4 month regression:terrible or no?

Question

Everyone I talk to tells me to be aware of the 4 month regression and that it is awful. Is it really that bad or am I worrying for nothing? My son now sleeps easily for 7 hours straight and only gets up once at night. Would love to hear people's experiences good or bad.

Answer

While I think it can be helpful if you are aware of certain regressions/growth spurts, do NOT let this rule your world. I did a bit in the beginning and it drove me nuts. Don't make the same mistake. All you need to do is pay attention to your baby, know that each baby is on their own schedule, and put effort into figuring out the issues that are brought your way. I'm sick of the people who tell you "just wait until your child does this/that. You just wait."

I also think it's very helpful to read up on sleep training methods and have a plan of which one you will want to try when you reach that breaking point of "I can't do this anymore." I was lucky and didn't have to sleep train my son at all for night time sleep. He sleeps a solid 11-12 hrs every night. But he refused to nap and this became and issue when by 2-3pm he turned into a cranky exhausted gremlin. I had hit my breaking point when he was 6 months.  So I sleep trained for naps and now he naps and he's so much happier. And so am I!

Moral of the story...enjoy your baby! Don't dread new developments. You'll be fine! I promise!

Answer

The regression we faced happened at 6 months when she got a major head and chest cold and was teething horribly!! She's now 8.5 months and aleepntrained and the world is good again but there were 6 weeks of torture and no sleep in there! The 4 month doesn't happen to everyone don't be scared!

Answer

My son never had a regression at that age. He's almost 8 months old and has been sleeping 11+ every night since he was 2 months old.

Answer

My daughter was sleeping through the night pretty much since we brought her home from the hospital going to sleep by 8pm and waking up at 7 am. About a week before she turned 4 months she started waking up at least 4 times a night and would only take about a 30 minute naps during the day. It is definitely rough but she's starting to sleep a little better at night. Only waking up 1-2 times.

Answer

Never had issues at four months. I think naps got a little screwy for a while, but nights were fine. I was anxious to hit four months after seeing all the regression horror stories.

Answer

Naps got shorter, but he slept longer through the night. Every baby is different, you might not even experience it

Answer

There was a short period of a week or so when sleep was not as sound as it was to begin with. But she went back to normal. Gosh, don't listen to what these other women's bad experiences were! People would tell me when I was pregnant, 'you're never going to get sleep with a newborn/baby.' Let me tell you, from the time we brought her home (2 days old) she slept 6 hours a night. Then after 2 weeks, 8 hours. And after that, 11-12 hours a night. So if you're afraid, you're going to invite the negative in & experience everything you might be scared of.

Answer

I put awful because it was for us-from getting up once between 6 pm and 6 am to waking almost every hour at the worst-but I don't think being afraid is particularly helpful. With all of the developmental stuff it hits each kid differently, so I think it's just good to appreciate when things are going well and be aware that if something changes in your child's sleep/behavior then that's probably why.

For example, at one leap my child was suddenly so fussy and irritated his daycare provider said it was like he'd developed colic. I thought for sure it was either teething or an ear infection. I took him to the doctor and his ears were totally fine. We're two months later and still no teeth in sight. Now I just remind myself to just give him extra attention/contact and wait it out (unless of course there are other symptoms of something).

Answer

I mean, it sucks...but I wouldn't be worrying about it...just go about life, if it happens, deal with it then. There honestly no way to prepare for it, so you're going to stress for something you have no control over. It's over quick enough, so you'll survive!

Answer

My daughter hadn't even started sleeping through the night at that point so I didn't have a regression 😥

4 month regression:terrible or no?

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