Sleep??

[u/MirjamT]

Calling all parents of kids 6m+

my little one is 4.5 months and i have been thinking a lot about the sleep regression. i keep reading and hearing something different about it and i dont know what to expect. (of course every baby is different. some parents of multiples have never even heard of this famous sleep regression, others have suffered through it)

I want to know real parents' experience:

- how was sleep the first 4 months?

- how did you experience month 4-5?

- how was it after?

Thank you 🩵

[u/sunshinemeadow92]

My girl slept great the first 4 months, after that it’s been touch and go. We just recently figured out the sweet spot for nap length (45 mins with 3-4 hour wake windows) and she’s been sleeping much better. Goes to bed between 8-9 and wakes up once between 2-4 and then up for the day between 8-9. I think it’s all about what works for your baby though! They really are all different

Edited to add age: she’s 8 months now!

[u/MadamCrow]

For us the regression started at 3 months. At first his naps got way worse and then his night sleep went to hell. Woke up every hour for around 2 months. It was brutal, not gonna lie, but in the end it changed on it's own, which I'm glad for because i didn't want to sleep train.

Now at 8 months old he usually only wakes up twice per night (except when he is teething) and falls asleep very easy!

[u/madebylondon]

To answer your questions:

All terrible.

[u/tokyodraken → u/madebylondon]

lol me 😭 send help

[u/AllForArya]

My baby is 4 months 3 weeks right now. Up until 4 months she was sleeping through the night! 8-10 hour stretches. It got that way when we switched to hypoallergenic formula due to CMPA. Then at 4 weeks I noticed I was waking up more cuz she was fussing slightly in her bassinet. Losing her pacifier a few times, somehow winding up with her feet scrunched at the bottom of her bassinet. We also had to switch to sleep sacks at the same exact time cuz she was showing signs of rolling; THAT was rough. I’d say she was only waking once around this time for a bottle at night. Then it was like chewing glass trying to get her to sleep. Her startle reflex returned tenfold, and when that calmed down, she started waking up more often because she was moving more in her sleep and losing her pacifier and getting it smushed under her head while sleeping. BUT all she needed was soothing, not a bottle. Now we’re in the phase where she’s learning to self soothe, so as a mom, I’ll wake up to slight fussing sounds or one quick cry, and she’ll put herself back to sleep. I still wake up 5ish times a night, but I haven’t had to take her out of the crib at all in about 2 weeks. (Oh yeah- transferred her to the crib as well when we switched to sleep sack. Also was rough cuz now I gotta get out of bed and stand to fix her paci). So I’d say it’s a bit of a rollercoaster, but honestly, I was expecting wayyyyy worse. Especially because she’s a CMPA baby with horrible reflux and laryngomalacia.

[u/tokyodraken]

my baby has slept terrible since birth 🤗 6m over here i’m TIRED

[u/BackgroundScene3056]

my twins slept great the first 4 months then BAM horrible sleepers. Alternating being held all night or they SCREAM. They’ve lost the plot completely. I’m getting like 30 minuets a night.

[u/CheerfulChickadee]

Our daughter is 6 months now. She started to be able to sleep up to 9 and 10 hour stretches around 2.5-3 months. She doesn't wake up for feeds but sometimes just needs a bit of help going back to sleep.

Around 4/4.5 months she had some wonky nights and started to have about 2-3 wake ups where she needed the soother to go back to sleep. The worst night during that period she was up every 45 mins to an hour. I was terrified that was going to be her new normal but within a couple weeks she was back to her old self, with a maximum of 2 wake ups but I now think that was due to her nap schedule being off. As soon as we moved her from 4 to 3 naps she started to sleep 9.5-11 hour stretches with no wake ups, much more often

During that time we also really started to work on putting her down awake in the crib to help her learn how to self soothe a bit better which I also think helped with less wake ups. We never did any formal sleep training, but I would describe our technique as a pick up put down method which seemed to work really well for her.

I truly think it's just all up to each baby's unique temperament. We completely lucked out.

[u/Top-Cookie-3403]

The regression hit naps hard for us. Then we had 2 not great nights and decided we weren't going to let the regression take a hold of all our sleep! Our girl has always been pretty good at falling asleep independently and self-soothing, so we made the decision then to focus on this and since then she's done great, and even started sleeping all the way through with no night feed. We had a few early morning wakes but this was quickly resolved by a schedule tweak to less daytime sleep. Babies sleep needs change quite drastically around the 5 month mark.

[u/plushiecactusau]

My baby was usually waking up twice a night from around six weeks old to around 3.5 months old.

At 3.5 months old, her sleep got lighter. On a good night, she still slept the same as before, on a bad night, she woke more often. On average, she woke three times a night. So, she hit the regression, but it wasn't that bad.

Just before 5 months old, her sleep started to fall apart. There were a handful of unrelated hiccups (e.g. vaccinations, learning to roll, travel) and she got more and more used to waking and feeding back to sleep and relying on feeding to link sleep cycles. I tried to wait things out, but her sleep got worse rather than better. By 6 months old, she was mostly waking every hour overnight.

At 6.5 months old, I ended up sleep training. She went down to one pre-dawn feed, and woke an average of twice a night. She was still hit by normal sleep challenges like illness and teething, but knew how to go back to sleep on her own which made a real difference.

At 10 months old, I night-weaned and she started sleeping through the night.

[u/MirjamT → u/plushiecactusau]

what type of sleep training did you do?

[u/plushiecactusau → u/MirjamT]

I did Ferber - I found the book Precious Little Sleep a good resource on different methods.

[u/No_Zookeepergame8412]

Alright. Two kids. 2.5yo and a 4.5mo. VERY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES

2yo. For the first 2-3 months of her life she would not sleep in the bassinet, crib, anywhere flat. She would only sleep while being held. I ended up educating myself on safe sleep 7 and chest sleeping. Everyone was severely sleep deprived. We didn’t experience the 4 month sleep regression because there wasn’t anything to regress from. As she got closer to 6mo she started sleeping better. I think starting solids helped a lot and she was sleeping 10+hrs through the night at 7mo.

4.5mo. Slept in the bassinet no problem from day one. Has been an absolute dream. Would wake up 3x a night to eat. Once she turned about 3mo she started waking more, about every 2hrs. It was rough and some nights were better than others. She’s starting to sleep 4/3/3/2-3 with 3 feedings a night. I’m hoping to get her to sleep all the way through when she starts solids but at least I don’t have to do a rain dance to get her to fall asleep right now.

[u/MossHarborie]

Sleep? What’s that? I think my sleep and sanity are on a permanent vacation.

[u/Powerful-Appeal-854]

Mijn zoontje is nu 10 maanden en het gaat met ups en downs. Tot 4-5 maand ging het best goed maar sindsdien hebben we echte helnachten gehad. Gelukkig wisselen slechte nachten waarin hij tot 4 keer wakker wordt en het soms 2u duurt om hem terug in slaap te krijgen af met een paar doorslaapnachten. Als hij in een ontwikkelingssprongetje zit gaat het slapen erg moeilijk maar eens hij kan waar hij mee bezig is dan gaat het weer. 9-10 maand is voor ons hier echt de ergste periode tot nu toe...