Slippery sleep slope

Your baby’s routine hit a hurdle? Here’s the science behind sleep regression – and how to stop the slow slide into sleeplessness.

Just when you thought you were able to squeeze in a regular few hours of uninterrupted sleep a night, your baby’s routine goes out the window!

The big change tends to hit at around 4 months, but unfortunately there are more to come...

These periods of disruption are coined “sleep regression”.

Kim West, author of Good Night, Sleep Tight, prefers to use the term sleep progression, because the phenomenon is usually caused by your baby’s developmental progress. Petro Thamm, the African director for the Association of Professional Sleep Consultants and owner of sleep consultancy Good Night Baby (goodnightbaby.co.za), agrees that these fussy periods generally coincide with a baby’s developmental leaps.

“Each child’s sleep needs and sleep processes are unique. Just as there are averages for children in terms of development (when they will sit, when they will walk and so on) they will experience sleep regression at different ages,” she says. So why do things go wonky, when you’re doing everything right? “When a baby starts sitting, crawling or walking, the massive new input in terms of

stimulation will very often cause him to wake up. Studies show there are dramatic changes in your baby’s brain waves and a significant increase in his head circumference around the four-month mark,” Petro says.

Also remember that your baby is still developing his ability to soothe himself back to sleep.

Research shows this ability to self soothe may not fully develop until six months. “Sleep regression is completely normal. I always tell parents: one bad night is no reason to panic, neither is two, in fact, neither is three – only when you get to four to five days of a similar pattern should you start asking yourself what is up,” Petro says.

She also recommends you watch for other cues too. Is your baby really experiencing a sleep regression, or was he just more stimulated today and didn’t nap properly? A true sleep regression generally also causes more daytime crankiness, and increased hunger during the day.

IS IT THEM OR YOU?

While the neurological changes going on in that baby brain may be changing sleep patterns, Petro says that, ironically, it’s often not the baby that regresses but the parents. “For example, the baby has happily been sleeping through without drinking milk. He’s 11 months old and a good weight. Suddenly he wakes up at night, and the parent responds by feeding him. In the next 24 hours, the baby will drink less milk and then wake up again the following night now wanting the feed.”

TAKING BACK THE NIGHT

During periods when he is waking recurrently during the night, Petro recommends exposing your baby to lots of natural light during the day.

Go for walks, open the windows or lie on a blanket outside. Thirty minutes morning and afternoon will help to readjust your baby’s internal clock, she says. Also keep your routines simple, around three activities in the same order every night during these periods (one of them being milk time) – and then stick to the routine!

Keeping to a naptime and bedtime routine gives your baby the cues that sleep time is imminent. For younger babies who still require a night feed, she recommends you make sure that you keep the room quiet, dark, and cause as little disruption as possible when feeding. For babies older than six months, you can consider helping your baby learn to self-soothe when he is fussy at night.

OTHER CAUSES

Digestive reasons are also a factor to consider when your baby is young.

If your baby suddenly starts solids, or is introduced to iron-rich food for the first time, or anything that might cause the digestive system to adapt, he may be waking up because he feels a bit uncomfortable.

Another factor is mobility. “Around the 4- to 6-month mark, when they can turn over but not turn back, babies tend to get themselves into uncomfortable positions at night, needing their parents to help them out,” Petro says. Help your baby get comfy when this happens, but don’t talk or cuddle him. Nap transitioning can also cause a baby to regress at night.

“When a baby suddenly needs two day naps and not three, or one nap and not two, and you don’t follow Baby’s prompts and understand when this needs to happen, it very well might cause the baby to wake up during the night,” Petro says. ●