How parents get their babies down to sleep can be a hot-button issue for many. One method may not work for everyone. So I preface this by saying this method is what worked for our family. I know there are other families out there who are looking for an answer to the same sleep struggle, so I’m happy to share what I did.
The 4-month sleep regression usually hits riiight when mama goes back to work and baby knows she needs her sleep, haha! That’s what happened to me with my first son Levi. I was commuting nearly two hours each day and I was exhausted. My once angel newborn sleeper started waking up 4-5 times a night right when I returned to work. I was a walking zombie my first two weeks back in the office.
I needed a solution STAT. I didn’t have time to read 3 different books, or take an online course, I needed the cliff notes now. So I turned to mommy blogs on Pinterest and compiled my plan. We decided to try a mild sleeping training method.
Again, this method is not for everyone, but it worked like a charm for us and my son was a great sleeper from then on, and he started sleeping through the night not long after.
Here’s how it went down! (My son slept in my room during this process and we transitioned him to his crib around 5.5 months):
- Started bedtime routine around 7-7:30 p.m. – bath, nurse/rock, then put pjs/sleep suit on while awake so he eventually learns to put himself to sleep. I swear by the Merlin’s Magic Sleep Suit.
- I would top him off with an extra 2-3 oz. of pumped milk so he was realllly full. (Or you can “dream feed” baby before you go to bed. This didn’t work for Levi because it caused coughing fits.)
- Set baby down awake with white noise on and a fully dark room.
- Try to get him to fall asleep on his own so he doesn’t associate waking up with having to nurse/rock.
- About 5 hours later, usually around 1 a.m., he’d wake. So I would feed him and change his diaper then because that was a good stretch.
- Then he’d wake multiple more times into the early morning hours, which is where the sleep training came into play!
- On his next wake, I’d let him “cry it out” for 5 minutes, then give him his pacifier and pat his belly until he falls back asleep (I don’t pick him up, which is key).
- When he wakes again, we do the same thing (give paci and pat belly)… again and again.
- Night 2, we moved to 7 minutes of “crying it out” and if he’s still crying I give him his pacifier again and again.
- Night 3, we move to 10 minutes, then the next night 15 minutes until he learns to self-sooth.
It typically takes about a week or possibly a few to get it down! Consistently is so important. Of course, no mama wants to hear their baby cry, but I reminded myself that all his needs had been met, he was fed, he had a clean diaper, and now it was just a matter of him learning to sleep on his own. Thankfully my little guy had it down after 3 or 4 nights.
My second son just turned 4 months old and thankfully he hasn’t hit the sleep regression (yet). He did have a few bad nights the other week but he got back on track. Sometimes they work it out themselves! Will keep you posted if we need to implement this method again. 🙂
Would love to know if this method, or any method, has worked for you! Good luck, mama. ❤