Four Month Sleep Regression

I had never heard of the four month sleep regression until we were in the midst of sleep issue last month.  Low and behold of you google four months and sleep you come up with all this information about the sleep regression.  I didn't know that babies are starting to sleep more like adults at this point, not going into deep sleep for almost an hour after they fall asleep.

Mara hit this sleep regression about a month ago.  She went from sleeping anywhere from five to seven hours straight to less than four.  Its so hard to go from getting that much sleep to being thrust back into the middle of the newborn weeks so to speak.  You're cranky, she's cranky, your partner's cranky.  Its just a mess.

We were at a loss as to what to do.  Did we bring her back into the bed with us?  Did I feed her EVERY time she was waking up?  How did we get her back to sleep?  Seriously we were at a lost with that last question.  Mara didn't know how to put herself to sleep without me and nursing.

Looking back on it, that was the key to everything.  We needed to help her figure out how to fall asleep without nursing.  Or more so not using nursing as a crutch.  I started trying to make sure she took her naps without nursing to fall asleep.  The basic sleep, eat, play, and sleep schedule.  She took to this super fast and now won't fall asleep at the breast during the day at all.

The night was a little different of a challenge.  (Mara has always been SUPER different in her sleep trends during the day and at night.) We were still using nursing to help her fall asleep but trying other techniques to keep her that way.  We swaddled.  We used noise machines  We put shirts with our scents in her crib.  She was still waking up every two hours or so.

I was starting to get worried that we had created a habit until our recent trip to Asheville.  As we climbed the mountain Mara was having trouble with her ears.  I stuck her pacifier in her mouth on a whim and she took it!  My daughter does not like her pacifier so this was huge.  Back at home I had a thought, "Why don't I try the pacifier at night?"  I knew she wasn't hungry and thought maybe she'd just use the pacifier for comfort.

I was right.  Slowly two hours became three and last night it was four.  We're getting there.  Slowly but surely we are emerging from this sleep regression.  I'm just thankful that through it all she has consistently slept her 12 hours allowing us to catch up when we needed to.  Hopefully in another week or so we will have a little girl who likes to sleep 5 to 7 hours again.  Dreams people.  A dream!