Sleep regressions
4-6 months
9 months
12 months
18 months
Do they ever stop!!!!
4-6 months, this one can be a biggy, if your baby still cat naps at this age, and they have not yet learnt to self settle a lot of babies at this age begin to wake every 2-4 hours over night. This is due to a change in sleep cycle length and the fact that babies at this age fully wake between sleep cycles. The good news is this reduces your babies risk of dying from SIDS, and if they are waking every 2 hours we can help you to get some more sleep!
9 months – this one is usually associated with some separation anxiety and the ability to crawl and roll! Who wants to sleep when there is crawling and rolling to be done! This can send some parents into a spiral of rocking and feeding to sleep just to stop the constant crawling!
12 months – if you thought separation anxiety was bad at 9 months, at 12 months some babies show real protest at being left alone! Their cry is louder and more upsetting, and they are determined. They don’t want to stop reading books with you and sleep, or stop playing with their blocks and sleep, play is more fun, and these little people know what they want. Spend more time on a wind down routine to allow your baby to be calm and content before sleep. Don’t be fooled into dropping naps as a response to this stage, they are learning to walk and run and will be exhausted!
18 months – now these babies are becoming toddlers and you have probably made the difficult transition to 1 nap. If you do this too soon how ever it can result in early morning wake ups and nap refusals. We can help you get this balance right.
Hiya,
We found that when our baby (now 6 months) hit the 11 week mark, his sleeping patterns drastically changed! Went from sleeping at 8pm-6am to waking 2-3 times a night. It was thanks to Sophie that we had an amazing sleep plan done for him that he’s been on since March. We are now down to two sleeps a day (he was very vocal in telling us that he no longer wanted to go to sleep at 9am!) and he’s having two solid meals a day (lunch and dinner). I’m interested in understanding how the 9 month sleep regression issue arises and if there’s anything we can do to overcome this? He has a transitional toy (a lamb) that he LOVES and we use it as part of his sleep ritual. Also, we are still using white noise (on a 15 minute timer) before all sleeps. When should we phase this out? 🙂
if you have healthy sleep habits ( you do! ) you probably wont notice the 9 month regression, if you do and he wakes more frequently or out of the blue – go back to your technique – don’t fall into a trap of rocking him etc.
OK – I thought I was back to square one after FINALLY getting the little man to sleep but all of a sudden over the past few weeks he’s been waking earlier and earlier in the morning. He’s just crawling now and just about to turn 9 months old. So instead of sleeping till 6.30 ish it’s been creeping forward and today was 5am! Can’t get him back to sleep for love nor money he just sits in his cot and screams.
Is this classed as a ‘sleep regression’? I just don’t know how to deal with it. I end up going in to his room and taking him out of his cot and sitting with him in the chair in his room till a more reasonable time and then change/feed him. How can we deal with this – any advice pleeeeease?!?!
does sound like a wee regression – I suggest you book a sleep discussion with one of the team, we would ask about naps, bed timing, solids and then help you find a technique to use at 5am which suits you!
Hi there,
My son is 8.5 months and has been waking at least once in the night from about 5/6months.
Initially I started out rocking, cuddling and putting him back down drowsy however he will be up again so have taken to feeding him for my own sanity as I also have a 2year old who starts her day at 6am! I know this is a bad habit and other times he wakes I help soothe him however I’m now reaching breaking point!
He goes down for sleeps fine and usually has 2 great naps through the day he is also on 3 solid meals a day. Any ideas?
Thanks,
My baby is 12 weeks and is a good sleeper at night from 11pm ish til 8am ish. He has only 2 cat naps during the day for about 40mins he gets grumpy in the evening but will not sleep longer when napping. Also I have tried to put him to sleep earlier at night but fail miserably. im not sure what to do 🙁
Hmmm, my 18 month old dropped to one nap following a trip to Australia at the end of March. He has seemed to cope fine and have only had the odd meltdown (was getting to point when 2nd nap was too late in the day). We were home a week, then daylight savings kicked in, and since then it has been a disaster! Between 5 – 5:30am is normal now, and he is not always happy at this time. When I read that cutting down too soon can cause early wake ups, I wonder if this is what is happening with my wee man? Can you fix it by going back to 2 naps, or ride it out…? I don’t get him up till it is 6-something (sit with him until quiet, then lay back in his cot and leave the room. This sometimes gains me another 15-20 mins). Problem is it is waking my 4 year old up too…
Hi
My 16month old has been a dream sleeper until she got sick a couple of weeks ago. I was rocking and cuddling her to comfort her and now she is a nightmare at bedtime. We used to do bath bottle straight to bed by 6.30 but was battling with her for an hr n half to get her to go to sleep so we changed her routine to dinner, bath, play, bottle, bed and thats not working either. She either gets back up for another half hour or like tonight, i ended up rocking and singing to her to get her to sleep. She is getting to big and heavy to do this so any help/advice from anyone would be appreciated!
Hi Kylee – flick us an email if you want some help. =)
Hi there, I have a ten week old girl for the last month she does not sleep in the day unless I take her out in her buggy or in the car, I nurse her at home in the day but as soon as she in her cot she either wakes up at 45 mins or after 10 minutes and is wide awake. On an evening I bath her between 6/7pm feed her and she goes to her cot 7-8pm and stays there until 11pm wakes again for a feed at 3am and then again at 6.30am. She has a unsettled period between 5pm until 7pm where she cries, which I put down to the lack of sleep and routine in the day. Any ideas ?
Please can someone give me some ideas, my 10 month old who used to be the perfect sleeper is now impossible! I can get her down for first nap at 9.30 easily but big nap she fights for 45-90min and was up 12 times last night! She has a sleepytot and shusher
Register for a chat Rochelle, we would love to help.
Hi, so it’s 2am… Mr 9&1/2 mths has been grizzling on and off.. He hit the 4mth sleep regression and I did sleep training along with going cold turkey on the dummy. It took about one week and since then he has slept 9-10hrs… Fed.. Then asleep for another 1&1/2-2hrs.
However he has started rolling and wriggling all over the cot and then waking himself up. I tried a safe t sleep but he’s so strong he spins around in it. So bought a breathable bumper, sleep sack so I know he’s not cold.. And have decided to leave him to wriggle and roam.. I figure if I keep going in every time he grizzles and moving him to his back and under the covers then he will rely on that and I’ll create a habit. So I’m leaving him. I figure he will learn to roam and eventually find a comfortable position in the cot to sleep himself.. There may be a few nights of waking whilst he does this but I’m hoping he will learn and find a position and place he’s comfortable.. Is this the right thing to do? Or should I be going in to move him on his back again or under the covers?
Plus how long does this last??