Sleep regression in four-month-olds - what to do? How to put baby to sleep

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Now it is already far behind three whole months of constant and continuous struggle with gaziki and colic, who did not want to leave the baby. Finally, the time has come when the baby can sleep without kicking his legs or crying. But … He requires a constant, every minute mother's presence, does not sleep without her. It calms down only when it receives mother's milk. It remains only to congratulate the parents, because their pet is growing up, and all this is nothing more than a sleep regression at the age of four months.

Facing the inevitable

In the life of every kid and his parents, there are periods when the behavior of the little one changes very sharply and, it would seem, by chance. His sleep is rather disordered, and the baby himself is restless. And in this case, adults cannot understand: the behavior of the baby is the cause of his poor sleep or its consequence.

Parents are in despair due to the fact that all previously installedrules: stability, schedule, orderliness of actions - do not work. They cannot understand what happened to their child, why from a smiling and cheerful little one he became capricious and completely intractable.

If the baby has already been seen by a doctor who ruled out a cold, active teething, an ear infection, and the like, it's most likely a sleep regression. Some time ago, Danish scientists conducted numerous studies. Their result was the following information: the regression of sleep in a child, that is, his bursts, occur at certain weeks: 5, 8, 12, 19, 26, 37, 46 and 55th. The brightest regressions occur at six weeks, 4 and 6 months.

What can be observed in this difficult period?

Regression of sleep in infants is expressed as follows:

1. Baby needs a lot more care, extra feedings, and getting him to bed now takes longer.
2. A baby may have sleep disturbance: he constantly wakes up and most often in a bad mood.
3. During this time period, children are usually more capricious and tame: the only possible option to put them to bed is the presence of their mother, her smell, hugs and warmth. If mom and baby sleep together, you should not wean the baby from this exactly when the sleep regression occurs at 4 months.

Following these simple rules, you can at least slightly alleviate the situation.

Characteristics

A four-month-old baby is the perfect candidate to be tested by his said crisis. Parents often point outthat putting him to bed at that age is much more difficult than when he was younger. Now the whole procedure can take at least thirty minutes.

Sleep by itself now the little one can refuse, he needs his mother's breast every minute. During this period, the number of attachments to the chest at night increases significantly (the figure can reach 10-15 times).

All this is a characteristic manifestation of a four-month-old baby's sleep regression. But what will be the duration of such a crisis will depend on the physiology of the baby and on the endurance of the parents. Because it is mom and dad who are obliged to help the baby normalize his sleep - night and day.

Oh, these leaps of development

The stages of a baby's development can be emotional, physical and neurological. For example, when the 26th week comes, babies, according to the descriptions of psychologists, begin to perceive distances. Now, when mommy approaches the little one or, on the contrary, moves away from him, he understands this and begins to react. When the mother approaches, the child rejoices. When he moves away, he resents because he begins to be afraid, he becomes afraid.

If the baby is more sensitive, the developmental leap will be more pronounced. This is expressed in a huge attachment to the mother and the absolute unwillingness of the child to be without her.

What causes this regression?

Sleep regression at 4 months in babies begins due to the fact that the little ones now recognize people they know, are interested in the world around them, and slowly begin to roll over. The baby would be glad to sleep,but such a huge flow of incoming information does not give him the opportunity to relax and “turn off” his brain for a good rest. This is why falling asleep is difficult.

For mom to understand that this temporary crisis, called sleep regression, has already left the baby, you need to follow the crumbs, doubling and tripling your attention. True, exhausted parents are not always capable of this. Then a diary will come to the rescue, in which they will record in detail the daily routine. One fine day, you may find that finally the baby does not need much time to fall asleep, and he himself is no longer as capricious as before.

We are growing

By six months, babies become more mobile again. They learn to crawl, sit down … And all this requires the hard work of the child's brain. And during this period, sleep regression occurs at 6 months. What to do about it?

After some time after the first, the time of the second comes. And here again the baby does not want to sleep, and if he falls asleep, then his sleep is restless and short-lived.

We can say that this period is full if its duration is more than two weeks. A very acute regression can occur when pain from cutting teeth or fear of parting with mommy are added to the general condition of the baby.

One of the main characteristic features of the onset of regression is the transition from three daily sleep to two. In general, the signs in this case are the same as inprevious.

To survive this difficult period, you can use the following measures:

• parents should remember that all this is only temporary, so do not be angry with the baby, you should just follow calm rituals in the evenings;
• during the day to give the baby the opportunity to move and exercise more: firstly, this way the baby will practice with new skills, and secondly, he will get tired and sleep at night;
• to put the little one to sleep not by the clock, but by his fatigue;
• do not create new "bad habits" - motion sickness, pacifier and the like;
• if before the regression, the baby already fell asleep on his own, but now he can’t do it, let his mother support him, sit by the crib until he falls asleep.

These simple rules will help the baby survive a difficult period for him.

Regression of sleep in a year should not be as sharp as the previous ones. The kid is already almost independent, he knows how to crawl, walk and even run. In any case, the duration of all regressions is from two to six weeks. And then the dream becomes adjusted again.

Special sleep ritual

At home, you need to work out the same schedule of certain actions before the baby goes to bed. For example, the order of actions might be:

• bath the baby;
• change into the clothes in which the little one will sleep;
• feed him;
• baby falls asleep.

Mom can sing lullabies to the little one, stroke him duringsleep time. If the family does not practice separate falling asleep of the crumbs from the mother, most likely, he will fall asleep with the breast. In this situation, the latter will be an indisputable plus.

Sleep with Mom

It should be noted that those mothers who practice co-sleeping with the baby may not notice the regression of the child's sleep. The baby always feels that his mother is near, so he feels more comfortable and not afraid. As soon as the baby woke up, mom can immediately gently stroke him, calm him down or offer a breast.

But during the day there may be some problems. This is due to the fact that the child gets used to the fact that mommy is around. Therefore, when laying it down during the daytime, it is better to stay with it for about twenty minutes, because this is the duration of the superficial sleep phase. When the baby falls asleep soundly, mom can do her own thing.

Trying to overcome the sleep crisis

The main rule for overcoming the current crisis is a very simple rule: you just need to forget about everything that and how it was before. The baby is changing, therefore, the usual rituals are changing.

We make adjustments to the daily routine. Babies under three months of age usually sleep most of the day. But after four months, things change a little. From now on, each wakefulness lasts approximately two hours, and during the day the little one sleeps four times.

During the regression, it is far from always possible to put the baby to sleep without tears and without tantrums. Mom needs to be very careful and try not tomiss the moment when the baby is quite ready for bed: he calms down, rubs his eyes, fits on his mother's shoulder.

Night sleep, at a time when the baby has a difficult period (sleep regression), should begin no later than seven to eight o'clock in the evening. After all, falling asleep during this time period is very useful for the baby.

Having a hard time together

The duration of a growth spurt (respectively, the child's sleep regression lasts the same) is strictly individual. There is no one term for all, as well as one recipe for a cure. Approximately one week. Some experts suggest that this state may last for about half a month or a little more.

Be that as it may, parents should not be afraid and panic. After all, it's not a disease. It's just another growth spurt in their baby, and for any child, this is absolutely normal. In this difficult period for the little one, one should try not to create stressful situations, new acquaintances, sudden travels. We must surround him with even more care. The pendulum in the crib or the slow walking of the mother around the apartment with the baby in her arms will be of real help - to calm him down. Such simple actions can at least slightly resolve the current situation.

As soon as the four-month-old baby begins to come out of regression, the mother should gradually cancel out all the auxiliary procedures that she began to use during this period. Thus, the baby will not have habits that will further interfere with independentfalling asleep.

And one more thing: despite the fact that sleep disorders in children under one year old are a very common phenomenon, you should not allow a growth spurt to cross out an established schedule after the spurt is over.