The Joy Behind Your Baby’s 4 Month Sleep Regression
Looking at your precious ones sound asleep gives you the feeling of satisfaction that you have done your part in order for him to rest well. This is actually a very pretty and fulfilling sight. At the first few days when the child is born, the new parents are often too excited to play and spend time with them that they get sad as soon as the baby sleeps. Words of advice though, do not consider this as a missed opportunity to play with your little angel, instead use this time to your advantage. The next few months could change your child’s sleeping patterns and that is when the going gets tough.
Aside from the fact that babies grow at a faster rate while they sleep, it is also beneficial to boost their immune system and give way to faster over all development of your child. This tells us that the more hours the baby stays asleep, the better it is for them…and for the parents too. When the baby is sleeping, this is actually the time that parents could do the things needed to be done at home, washing the feeding bottles, washing baby’s clothes, cleaning the house, running errands and a lot more things that you simply cannot do when the baby is awake.
This is especially true to families that do not have household help. All these things could make you tired all day and you look forward to sleeping at night to rest your aching body. The first few months, your baby will most likely sleep 5-6hours at night, sometimes waking up early in the morning because he is hungry but will again go back to sleep after he is full. This is fairly easy to handle since you can go to sleep too.
However, things could spiral downwards and your rate of sleep may be significantly reduced once the baby enters the dreaded 4 month sleep regression phase. Though a quite common occurrence and acceptable part of a baby’s growth. This could create havoc on your personal life as sleeping becomes more of a luxury than a need. When you start to consider a 2hour-sleep every night a treat, then you might be well on that stage already.
Sleep regression is characterized by your baby’s inability to follow his first few months sleep cycle. It usually starts as early as 3rd month of life or as late as the 5th month. It lasts for a month or so as the baby can re-adapt again and develop a new sleeping pattern. During these times, the baby tends to wake up sooner and more frequently and be very agitated. These are the last things you want to hear especially when you yourself are just starting to doze off.
The normal 5 to 6-hour sleep of the baby would be reduced to waking up every 45-50 minutes! In some cases, waking up happens all night long and when they do sleep, the moment you put them back to their crib they cry again. You might want to consider carrying them in your arms while they are asleep so that you can rest too, but the danger here is that since you are very tired, you might doze off to deep slumber right away and totally lose control of the baby. I need not elaborate on how bad it could be but I’m guessing you get the picture already (of a baby bouncing on the floor…yikes!).
Millions of moms cry foul over this critical phase of their baby’s growth. As they tend to suffer a lot with lot of sleep. They feel all sorts of things as caused by their lack of sleep. Light-headedness is a common experience. Increased rate of falling hair, clumsiness, lack of concentration, and even severe forgetfulness are some of the most common experiences among moms.
However, there is a light at the end of a tunnel, so to speak, as the baby will eventually grow past this stage. More than the sufferings that they endure, moms will always have the explicit joy and satisfaction of going through all these and seeing it through. “Sleep while you can”, seems to work with most moms, and if you are in the same page, you might try it too. Sweet dreams.
