Dreaded Sleep Regression has Hit

[Blueone]

What causes this? I truly don't get it. He used to sleep 12 hours straight at night and I really really miss it. He now wakes up at 12, 3, and is up by 6. I'm so exhausted. He won't even take long naps now. I'm lucky if he sleeps an hour. Will this ever end?

[LadyCatherine185]

Your 4 mo wakes up twice a night? That sounds like absolute heaven to me.

Do you cosleep?

The sleep regression may or may not end soon... sometimes it is months before it "ends" only to regress again. I suggest doing what you can to make it easier/more comfortable for yourself. Cosleeping is huge for us.. I also take naps with DS, and DH takes DS in the morning with him while he gets ready for work and I stay in bed for another hour.

hope you can find some ways to feel rested soon.

[Everrgreen]

Sorry, no sympathy from me either Your idea of a sleep regression sounds like an absolutely fantastic night here.

I second the suggestion to cosleep (if you aren't already), DS's night wakings don't bother me too much as he is in the bed with us. And I will take a nap with him during the day if I needed. I don't usually need it though.

[Gentle~Mommy :)]

12 hours is crazy long for a baby to sleep! what you have now sounds normal to me.

[gracemamma]

I too dream of your version of sleep regression- though I'm sure it is still pretty shocking if you are used to a good nights rest!
We just started with this this week and last night DD went to sleep at 8:30. Was up and needed walking a couple times before midnight, nursed every hour and then from 4AM was up every 10-15 minutes until 7.
For naps, it works for me to have DD in the ergo and walk her/sing her back to sleep when she wakes too early from a nap. I can often get another hour out of her this way. Good luck!

[Blueone]

Yeah, we co sleep. I think that's why he used to sleep so long. I suppose 2 times a night isn't too bad, I was spoiled though when he slept 12 hours. I guess I shouldn't complain LOL!

[Snuzzmom]

We're in the midst of this, too. Good times! Except, not.

My first did the same thing, at the same time, and didn't really sleep all through the night consistently again until about 10 months. Which is probably not what you want to hear.

[JMJ]

Whever I get low on sleep, I spend more time napping with my baby during the day.

[penstamon]

Yeah, your sleep regression is a great night for us! We are now regressing to waking up every ~1-2 hours and nursing up to 5 times a night. I hope for all of our sakes that the regression ends quickly!

[seafox]

I guess I'm lucky that Z never slept more than a 4 hour stretch regularly! Didn't get used to a lot of sleep at once so didn't see a 'regression' at all, really. When he's teething its a bad night of up every 1-2 hours but most nights its 3 3-4 hour stretches, with me missing the first one since he goes to bed 3 hours before I do.

[CrunchyMamaB]

Are we mothering the same child?!?

My son started sleeping 12 hours straight at about 10 weeks. HEAVEN!!! Then at about 4 months, he started waking up once. Then a week later, it was twice a night, until at 5.5 months he was up every three hours. I know some mamas have it worse than that, but it is very puzzling when your wee one goes from sleeping 12 hours to being up 5 or 6 times! I wondered, is my breastmilk too watery now, and he's hungry? What am I doing wrong? Also, naps went out the window, he slept for no more than 30 minutes at a time.

Now he's exactly 7 months 2 days old, and about three days ago it went back to how it used to be, kind of. He has put himself back on a normal schedule--different from when he was younger, but still, it works for us--he's down at 7, up at 11:30 to eat, and up at 7 for the day. I can definitely deal with the one wake up! He also takes two naps, for over an hour each, where he used to just cat nap and be cranky.

I chalk it up to all kinds of developmental stuff happening, and teething (he got 6 teeth between 4 months and 7 months), and a couple colds in there. There's just so much going on for them. For us, what worked was just getting through it--I got up to nurse, I co-slept when I needed to, I napped during the day with him when I could. it IS exhausting, and puzzling, but it will change, hopefully for the better, soon!

Good luck!

[APToddlerMama]

We were waking up *literally* 20x/night at that point. I would have done anything for only two times!

[Blueone]

He slept 10 hours 1 night, then went back to waking. He's going through developmental stuff. Trying to roll and crawl and is teething. Oh well, not much I can do.

[gossamerwindweb]

My little one goes to sleep around 8:30, wakes up at 12:30, 2, 3:30, 5, and then up by 6:30. That is the BEST we have gotten. At one point for a couple days he slept from 8:30 to 1am. That was heaven. LOL!

[evening start]

I found "The Wonder Weeks" book great for describing what is happening during the 4 month sleep regression as well as helping me predict future difficult sleeping/ clingy times. It describes 8 mental developmental phases that infants go through and how and why they will affect the baby. Any time DS's sleep goes wacky and he is particularly fussy, I look at their time line and sure enough he is in the midst of one of these developmental periods. Here's a link to the book's website which gives an overview (pretty much as good as the book which is interesting, but rather repetative): http://www.thewonderweeks.com/

We haven't yet got back to the pre regression sleep patterns at almost 7 months, but we do go through better sleep times and worse sleep times. I think this is just the nature of infants. Even "sleep trained" babies have these fluctuations (requiring painful retraining), so I feel like the best thing for me is to anticipate there will be changes and be happy when the sleep is good.