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Is your baby up every 1-2 hours throughout the night and fighting their naps? If you answered yes, you’ve likely hit the dreaded 4-month sleep regression, but don’t panic. Infant sleep regression can affect everyone in the household from lack of sleep, so in this article we’ll walk you through everything you need to know on how to survive a sleep regression and keep your sanity.

What is sleep regression?

Baby Learning To Roll Over

At 4 months, your newborn will go from sleeping with ease to all of a sudden struggling with all sleep sessions. This will happen without warning, but believe it or not, it’s a good thing! Your baby is going through a growth spurt in their brain. 

This 4-month sleep regression is happening for many reasons, including: 

  • sleep cycles becoming more ‘adult-like’
  • development of object permanence
  • facial recognition (they can officially recognize your face now!)becoming more alert 
  • rolling over (hello new skill!)

What are signs to look for?

Mom Holding Crying Baby

Signs of a 4-month sleep regression will include a combination of the following:

  • Previously a good sleeper, then all the sudden, barely sleeping
  • Overall fussiness
  • Waking continuously throughout the night
  • Fighting all naps
  • Appetite change

If you see these signs, you are in the regression. You may start to see these things happening as early as 3 months, as late as 5 months, or not at all. Sometimes babies will skip the 4-month sleep regression altogether as every baby develops differently. Don’t worry. There is always another regression right around the corner. Eek!

FUN FACT: Your baby’s brain grows by about 1% per day for the first three months before slowing to about 0.4% per day. 90% of human brains have developed before kindergarten! For more brain development facts checkout: Brainfacts

How long Does the 4-month sleep regression last?

2022 Calendar

Typically a sleep regression, whether 4 months or 18 months, will last for 2-6 weeks, with the average being around 4 weeks long. Keep in mind that this is only the case if you stick with your healthy sleep habits throughout the regression. If you fall into new sleep associations like feeding/nursing to sleep or rocking to sleep, the regression will not end, and your family’s sleep will not improve. 

Let’s talk about sleep cycles

Sleeping Baby

As a newborn, your baby is only experiencing 2 sleep cycles a night, but now that they have entered the 4-month sleep regression, their sleep patterns will shift to 4 stages of sleep that they repeat throughout the night. Your baby will spend more time in the light sleep stage of sleep than REM (deep sleep). At 8 weeks of age, most babies can do one 4 hours stretch at night, and after this regression, most babies can do up to 5 hours straight. At this age, babies typically will still require two night feeds. One of those is a dream feeding (more on this below) that allows you to get some good sleep.

TIP: If you hear your baby cry out during a sleep session, don’t jump up to grab them as they may be in the lighter stage. Please wait until you know they are fully awake and calling for you before scooping them up.

What is dream feeding?

Mom Nursing/Breastfeeding Baby

Dream feeding is when you offer a full feeding while your baby is in REM sleep. Typically you do this right before you are going to bed, allowing you to get a good stretch of sleep before your baby requires their next feed.

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Surviving the 4-month sleep regression step-by-step

Tired Parents From Dealing With 4-Month Sleep Regression

First, take a deep breath and remember this is only temporary. Let’s break it down into steps to get through this 4-month sleep regression!

STEP 1: Sleep Schedule

If you don’t already have one, create a consistent daily routine that you stick to (sample below). This will help make up for lack of sleep. If your baby has an early morning waking or only sleeps for 30 minutes during a nap, you should close the next wake window early by moving the next sleep session up by 30 minutes. If naps didn’t happen at all, bedtime should be moved up one full hour. 

4 MONTH OLD SLEEP SCHEDULE:

  • 7 AM – Wake Up/Feed
  • 7:30 AM – Playtime
  • 9-10 AM – Nap 1 
  • 10 AM – Feed
  • 10:30 AM – Playtime
  • 12-2 PM – Nap 2
  • 2 PM – Feed
  • 2:30 PM – Playtime
  • 4-5 PM – Nap 3
  • 5 PM – Feed
  • 6 PM – Bedtime Routine/Cap Off Feed
  • 7 PM – Bedtime
  • 10 PM – Dream feeding
  • 2-3 AM – On-demand Feed

Step 2: Nap Length

At this age, you want to be following 2-hour wake windows and remember to cap naps at 2 hours. Letting your baby sleep too much during the day will not allow for sleep pressure to build for night. At this age, you would ideally like to see 3-4 hours of daytime sleep broken into three solid naps and 11-12 hours of nighttime sleep.

STEP 3: Work on baby’s new skills! 

Rolling:

Practice rolling in all directions so your baby can get out of any position they get themselves into in the crib. Once your baby starts to roll, you want to work on this as much as possible during wake windows to help them master this skill and get back to a good sleep routine and get over the 4-month sleep regression as quickly as possible.

During the learning stage of rolling, swap them over to a sleep sack to give them the freedom to move around in their sleep space safely. They will still have the Moro reflex until about six months of age which will cause some wakings here and there, but you will see that will decrease over time. (The Moro reflex, as defined by WebMD, is when your baby startles in reaction to the sensation of falling, such as when their head shifts suddenly.)

Facial recognition:

Play peekaboo with your baby. They now know what your face looks like and when you are in the room or when you have left. This game stimulates your baby’s senses, helps build gross motor skills, strengthens visual tracking, encourages social development, and tickles her sense of humor.

STEP 4: Full Feedings

Offer good full feeds upon waking up from each sleep session. This will allow your baby to sleep longer and get restorative sleep during each sleep session. At 4 months old (regardless of a 4-month sleep regression), you want to see your baby consuming 4-6 ounces per feeding, totaling roughly 24-28 ounces in 24 hours. If you find you are feeding more than twice during the night, your baby is picking up missed calories from the day or using the feedings for soothing purposes.

STEP 5: Calm But Awake for Sleep

Remember, putting your baby down for each sleep session calm but awake will allow them to sleep longer and fall back asleep easier without help. You will be there to calm and support them to sleep, but they should be falling asleep in their sleep space—not in your arms and then transferred to their bed.  

STEP 6: Stay consistent! 

This step is super important to get through the 4-month sleep regression. Even when things get hard and you feel like this is your new reality, stick with your routine. Your baby may not be sleeping through the night just yet, but they are one step closer.

STEP 7: Love & Attention

Give your baby extra love and attention during the 4-month sleep regression and keep the stimulation low. They are going through a significant developmental change and will need all the support and snuggles.

Summary

The 4-month sleep regression is no fun for anyone but is necessary for your baby’s growth and development. Remember, this won’t last forever. The best thing you can do during this time is to stay the course, be consistent, and be there to love and support your baby. If you feel at a loss, don’t hesitate to reach out for help. Ask your pediatrician or look into hiring a sleep consultant to step in and help work toward bringing rest and sleep back to your entire family.

Do you have questions about your child’s sleep habits/patterns? Let us know in the comments below!