If you’re a parent or caregiver, you know the phrase “sleep like a baby” is often used too loosely. A baby’s sleep can be fickle at best and sleeping patterns can vary from child to child. This is why there’s so much advice on sleep training, routines and ways to help your baby (and you!) get a good night’s sleep. What works for one family may not work for another. Even if you’re fortunate to have a child who sleeps well, they too will go through a common and challenging phase: baby sleep regression.
“From babies to toddlerhood, the growth changes that occur are amazing,” says Dr. Gigi Chawla, pediatrician, chief of general pediatrics at Children’s Minnesota, and medical director for Reach Out and Read Minnesota. “They may quadruple their weight, become fully verbal, mobile, and seemingly independent. To think that sleep will be unaffected is an unrealistic expectation.”
Whether you’re a first timer or seasoned parent, it’s good to know what infant sleep regression is and how to cope when uninterrupted sleep feels like a fantasy. Here is advice and reassurance from experts and parents to get you through a rough, but temporary, part of your baby’s first couple of years.
What is sleep regression?
Sleep regression is when a baby’s sleep pattern starts to suffer from more frequent wake ups, increased fussiness and increased crying — especially when falling asleep or waking up, explains Suzy Giordano, baby sleep specialist and author of “Twelve Hours’ Sleep By Twelve Weeks Old.”
Giordano adds, “Sleep regression is usually seen over a period of days and weeks. It’s a consistent pattern of worsening sleep patterns. Your baby may still have good and even great nights of sleep, but overall, you’ll notice more sleepless nights.”
“Sleep regression is usually seen over a period of days and weeks. It’s a consistent pattern of worsening sleep patterns. Your baby may still have good and even great nights of sleep, but overall, you’ll notice more sleepless nights.”
— Suzy Giordano, baby sleep specialist and author of “Twelve Hours’ Sleep By Twelve Weeks Old”
Infant sleep regression signs
Since our babies can’t tell us what’s going on, it’s comforting to name what’s happening so that we can help them and ourselves get more rest.
Signs of sleep regression to be aware of, according to Christine Brown, certified child sleep consultant, child behavior coach and founder of Bella Luna Family, a parent consulting company:
- Having difficulty separating at bedtime and falling asleep
- More frequent night wakings
- Early morning wake-ups
- Shorter naps
- Fighting naps or refusing them altogether
Giordano puts a positive spin on this exhausting time of your parenting career. “Sleep regressions, especially during the first year, are a fact of life,” she notes. “Think of them as an opportunity for your baby to become an even better sleeper.” She says it’s important to use this time to create and hone patterns at night that allow your child to learn to self-soothe.
What causes sleep regression in babies?
Typically two things cause sleep regressions: age-related developmental phases, such as starting solid food, and physical developments, like learning to sit or stand, says Giordano.
Emily Spaeth, a neonatal and perinatal physical therapist, lactation consultant and the founder and CEO of Be Well Baby PDX, says sleep regressions occur because of the incredible speed with which infant brains are growing and developing.
Each developmental milestone has its own special sleep regression to go with it. “The first one usually occurs in conjunction with learning to roll,” explains Spaeth. “For the first time, babies are able to move their own bodies through space, and my goodness, all they want to do is practice!” Spaeth explains that this is because babies’ brains are distracted by their newfound skill and just want to keep practicing until the skill is perfected so sleep can fall by the wayside.
Sleep regression ages (and milestones that coincide with them)
According to the experts we spoke to, sleep regressions typically occur around 4, 8, 18 months of age and 2 years. Brown adds that nap strikes usually occur around 12 months and 2.5 years.
Vanessa Ford, a mom of two from Boston, Massachuesettes, remembers when her firstborn turned 4 months. “I started to Google ‘4-month-old,’ and it automatically filled with ‘won’t sleep’ and ‘sleep regression,’” she recalls. Ford quickly learned that the phases of sleep regression were just beginning and that they would come in waves over the next two years.
Her oldest child is 14, and she says she recently had a full circle moment. She was talking to her friend and a former student of hers who now has a 4-month-old. They reconnected a few years ago, and Ford and the new mom have learned a lot from each other – including what has changed since Ford’s children were babies and what hasn’t. “[Her baby] had stopped sleeping well and I told her about the 4-month regression,” says Ford.
Ford’s experience is proof that, like clockwork, and across generations, babies will repeat patterns and go through phases of development. Sleep regressions remain, but parents will learn about them in new ways.
Here, some of the reasons and milestones that are connected to baby sleep regression, according to Spaeth and Chawla. Ages may vary based on your individual child’s growth and development.
Four to six months
- Learning to roll
- Learning to sit up
Six to 12 months
- Learning to stand
- Learning to crawl or walk
- Starting solid food
12 to 18 months
- Transitioning from multiple to one nap a day
- Learning and honing fine motor skills
- Separation anxiety
- Greater awareness of the environment
18 months to 2 years
- Separation anxiety
- Circadian rhythm changes
- Nightmares
- Life changes such as moving from the crib to a bed or if a new baby is added to the family
“It may start to feel like there will never be a time when your baby’s sleep is not interrupted by a developmental milestone,” says Spaeth. “But I promise, they do space out, and you will sleep again. Their brains have so much to process, and it can be very overwhelming.”
“It may start to feel like there will never be a time when your baby’s sleep is not interrupted by a developmental milestone. But I promise, they do space out, and you will sleep again. Their brains have so much to process, and it can be very overwhelming.”
— Emily Spaeth, a neonatal and perinatal physical therapist, lactation consultant and the founder and CEO of Be Well Baby PDX
Tips for coping with baby sleep regression
“The 4-month sleep regression is the most obvious, and it usually kicks off the pattern parents can get caught in,” says Giordano. “Nighttime wakings may start or become more frequent. These won’t happen all at once. It’ll feel gradual until suddenly you notice that it’s happening most nights.”
Chawla reminds parents that from baby to toddlerhood, the growth changes are amazing. While you can’t fix or cure sleep regression, you can have a realistic expectation for your nights and find ways to cope as a family. Here are tips from experts and parents to help you manage your child’s sleep regression.
Choose a response you want to maintain
Brown advises against forming new habits during periods of sleep regression. If your baby has been falling to sleep independently, then try to avoid feeding or rocking your baby to sleep if that has not been part of your usual routine, she says.
“Temporary solutions can quickly become permanent expectations that will remain long after the sleep regression has passed,” Brown says. “These reactions may seem easier at the moment, but you don’t want to have to undo these habits once the regression is over.”
Giordano agrees, adding, “Too often we have knee jerk reactions, especially when we see a new behavior, that we don’t even consider the long-term effects our response may have. Take the time to sit down and really consider how you’re responding to your baby crying. Ask yourself if that’s how you want to respond long-term.”
If a parent is confident that their child is healthy and not in any other form of discomfort, then it’s OK to do sleep training during a sleep regression, says Brown. If you used the cry-it-method before the first sleep regression (or even after) Here to get your child to sleep, it’s OK to try it again as you hit different regression stages. “Luckily, little ones usually remember their sleep skills pretty quickly if we need to do remedial sleep training during or after a regression,” says Brown. She adds that usually within a few days, a child should return to their previous healthy sleep habits.
Maintain a bedtime routine
Create a bedtime routine that promotes a relaxed and comfortable time of adjustment to sleep, recommends Chawla who also advises adding books to the routine, even from infancy.
“Make sure everything is dim and dark and quiet towards the end of the day, and come up with a bedtime routine that feels doable for your family every evening,” says Spaeth. She encourages parents to find ways to make bedtime enjoyable and not something to dread.
Be proactive during the day
Good sleep often stems from habits we’re engaged in during the day and in the patterns we create. This includes getting outside and finding ways for your baby to be active. Spaeth says that exposure to morning and afternoon light is helpful to establishing their circadian rhythms.
And when you are indoors, she encourages parents to get their baby on the floor. “Allowing your baby ample time throughout the day to practice their skills will allow them to be tuckered out and ready for a restful night of sleep,” she notes.
That also means limiting time in a stroller, car seat, carrier or bouncer, says Spaeth. She suggests no more than 20 minutes at a time, two times a day. She recognizes the need for commutes and caring for another child or yourself, but in an ideal world babies are on the floor as much as possible. Spaeth recommends at least 3 hours of floor time a day in 25-30 minute chunks for time.
Sleep regressions that come with physical developments can often be improved just by practicing during the day, says Giordano. “Three to five minutes of tummy time several times a day will help your baby develop the coordination necessary to make rolling easier,” she explains. “Add in some practice time on their back and you’ll see that they start to become so much more comfortable in either position.” She says the same tip can be used with sitting or standing upright.
“The best things parents can do to help with a sleep regression are to stay consistent in how they respond when their child is protesting a sleep period and remain patient.”
— Christine Brown, certified child sleep consultant, child behavior coach and founder of Bella Luna Family
Find support
Mom of two, Abby Harrell, says that when she noticed her sons’ sleep was becoming disrupted, she relied on the Wonder Weeks App to try to figure out and identify what was going on. She says the app describes developmental leaps and explains new skills and challenges with “mindblowing accuracy.” This helped her feel less alone with phases of parenting.
If one of her boys was up at night without an obvious cause, she would check the app. Rough days and stretches of time, based on your child’s due date, are marked with a storm cloud. That helped Harrell and her husband know that developmental shifts were impacting sleep. She says they called those rough patches “stormy weeks.” “Seeing we’re in a stormy week helped me accept that we’re snuggling in the recliner and [trying to be] chill about it,” says Harrell.
Ford says she benefited from knowing she wasn’t alone. “During the rough patches — and there are so many on this parenting journey — I really leaned into my network, the other parents who were experiencing the same thing,” says Ford. She relied on both online and “real-life” friends for advice and commiseration.
When it comes to finding support, Spaeth also suggests trying one or all of the following:
- Seek the help of a postpartum doula; now in network with some insurance companies.
- If you are a two-parent house, sleep in separate rooms, so at least one parent gets a full night of rest.
- Try infant massage. Research has shown profound impacts on sleep quality for babies.
- Remind yourself that no behavior is permanent. This too will pass.
When to talk to your pediatrician about baby sleep regressions
It’s important to trust your instincts when concerned about your child, says Spaeth.
If your baby is not able to sleep for more than 45 minutes by themselves on a flat surface, there may be something else going on, says Spaeth. “Reflux can be extremely uncomfortable for infants, and is very common,” she notes. “Or they may have a sensory sensitivity that an expert in infant neuromotor development could help them with.”
Brown adds that viral infections might also disrupt sleep. “If your baby is coming down with something you’ll notice a fever, a lack of appetite, or maybe a cough or congestion,” says Brown.
Even with all of the information available, it’s normal to want to talk to your family doctor about your baby’s sleep regressions — and it can be helpful, even if it’s just to get confirmation that nothing is “wrong.”
The bottom line on baby sleep regressions
Sleepless nights are hard on parents and caregivers, and unfortunately, sleep regressions during the first couple of years can make sleep even more elusive.
“The best things parents can do to help with a sleep regression are to stay consistent in how they respond when their child is protesting a sleep period and remain patient,” says Brown. Know that you are not alone in your frustration or exhaustion. With some daytime planning and conversations with your co-parent, you can find a path that helps you survive the rough patches.