fb picYou may have heard of a lot of people talk about and tell you to beware of the dreaded four month sleep regression. If your baby isn’t sleeping much at all it may not even cross your mind. But if you have had a sleeping angel that sleeps well no matter what. You may start to fret over hearing this information.

So what is this four to six month sleep regression? The classic signs of this sleep regression is when their night time sleep cycles change from four to six hourly down to two to four hourly. They go from deep sleeping newborns, where they could sleep anywhere in any environment moving to cycling between light and deep sleep, where they are more likely to wake after one sleep cycle What this looks like is your baby may start to wake more frequently, especially if your baby hasn’t learned to self-sooth and self-settle from one sleep cycle to the next.

The regression milestones are not something to be frightened of. As, this is all a part of the babies brain maturing and becoming more like your own. While they are cycling through the light and deep sleep phases, always remember this is a normal, healthy developmental milestone.

So how can we help our baby through this stage in their growth? As our baby is going through their sleep cycles, there is a good chance they are waking during the light sleep phase. So we need to assist them in every way to get them back into the next sleep cycle. During this time you should continue using those techniques that have been successful to get them to sleep originally. If you feel that these sleep associations are hindering or taking a lot longer to work you may need a more personalized approach, so please feel free to contact me.