Many new mothers encounter such a problem:
Originally, the baby was awake to play, eat, and then sleep in the cycle process, during the day when he was full, he put it on the bed and directly patted it to sleep, and he generally got up at night once at night, but when he was four months old, he woke up three or four times in the middle of the night, and when he woke up, he cried directly, whether it was to sleep with comfort or sleep with milk, what was going on? What should I do?
In fact, this is a sleep regression period, usually when the baby is 3-4 months old!
What is the sleep regression period?
The sleep regression period refers to the long period of night awakening that does not improve, from a longer continuous sleep time to a relatively short continuous sleep time.
For example, the baby is supposed to sleep well for a while, and when you are still complacent and the baby finally sleeps like an angel, suddenly he becomes always awake at night, or the original nap suddenly disappears, unwilling to sleep, and sleeps badly, but there is no obvious reason. Completely caught off guard, returning to the pre-liberation night and driving moms crazy!
Why is there a sleep regression period?
01The transition of sleep patterns to adults
The main reason for the 4-month-old sleep regression period is because the baby's sleep pattern has changed: from the baby's sleep mode to the adult sleep mode. Adults go into deep sleep as soon as they fall asleep, but babies can't go into deep sleep immediately when they sleep, but need 30 minutes of light sleep to transition, during which they can easily wake up without knowing how to fall back asleep.
02 Improvement of cognitive ability of "causality"
At the age of 4 months, babies also have a leap forward in development, that is, the recognition of "causality".
For example, when slapping a toy, the toy will make a sound; when the toy falls on the ground, adults will hear the sound of their own crying and help them pick up the toys on the ground.
4-month-old baby encounters sleep regression period, mothers will be because the baby crying to take milk sleep, baby coaxing and other means to let the baby fall asleep again, over time the baby has a causal association: the reason why I can fall asleep again, is because of the mother's feeding or because the mother holds!
Then, as long as the baby wakes up, he will choose to wait for the mother's comfort, forgetting that he also has a certain degree of self-soothing and falling asleep.
Therefore, many babies have a slump in sleep at this stage of 4 months of age, in large part because the mother's anxiety leads to excessive comfort, so that the baby has a new sleep dependence.
03 Period of Development of the Great Movement (Turning Over)
4-month-old babies always practice turning over with their eyes closed, and this big exercise development will make your baby's sleep "worse".
The baby is easy to turn over at night to wake up, find their new sleeping position, easy to be frightened, so overwhelmed, can only cry waiting for the mother to comfort, believe this, with the sleeping mother the most experienced, good end to sleep, the baby will suddenly sit up, crying tearing heart and lungs, really called a toss ah.
Master these 4 tricks to survive the April sleep regression period
01 Mom let go of anxiety and adjust her mindset
4 months of sleep fluctuations do not represent the baby's sleep ability to regress, this time the mother should believe in the baby, believe that we helped the baby to establish good sleep habits and sleep ability when we were young, will not disappear overnight.
Therefore, mothers should first put aside their uneasiness and tell themselves not to set the sleep goal as "how to make the baby fall asleep", but to adjust to "how to help the baby adapt to the new sleep mode as soon as possible". After all, babies also want their mom to help them build and have a good night's sleep.
02 Improve your baby's ability to sleep
For the baby's frequent night awakenings, mothers can continue to use the previous effective soothing methods for the baby, but do not increase the intensity of the comfort (such as: increase the duration and frequency of the comfort, etc.), or introduce new and stronger comfort methods, which will only make the sleep worse.
For example, for babies who can be soothed by tapping or picking up, be careful to use the soothing method of giving milk as soon as you cry. Other methods can be used, such as allowing children to listen to some white noise, cultivating a new sleeping environment for babies, etc.
At the same time to avoid changing the baby's diapers in the middle of the night, the baby in the sleep regression period, the quality of sleep is extremely poor, if you toss the baby to change diapers in the middle of the night, it will only make the baby's sleep quality worse, at this time a breathable, dry, large suction diaper is particularly important, it is recommended to start with soft diapers.
Soft diapers are made of Japanese imported polymers, massive instantaneous suction, fast lock water without reverse osmosis, the surface layer is always dry and breathable, a piece can suck 4-5 times of urine, a piece of night is completely enough, and there is a double-layer leak-proof system, the baby does not have to be afraid of side leakage at will.
03 Establish a "Eat-Play-Sleep" mode
Moms can establish a "eat-play-sleep" pattern for the baby at this stage to help the baby establish a better sleep routine.
Babies 4 months of age may consider gradually widening the feeding interval and gradually overtaking the 4-hour interval. At 12 to 16 weeks, introduce naps to your baby, and it is recommended to schedule three naps a day: morning + afternoon + evening to help your baby get the right amount of daytime sleep.
04 Turnaround exercise exercises are placed during the day
When the baby begins to practice turning over, it is recommended to arrange a large exercise practice time during the day to help the baby master the turn over as soon as possible and avoid practicing at night without falling asleep.
Of course, in the turnover period, the mother should not be too entangled and interfere with the baby's sleeping position, as long as the sleeping environment is safe, let the baby try various sleeping positions.
Sleep regression is only a milestone in the baby's life, in the face of the baby in the sleep regression period, the mothers try to be a little more Buddhist, take this opportunity to cultivate the baby's sleep habits, survive! After all, there are still 6 months, 8-10 months, 18 months and 2-year-old sleep regression waiting for you to challenge!