https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:26:44 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2824287 Wed, 23 May 2018 12:11:05 +0000 periwinklebee 2824287@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Synchronicity: That is awesome! We are a little constricted in what we can do, as we are in a one bedroom place right now. I could put the crib in the foyer outside our room with blackout curtains around it, but the ceiling is 14' so there's no way to block the light out there and right now it is light at 4:30am. And no possibility of AC (we have a portable window unit for our room). So he has to be with us for the time being, but I'm hoping that improvements will still be possible. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2824228 Wed, 23 May 2018 09:28:17 +0000 Synchronicity 2824228@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@periwinklebee: it definitely can! And honestly, it was hell while we were in it and I said I'd never have another baby, but now that we are a few months out it was a blip and I'm no longer traumatized 😝 </p> <p>We had to really set up sleep rules and stick to them for things to get better. We moved her to her own room, made it a dark cave with loud white noise. No more bouncing or nursing to sleep - she always went into her crib awake. We stick to her bedtime routine every single night. She was never a great sleeper but she sure is now! We stick to the same routine even when we are away and it transfers pretty well. </p> <p>I hope things get better for you soon! Sleep deprivation = torture. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2824224 Wed, 23 May 2018 09:22:48 +0000 periwinklebee 2824224@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Synchronicity: ugh... you give me hope at least that it can get better before 18 months or something... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2824156 Tue, 22 May 2018 21:19:30 +0000 Synchronicity 2824156@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Holy shite it was bad for us. Like, I had a full on mental breakdown bad. It started at 3 months and lasted maybe a month and a half, and it was wakeups every 45mins-2hours. Plus she was a catnapper during the day. I was a zombie. </p> <p>I'll echo the above - sleep training saved us. It sucked for a few days but she's a great sleeper now (7 months). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2824116 Tue, 22 May 2018 19:08:57 +0000 periwinklebee 2824116@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaBear87: ugh, yeah, I'm not expecting my LO to be a great sleeper but hopefully something helps. </p> <p>@Littlebit7: I am not, to put it mildly, at my most rational at 1am. "he's never going to sleep, I'm never going to sleep, I must be doing something REALLY wrong but I am so tired I am never going to have the energy to fix it..." </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2824031 Tue, 22 May 2018 11:05:58 +0000 Littlebit7 2824031@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@periwinklebee: this is my second kid and man these babies bring yout to your knees fast. My brain always warps to “omg he’s never sleeping again, followed by, I’m never sleeping again”. And then it gets slowly better. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2824030 Tue, 22 May 2018 11:05:16 +0000 MamaBear87 2824030@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I didn't read all the above comments but my lo had a terrible 4 month sleep regression that lasted until about 11 months. We tried everything, cio, in desperation it's not really my thing. We co-slept, we moved her to her own bed and room. Nothing worked. She was just an awful sleeper. Eventually she outgrew it and now sleeps amazing at 2.5. </p> <p>Hopefully your little doesn't do this to you but just wanted to chime in that sometimes it just takes time </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2824021 Tue, 22 May 2018 10:42:58 +0000 periwinklebee 2824021@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DesertDreams88: @Littlebit7: Thank you, this is really helpful! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2824013 Tue, 22 May 2018 10:30:34 +0000 Littlebit7 2824013@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I just came out of the other side of this. It last about 2-3 weeks. I didn’t adjust things really...other than coffee and my expectations. I didn’t sleep train. He was waking every 1-2 hours and I nursed him. And for a good 10 days he was waking at 530 and was AWAKE for the day ready to roll. But just last night he slept 630-330 and then woke at 630. So we made it out<br /> My older daughter did the 4 month regression this way also<br /> I just tried to make sure he was napping well and on schedule if possible and well fed<br /> I also gave him a few minutes at night if he fussed to see if he’d settle.<br /> Good luck. It’s hard. I posted about this about 3 weeks ago too but we survived<br /> ETA: I’m also a huge believer of drowsy but awake. Sometimes just “awake” but I know he’s tired. So he is really learning how to settle himself. My daughter was the same. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2824009 Tue, 22 May 2018 10:26:04 +0000 DesertDreams88 2824009@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It lasted until we sleep-trained, honestly. </p> <p>We had a solid nap schedule and sleep schedule down, and we held him &amp; patted his back for the start of a nap and I would nurse him to get him to sleep for bedtime. </p> <p>At about 5.5 months, we finally were done with travel and we were home for a month for summer break, so we decided to tackle night-weaning.<br /> Night 1: No milk allowed 8-1, would comfort in other ways.<br /> Night 2: No milk allowed 8-3, would comfort in other ways<br /> Night 3: No milk allowed 8-5, would comfort in other ways</p> <p>We would give him a BIG bottle of milk before bedtime so we could "see" he was fully fed. I would sleep in a separate room during "no milk allowed" so that LO couldn't "smell" me and I wouldn't be tempted / guilt-ridden. This graduated process also helped my boobs adjust (I pumped right before bed until empty, to help as well). </p> <p>Focusing on night-weaning and other comfort measures helped cut his nighttime appetite, and fill him up more during the day. So he naturally started sleeping longer chunks and got down to one waking around 4-5am.</p> <p>Then at 7.5 months, on a 3-day weekend, we moved him to the nursery for night sleep (he had already been there for naps) and legit sleep-trained, CIO with checks. </p> <p>At 10 months we had to do a short round of training thanks to the 9-month regression. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2824000 Tue, 22 May 2018 10:17:10 +0000 periwinklebee 2824000@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jape14: Thank you, this is super helpful! I had not heard of precious little sleep!</p> <p>The post you linked is awesome - I think my husband will like the idea of associating another sleep cue with rocking/bouncing as a way of weaning that. Super helpful! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2823985 Tue, 22 May 2018 10:12:12 +0000 periwinklebee 2823985@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>And I will clarify, it's not that my husband won't do night wakings but rather that I volunteered to do them since the baby was mostly just eating and since DH recently started a new job and has high sleep needs, and I really wanted him to be successful at the new job. But I'm willing to change now if it will put us more on the same page about the value of sleep habits. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2823984 Tue, 22 May 2018 10:11:27 +0000 jape14 2823984@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>With my son, he started it early at basically exactly 3.5 months. He usually had 2 night wakings/feedings prior to that, but he would eat and go right back down. The hallmarks of the regression were: usual tricks not working (rocking), taking a long time to go back down during MOTN feedings and/or extra night wakings, and a new waking 35ish minutes after being put down for the night (i.e., cannot link sleep cycles together so waking up after 1). We gave it about 2 weeks bc it coincided with Christmas at my ILs - worst coincidence ever - and then Ferbered immediately at 4 months. It took about 3 days and then he went down to one MOTN feeding in about a week. He kept one until he dropped it around 7.5/8 months.</p> <p>Here's a longer post where I go into what I did for sleep training, exactly, with my son: <a href="http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/am-i-crazy-to-sleep-train#post-2795729" rel="nofollow">http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/am-i-crazy-to-sleep-train#post-2795729</a></p> <p>With my daughter, she went down drowsy but awake mostly from the start. We did some minor sleep training around 5 months but it was more for naps (our nanny had been rocking her down for her last nap and it became a crutch, fast). </p> <p>The other sleep resource I love besides Ferber is the Precious Little Sleep website. Maybe have your husband read up a little on sleep associations to see that the rocking is a short-term solution that can really turn into a long-term problem? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2823976 Tue, 22 May 2018 10:04:34 +0000 periwinklebee 2823976@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@raspberries: @LBee: @SteelerGirl: Thank you all - this was my concern, that it wouldn't go away on its own without sleep training. </p> <p>He does fall asleep at daycare in his crib on his own (I'm sure with some fussing), so I know he's capable of it. I am traveling much of the next two weeks with my mom and the baby (and we have to share a hotel room), so will just be doing everything possible to keep him from disturbing her, but after that I think I will tell my husband we either make a real effort to improve habits or he has to take on more of the wakings, now that it is more about habits than needing to breastfeed...We can still do a dreamfeed around 10 and an overnight feed, but I really want to cut the constant wakings.... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2823972 Tue, 22 May 2018 10:00:07 +0000 SteelerGirl 2823972@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had to sleep train for it to improve. Before the 4 month regression the pacifier was the only thing she needed to get back to sleep. After the 4 month regression she had to re-learn how to sleep without it, otherwise we were going in every 45 minutes all night long to put the pacifier back in.<br /> When she was old enough to put her own pacifier in, we gave it back, and she still uses it for all sleep (she's almost 2 now). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2823966 Tue, 22 May 2018 09:54:33 +0000 LBee 2823966@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The 4 month sleep regression is all about that your old tricks stop working. It is a permanent change where they move to sleeping more like us (not just straight deep sleep, but instead having actual sleep cycles). Your sweet baby doesn't know how to fall asleep on his own, so when he goes into a light sleep cycle he gets woken up and has no clue what to do to get out of that state. This is why a lot of people have to sleep train. </p> <p>My daughter (knock on all the wood) didn't go through the 4 month sleep regression because we made every effort to ensure she could fall asleep on her own from day 1. My son went through it really bad. We had been rocking to sleep and he was flat out addicted. Could not fall asleep without it. We developed a strict routine with a limited amount of rocking (4 songs worth) and sleep trained. I'm not going to claim it was delightful during the process, but after her was sleep trained he was a rockstar sleeper. Anyone could put him down without some elaborate dance of getting him to sleep and we were all well rested. </p> <p>All this to say, it might go away on it's own after a couple of weeks, but the issue of an inability to fall asleep without you will still stand. I've seen on the boards a lot of posters saying that this issue just went away around 12-18 months, but in my friend circle that hasn't been the case. If I was doing the majority of the wake-ups and my husband told me the child couldn't fuss/cry, I would tell him he was either taking over all wake-ups or we were finding a middle group.</p> <p>ETA: I loved this page on the 4 month regression:<br /> <a href="https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-patterns/4-month-sleep-regression/" rel="nofollow">https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-patterns/4-month-sleep-regression/</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2823963 Tue, 22 May 2018 09:44:19 +0000 raspberries 2823963@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm sorry, I know this isn't helpful in your situation, but we had to sleep train to improve sleep after the four month regression. I hope you find something that works for you! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2823959 Tue, 22 May 2018 09:38:21 +0000 periwinklebee 2823959@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>How long did it last? And if your LO hit it hard, did you eventually have to change sleep habits to see improvements, or did things improve on their own?</p> <p>Background: My LO has never been a great sleeper (an amazing night for us would be 2-3 night wakings), but at least it was doable - he'd wake up and settle back down relatively quickly. However, things have gotten bad the past few days with many, many wakings and longer wakings. He's not sick or fussy at all when he wakes up - and has picked up a ton of new skills lately - so I think it may be related to that. He usually goes down around 7:30 and sleeps in the crib in our room (not well - it is hard to get him to settle there and he rarely sleeps for more than an hour at a time in it) until I come to bed, when we cosleep. My husband does not want him to cry/fuss, so that eliminates putting him down sleepy but awake, which I'd like to try. He either falls asleep being bounced by my husband (earlier in the evening) or curled up next to me (has to have his head resting against my chest). I do the wakings after 10pm and am sooo tired. Willing to tell my husband he needs to start doing some of them if it seems like we need better sleep habits and that would make him more likely to be on board. </p>