Let's talk about regression...

[JTA Mom]

I keep reading threads where other posters mention 'oh, she's going through her X month sleep regression' as a reason for bad sleep issues.

One would think I would know this, but my older son is 3.5 and I'm too sleep deprived to remember. Ds2 is 4mos and has had crappy sleep the last month-ish.

I am soooo tired. Sooooo tired. He wakes up more than he did as a newborn. It seems like any little bitty thing  wakes him up.

Why is he regressing? What are the stages for 'regression'? What can I do to get better sleep for both of us? I can tell he's sleepy since he's so cranky all the time. My wonderful happy giggly baby is a grumpikins. :(

Ami

[LittleBirdy]

Ahhh you sound like me!!  "Wakes up more than he did as a newborn" - that's my son :)

Here's a good post to sum it all up: http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html

As far as tips to get through it, I had mine swaddled & sleeping in his swing with a white noise machine which helped some, as well as a lot of cosleeping.  It got better when he was about 4.5 months... for two weeks... then it got worse again, but I think this was due to some food issues and not a true sleep regression.

[rachael07]

Hi, my DS started off sleeping pretty well (4 hours at a time, home from the hospital!) and his sleep has just gone downhill since then. He went through at sudden, terrible sleep regression right at 4 months. That's when we switched from being part-time co-sleepers to full-time co-sleepers. The co-sleeping worked wonders for a few weeks, but it has gone downhill again (he's 6.5 months now). Not to sound depressing, but just to let you know that other moms out there are going through something similar. I noticed small improvements with teething solutions (giving him something to gnaw on, a little tylenol, occasionally a tiny dab of orajel -- which seemed to distract him more than anything).

There's a lot going on at 4months. They are suddenly getting more mobile and also much more social. Their physical and emotional world is growing exponentially, and I think it's a tough time for many reasons.

Good luck.