We’ve all heard of the dreaded 4 month sleep regression, it is one of those things that almost just appears out of no where. Just when you think your child is sleeping well, bam! It hits, and the catnapping begins. This regression is all normal developmental behaviour and is part of your little ones sleep maturing. 

Regressions don’t just happen at 4 months, they actually occur at 8/10 months, 12 months and 18 months. The 4 month regression is due to sleep maturity but the later regressions are due to developmental milestones and dropping of naps. Some of our tips for navigating these regressions are below:

This regression coincides with the dropping of the 3rd nap. Our little ones can’t just drop the nap - their bedtime needs to be brought forward for a week or two, then you can gradually push it back 10-15 minutes until they reach your desired bedtime. This usually only takes a week.

This regression usually forms from a lot of mental (learning to talk and understand parents and environment) and developmental milestones (standing, walking, running) associated with this age. Many parents try to transition their 1 year old to one nap and this is often too soon. I usually recommend holding onto 2 naps until they're between 15-18 months. 

Around this age, our little ones start protesting their naps and we think it’s time to go down to one nap. Many parents think that they should drop the lunchtime nap, keep the morning nap and slowly move it closer to lunchtime. This is a big no no because in doing this, it means our babes are potentially awake from 12pm through to bedtime, resulting in a very overtired baby and no one wants that!  So the answer is maybe 1 nap for 1 day and then 2 naps the next days for a few weeks. You can also move bedtime earlier to help this transition. 

So, as you can see, these regressions can be pretty tough, but just remember, they are developmental and not due to something you are doing! I’ve done a blog post on this topic which you can read here for more detail but if you still feel like nothing's working check out our sleep programs which will provide you with additional assistance.