speech and separation anxiety often set this regression off. If your baby isn’t upset by their newly developed skill (i.e. happily standing in their cot), leave them be. Depending on your chosen settling method, only assist them to lie back down during check-ups. Otherwise, they can remain standing as long as they are not bothered by it.
Separation anxiety peaks at 9 months. While sleep training is definitely possible, choosing a gentle method will best suit this age group and complement your baby’s developmental stage.
Dropping morning nap will make matters worse. Most babies need 2 naps until they are 15 months old. Your baby might protest their morning nap, it is very common! Growing social awareness and interests may impose difficulties to settle. Whereas before they were happy to leave a busy living room, now they will happily stay awake to not miss out and get upset when it’s time to nap. Skipping naps will lead to baby accumulating sleep debt and they will be harder to settle later on. Baby will also sleep worse. Overtired babies tend to wake up prematurely due to high levels of cortisol (stress hormone) released as a result of fatigue.
If your baby is becoming overtired as you are tackling the sleep regression, an earlier bedtime will be your best choice. Earlier bedtime is the best solution for overtired babies. It helps reset their sleep debt for the night, and the following day.
Diet:
From 6 months, your baby’s digestive system is ready to process solid food. While milk is still baby’s primary source of nutrition, introducing different food groups is important for your baby’s development. At this age, solids can make a big difference in the quality of your baby’s sleep, and lack of protein, carbohydrates and iron will hinder good sleep.
If your baby is still having a dream feed past 6.5 months, it’s best to drop it. It is better to wait for them to wake up to eat (will probably happen around 11pm). This way you do not disturb their deep sleep stage. Allowing your baby to finish deep sleep cycles will increase the quality of their sleep.
Feeding at night time:
6 months
If your baby is over 6m, drinks formula and tracks above the 50th percentile for weight, they can sleep through the night with 1 bottle (no more than 150ml).
Breastfeeding babies do no need more than 2 feeds a night (mum, look at dropping it to 1).
7 months
If baby drinks formula and has 2 solid meals a day (again, check for sufficient protein and carbs), they can sleep through with no feeds.
If breastfeeding with 2 established solid meals, your baby might need 1 feed, but only until 9 months.
From 9 months, with a well established solid menu- baby needs no feeds at all.
Dummy/ pacifier:
If your baby takes a dummy, it’s important they learn how to find and replace it. If they still rely on you to replace the dummy, you can begin teaching them to do it on their own by ensuring there are plenty of dummies in their cot (either loose or attached to a Sleepytot) and only handing the dummy instead of putting it in their mouths. The less help your baby needs to resume sleep, the better.
18 months:
This sleep regression is often set off by trying to drop to 1 nap too soon. Keep morning nap in place until at least 15 months.
Ensure morning nap is no longer than 30min, and is offered around 9:30am.
When your baby is happy to make it till 12pm with no nap, sleeps for 1.5-2h at midday nap or does not settle until after 10am for at least a week, then they are ready to drop the nap.
To help them adjust to the new sleep routine, offer the midday nap for 2 hours from 12-2pm, and once new routine is established, from 1-3pm.
Offer an earlier bed time for the first week as your babies get used to the new sleep routine (6-6:30pm). Once babies can make it till 1pm, bedtime can move to 6:30-7pm.
When baby protests the nap, but still needs it: stick with routine. Try and settle them for an hour, then cancel nap if baby isn’t sleeping. Keep nap in place, even if no sleep is achieved. The message is “it’s nap time. We are not doing anything else right now”. When you are consistent, nap will fall back into place.
Good sleeping habits will help your baby go through sleep regressions much faster. Observing baby’s wake windows, offering naps at optimal times and for the appropriate length, establishing a good wind-down ritual and awareness of baby’s diet - will get you and baby through these sleep regressions and establish a great sleep routine.
No matter which sleep regression you are facing right now - sticking to your routine is the best solution to ride the storm.
Sleep regressions often lead to early morning wake-ups. You can learn in my “5 Reasons for Early Morning Wake-ups” guide why and how to fix this.
If you want to work on your baby’s sleep regression book a sleep consultation package today, or learn more in a free 15-minute discovery call.