So a sleep regression is basically defined as
a period where your child's sleep gets worse
and that could be their naps
or their nighttime sleep.
There are quite a few sleep regressions that happen
between zero and two years old.
There's the four month sleep regression,
there's a bit of a regression at eight to ten months,
there's another one again just after twelve months,
and then there's another one at two years old.
With the exception of the four month sleep regression,
the other ones are more to do with
big developmental things that are
happening for your child at that time
and it's things like learning to walk,
nap transitions, explosions in language,
and so while these big things are
happening for your little one,
their sleep takes a bit of a hit.
Those sleep regressions are pretty temporary
and unless new sleep associations
creep in during those times,
you'll get through them relatively unscathed.
The four month sleep regression
is a different kettle of fish
and that one marks a massive,
permanent change in the way that
your baby's sleep operates
which is marked by increased cat napping
and more frequent night waking.
So there are some things you need
to look at to help get through
that four month sleep regression.
Unless you kind of address some of
the changes that are happening at that time,
that sleep regression can last forever.
If you'd like more information about
the four month sleep regression
or any of the other sleep regressions,
we've got a lot of articles on our website
and also more videos on our YouTube channel
about all of the different sleep regressions
your little one is going to encounter.
Honestly if your baby is under three months old
and your baby is sleeping well with a dummy,
that's absolutely fine.
Keep it and as long as it's not causing a problem,
that's absolutely fine to keep it.
And same with even around four months old.
If your baby is not waking overnight
for a dummy run
and for you to replace the pacifier,
then the dummy is working for you
so just keep the dummy
and it's not causing a problem.
But some babies will genuinely wake
just purely because they are so
reliant on the pacifier
that they need you to go in and replace it
so if that's happening to you, again,
it could be a good time to remove
the dummy from all sleep.
So to actually do that,
you would need to replace the sleep association
of the dummy or pacifier with something else
and make sure that there's lots of
other positive sleep associations.
And firstly, actually, you need to make sure
that your child is even ready to go to sleep
and make sure they're good
and tired to have a nap
and that will help aid in removing the dummy from sleeps.
Between four and six months,
if you're happy to keep replacing the dummy,
then that's absolutely fine,
you can keep on doing it.
Over six months if your child has still got a dummy
and they're still waking overnight for dummies,
then it's a good time to start
teaching them to put the dummy in themselves
and you can do this by getting some
sort of comforter which can hold
the dummies in place
and start teaching your child to
reach for the comforter
and put the pacifier in themselves.
Catnapping is a very, very common stage,
especially between about four and six months
and it does mark a period of big development
in your baby's sleep
and the way your baby's sleep patterns are changing
from being more like newborns sleep patterns
to being a lot more mature.
So catnapping is sort of a transitional period
that your baby, all babies, will pass through
and there are certainly some things
that we can do,
some steps we can take to make sure
that your baby is given the best chance
to nap for longer than that one sleep cycle
when they're ready to.
Some easy changes that you can make
in your baby's day are things like
extending out their awake times
between their naps to being more age appropriate
and to move your baby away from
those newborn sleep patterns
and those newborn awake periods
which are generally sort of advised
out there to be around an hour,
an hour and a half.
So stretching out your baby's awake times
so that they are staying awake
and they're a bit more stimulated
between their naps is often
a good way to then encourage them
to nap for a bit longer than one sleep cycle.
Also on the flip side of that
is making sure that your baby is not
staying awake for too long between naps
because then of course they're going
to get overtired
and an overtired baby is really
only going to sleep for one sleep cycle.
It can be quite hard to know what
awake times to aim for
so we've got it all really specific for you
in your Sleep Programs
which is broken down pretty much
month by month at that age
to let you know what sort of the goals
will be for your baby's awake times.
Another thing that starts to play
into catnapping at this age
is the way your baby goes to sleep.
So this is sort of commonly called
the four month sleep regression
and it does tend to go hand in hand
with your baby's ability to fall
asleep on their own at the start of each nap
and at bedtime at night.
And this means that when they're
naturally aroused at the end of a sleep cycle,
if they're good and ready for a longer nap,
they're able to just sort of roll over
and go back to sleep again on their own
and nap for longer.
This is, you know, called self settling
and if your baby's not able to do that,
so if they're relying on you putting
them to sleep at the start of a nap
or at bedtime by maybe rocking
or patting or feeding,
then when they naturally come out
of that sleep cycle,
they're going to need that same thing
replicated in order to go back
into another sleep cycle and sleep for longer.
So your baby being able to put themselves
to sleep when they're fully ready to
is the best step forward
to get out of that catnapping stage.
Sometimes, however, if everything else does line up right
and your baby can't self settle,
you know, sometimes it's just a case of
riding it out for a little while
until their sleep consolidates.
But more and generally if everything else,
if all those other boxes are ticked,
that will normally sort of happen
around the six month mark.
If you need some help ticking any of those boxes,
our Sleep Programs have all the information you need.
So the first thing we would look at
is the daytime sleep.
The daytime and nighttime aren't treated separately.
They do need to be treated as how much
sleep a baby is sleeping in a 24 hour period
and if your baby is having too much
or too little daytime sleep,
then that can have a negative effect
on the nighttime
and cause waking just purely because
they're over or under tired.
If your baby's naps are spot on,
then we would look at other reasons
as to what might be causing your baby to wake.
It could be that they do genuinely need
a feed at night still
and that can certainly be happening
until your baby is established on solids.
The other reasons that the baby can wake
at nighttime for around four months old
is they are too reliant on a parent
controlled sleep association.
So around this age,
we do recommend that between four
and six months that they start learning
to go to sleep independently
and not needing you to actively put them to sleep
because when they do arouse in between sleep cycles,
if they've been put to sleep by you rocking initially
and then when they arouse at nighttime
and you're not rocking them anymore,
they will wake fully and cry out
because they need you to be there
rocking them to sleep again.
And if all of that's lined up
then your baby can genuinely start
sleeping through the night.