A sleep regression is when your baby starts waking more frequently than they were. If they were sleeping through, this could be anything up from once or twice a night. If they were waking three times a night they may begin waking six or seven times a night. While it is hard to deal with when it happens, it usually isn’t forever.
At what age/s did your child have a sleep regression? How long did it take to resolve, and what did you do to fix it?
- Around the 4 month mark she was waking up for hours at a time with nothing putting her back to sleep and it lasted a month until we cut back on her day sleeps then she started sleeping through again. Emma
- 4mths…..just went with it as understood its part of their development, now aged 7mths is waking slightly less but its about not seeing it as a “problem” more a phase just like teething, walking, crawling. Natalie
- 5 months, when lo started teething properly – six weeks of this now … no end in sight … she seems to have lost the ability to connect her sleep cycles … currently trying different kinds of resettling both in cot and on me without introducing bad habits … considering QEII if we’ve no improvement soon. so not fixed … it’ll be good to see what others have done though! Regan
- Mine is in the midst of one now at 5 1/2 months. He hasn’t taken well to solids, so I’ve stopped for now and instead have put a bit of rice cereal in his bottle. Last night was the first night he slept from 7pm to 3.30am in about 6 weeks… hoping it continues tonight! Erin
- 4 months old, took about 1 month to right itself again. But now he refuses to sleep past 5.30am (although he does talk to himself for an hour before he’s ready to get up!). Tegan
- We are currently going through our first regression… 8 1/2 months. We have reduced her daytime naps and that seems to have helped alot. Bernadette
- The question is, is it really a regression or part of the development? Scientific studies show infants are truly developed to “sleep thru” the night until 2 years old & sleeping thru is classed as 5 hours, our society is obsessed with getting them to sleep thru against what is possibly not infants normal pattern..it’s part of the early days of parenting which i think many need to accept. Natalie
- We’re in the midst of one with our almost 8 month old. I find that trying to stay calm even if it’s 2am lol and telling myself that eventually it’ll pass. We still end up with the same amount of sleep, just an hour or so break in the middle! Channell
- 7 months old. took 1 week of the cry it out method, and now she sleeps like a trooper. Sarah-Kate
- Don’t know if its a regression but my son (2 years 3 months) has started crying to go to bed. Never had a problem before as he as always put himself to sleep with out crying from 6 weeks old. Luckily once he’s asleep he still sleeps through but it’s the getting to sleep part. Katrina
- My lo has slept through the night (8hrs+/-) since about 4 weeks old, so if she starts waking more during the night then sorry, but i would class that as a ‘regression’. I have to start back at work before she is 6 months old, (not that i want to, but have to) so not looking forward to the possibility of trying to work 8 hour days on just a few hours sleep. No time for lie-ins or day time naps for some of us. Lesley
- My daughter from birth didn’t sleep well – she has severe colic so screamed a lot! it was super tough but by about 4 months she had settled and slept pretty well, at about 8 months she had a month or two of waking a few times a night. She is now 3 nearly 4 and so far sleeps perfect . I think at the end of the day every baby is different. Natalie
- I find my daughter will have one every few months or so, especially when she learns a new skill. The worst was when she learnt to roll over and would scream as soon as she was on her tummy. I try to just stick with normal routine and settling as much as possible and it usually settles down in about a week. I have been blessed with a pretty good sleeper though. Vanessa
- I find initially that sleep regressions coincide well with wonder weeks, so some extra cuddles and they generally go back to their ‘normal’ selves. I have found that this ceases around six months. DD wasn’t a great sleeper (still isn’t at 2) so when she was having a bad trot we’d give her a few weeks to make sure there wasn’t something else going on (if there was we would address that – teething, sick, growth spurt), and then we’d end up having to be a little tough and cut back the cuddles. Normally within a few days she’d go back to settling well (and back to waking 1-2 times). DS is whole other ball game, we have just ticked over into month three of waking 5-1,000,000,000 times a night! Slight exaggeration maybe, but some nights it feels like that! We’ve addressed as much as we can without any success, so are waiting on paed appointment to rule out any allergies or illness of some kind. Failing that, I’m resigned to surviving on a maximum of three hours a night (and looking forward with great joy to him as teenager when I plan on waking him numerous times a night!!) Peta
- Just go with the flow. Give them what they need/want whether it be extra cuddles, food, whatever…..it will pass…..and happen again…..and then pass, etc meanwhile the bond you build with them is one of love, compassion and a feeling of security. Rebecca
- Both DD’s were around 4 months old so we started solids and within a few weeks they went back to sleeping better at night. Our eldest regressed again when our second dd came along (she was 20 months) and took a few weeks to sort out. She is 2.5 yo now and since moving house (4 months ago) will wake up anywhere from 1-5 times a night which is waking up the whole house! Would love to know how to make her happy again and sleeping through the night in her own bed. Mariana