Top 5 Tips on How to Survive Sleep Regression

sleeping at 4 months old

Ok, so I should have never posted that Giulio was sleeping so well (averaging 9 hours a night) because I jinxed myself ensuring that sleep regression would hit us hard! Around 4.5/5 months, Giulio stopped sleeping through the night. He now wakes up 2 to 3 times a night to eat. There are a lot of explanations for this oh-so-common phenomenon, but this is the one I like best: he doesn't nurse well during the day because he's so easily distracted that he needs to eat at night for the extra calories. Here's an RN's more profound way of saying that. That combined with the fact that he's so big and active, he needs a lot of extra calories and breast milk is mostly water, so he needs to eat OFTEN. Also, he's SO CLOSE to crawling that, just like when he wasn't sleeping to practice rolling over, he's not sleeping well because he needs to practice crawling...

sleeping at 4 months old

Anyway, here are my top 5 tips on how to survive sleep regression.

1. Sleep when the baby sleeps. As crummy and impossible as it is, go back to the newborn schedule of sleeping when the baby sleeps. Hide the pile of dirty laundry, try not to think about the dirty dishes in the sink, and order take out.

sleeping as a newborn in the hospital

sleeping as a newborn

2. Mood lighting! Put some nightlights around the house so you can walk around and go to the bathroom without turning on any lights. Once bright lights are involved, it will be harder for you and the baby to go back to sleep. Do NOT bring phone, ipads, etc into the nursery with you to pass the time while nursing!! That will wake you up just as much, if not more, than bright lights. Don't do it!!

sleeping at 5 months old

3. Rehydrate. Have a bottle of water or sports drink ready to grab after nursing. It just took me waking up thirsty with a dry mouth once to know that I needed to rehydrate after night time nursing sessions. It will help you sleep better.

4. White noise the entire house. Everyone knows white noise helps the baby to sleep, but it can help you sleep too! I get back to sleep so much faster when I have the fan going.

sleeping at 5 months old

sleeping at 2 months old

5. Know that it can't last forever. I'm pretty sure that all babies eventually sleep through the night or at least toddlers/kids/teenagers do...so try to remain positive. And celebrate small victories, for example, I got to sleep 9 hours last night (not in a row, but it felt great just the same)!!

Giulio falls asleep pretty quickly and he naps regularly 3 times a day, so I know as he eats more solids and starts crawling away (requiring even more calories of course) he'll go back to sleeping through the night and I'll get that coveted 8 hours!

sleeping at 1 month old