Three to six months is such a tricky period for your baby,
especially in terms of sleep.
In the next few months,
your baby will go through loads and loads developmentally.
This then can affect their day and night sleep.
Is your little one three months old
and you suddenly find yourself feeling uncertain
and unsure about the road ahead?
Well, you're definitely not alone.
The good thing is knowledge is power,
so arming yourself with all the tools
and information that you need
can actually make this period of time a really,
really special one.
Today, I'm answering your sleep question,
"My little one is three months old,
what can I expect over the next few months?"
By the end of this video,
you should have a rough idea on what to expect and some tips
and tools on how we would go about their sleep
around this age.
So if you're interested in knowing more,
please stay tuned.
Hi, I'm Josephine, a sleep expert at Little Ones.
I'm a mother to two beautiful little girls.
At Little Ones,
we have helped over 200,000 families worldwide
achieve better sleep.
If you're interested in knowing more
about all things babies' sleep,
please check out our website, www.littleones.co.
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So back to your question,
your little one's three months old,
and you're wondering what to expect
over the next few months.
The main thing that you can expect from this age onwards
is that your baby's sleep cycles will mature and change.
What this means is your little one
is no longer rousing between cycles.
They are now waking fully between each cycle.
Between three to four months onwards,
your little one's sleep cycles will be around 35,
45 minutes during the day
and every two hours after midnight overnight.
Now, I won't dwell too much
into the four-month sleep regression,
because we have loads and loads of information
on our website and in this YouTube channel.
Nicky has done a fantastic video
about the four-month sleep regression
and how to get through it.
But in a nutshell,
your little one is now waking fully between each cycle,
so this means it can lead to some catnapping
during the day and multiple night wakes.
And this then can lead to a very unsettled little one.
For three to four months onwards,
we recommend having some baby controlled sleep associations
in their sleep space.
So these things could be a pitch-black room,
a cuddly that is age appropriate,
white noise that plays all through their day
and night sleep, a sleeping bag or a swaddle,
if your little one's not rolling yet.
These things will stay with your little one
the whole duration of their sleep.
This means when they rouse between cycles,
they have everything that they need.
If the little one is needing
a parent-controlled sleep association,
such as feeding, rocking,
a pacifier if they can't replace it themselves,
or patting or shushing,
then we find
that they may start waking multiple times overnight,
needing one of those things.
So now is a great time
to think about working towards independent sleep.
You can take this at any pace that you like.
When my little one was around 3 1/2, four months old,
we started gradually working towards self-settling,
using one of the trusty methods
in the Little Ones Program.
So within three to four days,
my little one was able to be placed in their bed,
wide awake, walk out of the room
and she could sleep all through her naps and overnight,
so it was quite a good skill to teach my little one.
She's four years old now and still has that skill.
So it's definitely a lifelong skill
for your little one to have.
Another thing that you can expect between three
to six months is that your little one will go through loads
and loads developmentally.
These are known as developmental leaps.
So these leaps can lead
to your little one being more grizzly
during their awake times,
having more unpredictable naps during the day,
and waking more times overnight.
Now, there is some things that we can do
to help assist your little one when they're going through
these really tricky neurological developments
behind closed doors.
So we can ensure
that they're having age appropriate awake times.
So what this means is
when we're settling our little ones to sleep,
they're having the correct amount of awake time,
'cause if your little one is under or overtired,
this will then affect how well they sleep during their day
and overnight.
In our program, we take all the guesswork out.
We've been there, we know what to expect,
and we know the certain awake times
that will help to ensure
that your little one settles really,
really easy for their sleep.
The next thing that we can check
is that your little one's sleep environment is spot on.
So this means that they're having a nice, dark room,
loud, white noise,
a comfortable room temperature and clothing,
and they're feeling really well prior to their naps.
This means we have all our ducks in a row.
So if all our ducks are in a row,
then this should mean some nice, long naps during the day
and a nice consolidated night's sleep.
Between three to six months, you may notice,
even though we've checked to ensure all ducks are in a row,
you may notice that some naps during the day
are still quite short.
You may notice that your little one is waking
and struggling to go from one sleep cycle to the next.
What we would do in this case
is resettle your little one back to sleep.
I've been there with my little one
around three to six months,
some days she would sleep beautiful, long naps,
and others she would wake halfway through
and really struggle to go from one sleep cycle to the next.
So on these particular days,
I would treat it like a night wake.
I would sneak into her room, I would keep everything dark,
keep the white noise on.
I would try and settle her back to sleep in her bed.
If this method wasn't successful,
the next thing I would do is pick her up
and settle her in my arms.
Looking back, I miss those lunch nap snuggles,
because we all got to win.
I got snuggles with my little one
and she got to have a nice, deep,
restorative sleep during her long nap.
So this just meant that I was signaling
to her it's still sleep time,
we're still having a nice long sleep here,
and we don't want you overtired come bedtime.
So if your little one is responding really well
to settling in your arms
and if that means that you are all getting more sleep
for your little one, then that's great.
I would do that.
Between three to six months,
we find that your little one
may start waking more overnight out of genuine hunger.
My little girls were exactly the same.
Around three months,
they started to give me nice, long stretches overnight.
So they would have a dream feed
and then sleep right through until the morning.
Around the four to six-month mark,
I noticed this changed a little.
That milk could only sustain them so long overnight.
So I found that they would, on average,
need around one to two night feeds overnight.
So if your little one is starting to wake
a couple of times overnight for a feed, don't be alarmed.
Your little one may need this feed.
A good test is to check how hungry they are first thing
in the morning when they wake up.
If they're having one to two night feeds
and they're still nice and hungry in the morning,
then that's great,
then that's a good sign that those feeds
are genuinely needed.
Between three to six months,
your baby's sleep patterns will change dramatically.
What this means is their awake times change
roughly every two weeks, so fairly rapidly.
So keeping on top of their age appropriate awake times
are crucial at this age,
because what's working at three months
may not work so well when they're four months old,
and what's working when they're four months old
may stop working when they're five months old.
So keeping on top of those awake times
and making sure we increase the awake times
as your little one quarries and matures
is great to ensure that they are ready for sleep
when we lay them down in their cot.
In our program, we take all the guesswork out.
We've been there, we know what to expect,
and we know roughly what time to put your little one down
so that they settle and sleep really well for you.
Around five months old,
you may find that your little one is refusing
that third nap of the day.
If that's happening for your little one,
try and take some pressure off.
Do this nap in the car,
or the pram while you're on some errands,
or do this nap in your arms,
if that's what you feel comfortable doing.
The main thing is that we still include
that third nap under six months old,
because your little one could become very,
very overtired if they skip that third nap of the day.
Around six months old,
your little one will go through their first nap transition.
This can happen anywhere between six to eight months old.
This is when they go down from three naps to two naps.
For more information on this nap transition,
I will attach a link above.
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If you're wanting to know more about your baby's sleep
between zero to three years old,
please check out our website, www.littleones.co.
We have a comprehensive baby sleep
and nutrition program available for you.
Thank you for tuning in today. Bye.