The Four-Month Sleep Regression (why it should be called a PROgression!)
I personally resonate with this ‘regression’ the most, as it was the one that kick-started my desire to become a sleep consultant with my oldest! And it’s the one I hear about the most from parents. If you’re reading this, I would actually assume you are either experiencing it now or you have a newborn and are trying to be prepared for it!
I remember how it is -you finally feel like you are getting out of the newborn haze, maybe your little one is beginning to sleep longer stretches overnight and then boom – it hits. Your baby starts waking up way more in the night, maybe naps become shorter or harder to achieve, and often bedtime starts taking MUCH longer.
Ok ok, don’t panic! This is normal. Developmentally, what’s happening is actually really cool! I like to think of this as a PRO-gression instead of a regression, although it may not feel like that to you, as your sleep is suffering!
But, your little one is growing, their sleep patterns are maturing, and there’s a lot of developments taking place – maybe you notice them becoming much more aware of their surroundings, maybe you are starting to see the first signs of rolling, and some kiddos even start showing their first teeth at this time.
So, let’s dive into what this PROGRESSION is and what we can do about it!
When does it occur?
Most typically, we see this developmental shift in sleep around 4-months, but every child is different, so we can plan to see it sometime between 3-5 months old.
What is happening developmentally with my baby’s sleep?
The cool thing about this is that your baby’s sleep cycles are simply shifting and becoming more adult-like, like yours! As a newborn, your child entered REM sleep (light sleep) immediately. Then, they only cycled through two stages, REM & Non-REM sleep, or light sleep and deep sleep. Also, as a newborn, it’s normal for your baby to have a sporadic schedule and to need a lot of help falling asleep.
However, sometime after 3 months, your baby starts cycling through more stages of sleep. Your baby enters non-REM sleep first, which is the deeper stage of sleep. As they are falling asleep, it’s also when they form their sleep association with their environment, which *can* become an issue for many babies.
The first portion of night sleep includes more of the non-REM deep sleep, and your baby descends back into the deep sleep stages quickly as they cycle through sleep. This is why, for most parents, even though their baby is struggling with night-wakings, they aren’t usually seeing those wakings as much at the beginning of the night.
As the night continues, and we start reaching the earlier morning hours, your baby’s sleep includes longer and more intense periods of REM sleep (light sleep) and shorter periods of non-REM sleep. It is during these lighter hours of sleep, and specifically the transitions from REM to non-REM, that we see most of the micro-awakenings turning into full on awakenings, most typically due to the sleep associations in place.
What’s up with all the awakenings between sleep cycles?
Basically, we check in with our surroundings, note that all is well, and transition into the next sleep cycle. As adults, we may roll over, pull the covers up, or flip our pillow, without ever remembering it in the morning. We are so accustomed to these brief awakenings and as long as our environment remains the same as it was when we fell asleep, we barely notice that we woke at all.
It’s not typically the same experience for our baby. As noted above, your baby forms their sleep association as they are falling asleep. Whether it is feeding, rocking, bouncing, being patted, or with a pacifier - when they are in the lighter stages of sleep, and have a micro-awakening, they also check in with their surroundings and often, it’s changed from when they fell asleep. So, they cry out for you to come recreate the way they fell asleep, and this can go on often throughout the night. It’s a great time to encourage independent sleep skills.
Your baby falling asleep with a pacifier and waking without it is like you falling asleep with your pillow and waking to it being on the floor. You probably wouldn’t return to sleep easily until your pillow is back under your head and your baby won’t return to sleep easily until the pacifier is back in their mouth. And, so, the paci popping begins!
What else is happening at this four-month mark?
Outside of their circadian rhythms maturing, many babies are starting to be much more aware of their surroundings. They are becoming more social and able to recognize the different faces they see regularly. They begin to grab things more, such as their toys, your hair, or their feet. Some are even starting to roll, which is almost guaranteed to disrupt sleep temporarily.
Ok, great, cool, lots of exciting developments - but what do we DO?? We’re exhausted!
Make sure your child has an environment conducive to sleep.
This is a good time to check in on your baby’s sleep environment, to help them transition through sleep cycles easier. Is it dark? Like, PITCH DARK? As noted above, your baby is simply more aware now of their surroundings. It’s normal for them to have a harder time sleeping just anywhere, like on-the-go or in a bright room. Darkness helps cue your baby’s brain that it’s time to sleep. It’s also a good time to introduce continuous white/pink/brown noise, if you haven’t already. A sound machine can help mask outside sounds and again act as a cue for your child’s sleep.
Doing a routine consistently before each sleep is another important part of healthy sleep hygiene. A consistent & calming routine before each nap and before bedtime helps your little one transition from awake play to restful sleep.
Move towards a schedule
Between 4 and 6 months, most babies transition from 4 naps to 3.
Most babies wake for the day sometime between 6-7:00 a.m.
The morning nap develops first, starting around 8:30/9:00 a.m., consolidating and becoming long and is mentally restorative.
The mid-afternoon nap develops second and is physically restorative, starting around 12:00-1:00 p.m.
The 3rd (or 4th for those babies that still need it) just acts as a bridge to bedtime, starting between 3:00-4:o0 p.m., and doesn’t have much restorative value. It helps keep your baby from becoming overtired by bedtime.
Bedtime should be early for most babies, falling between 6-7:30 p.m. It’s important to shift bedtime earlier if naps were short so that your baby can avoid becoming overtired and get more of the restorative, deep sleep at the beginning of the night.
It may be a stretch for your little one to make it to these times, if they are on the younger side of this transition. Most 4-month olds can only handle 1.5-2 hours of awake time before needing to sleep again. Erring on the side of caution can help, as overtired babies fight sleep more and typically don’t sleep as well.
Maintain feedings throughout the day
Since they are more distractible than ever, some babies start reverse cycling (this was the case with my daughter!): not eating well during the day (so much more interesting things to see/do!) and then waking hungry and consuming more overnight, and so on and so forth. It can help to feed in quiet areas of the house, with dim lighting and less distractions.
Practice lots of rolling
There is so much happening developmentally for your little one, including their physical skills like rolling. And what better time to practice those skills, than at night, right? HAHAHA, no, but our babies don’t know that. Encourage a lot of tummy time during the day to help facilitate these skills. If your baby rolls to their tummy, but then gets stuck, spend lots of playtime helping them roll back. And if your baby is showing signs of rolling, it’s time to ditch the swaddle. The zipadee zip and love to dream swaddles are great transitional sleep sacks. Otherwise, an arms out sleep sack is excellent as well!
Work on establishing independent sleep skills.
This is a good time to work towards your baby being able to put themselves asleep, as it is KEY to ending the multiple night wakings that are happening post-progression. Whatever means they fall asleep with or using will be the means they will look for upon waking between sleep cycles throughout the night.
If your baby is under 4-months of age, you can start helping your baby practice independent sleep. There is no pressure here, but you can cue in on your baby’s signals and try to place them down drowsy, but not yet asleep, and see if they will finish falling asleep on their own. If they are struggling, by all means help them to sleep and you can try again tomorrow!
If your baby is over 4-months of age, or 16-weeks adjusted, it’s a great time to start thinking about formally sleep training! You can pick a method as gradual or direct as you feel comfortable being consistent with.
The four-month sleep progression can be a challenging one, but I promise, you’ll come out the other side! It’s one of many exciting changes throughout your baby’s first year!
If you are struggling with this progression, have an older baby and feel like you never got out of it in the first place, or want to sleep train but don’t know where to start, I can help! Schedule an intro call with me here and we can talk about how to get your little one (and you!) sleeping well again!
Ferber, Richard. (2006). Solve your child’s sleep problems. New York, NY: Touchstone.
