SLEEP TRAINING AT 4 MONTHS by By Dunni Omebere-Iyari, Infant & Toddler Sleep Coach Only a few weeks into when your newborn baby finally starts sleeping longer at night and less so during the day, they turn three or four months old. Suddenly they begin waking every two hours or less throughout the night, needing to be fed or held and in under five minutes, they are back asleep only to wake again after another two hours. In the first few weeks of this new sleep pattern, you didn’t mind because your baby went back to sleep immediately after you gave them what they wanted. Very quickly you realise how heavily sleep deprived you are and struggle to cope with the day’s obligations. So, you realise it may be time to sleep train your baby. This article is here to guide you through that journey, but first, I will help you understand the change that has just happened
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with your baby.
According to Grow by WebMD when babies turn 4-
Your 4-month-old baby needs 14-16 hours of sleep, 10–
months-old, most healthy babies go through their first
12 of which happen at night and the rest split into
sleep regression, commonly known as the 4-month
three naps.
sleep regression. While this means you barely get any sleep, a sleep regression is a good sign as it means
Because childcare is hard work already, parents tend
your baby has achieved a developmental milestone.
to default to what is easiest to get little ones to sleep.
Age 4-months is the first point at which your baby can learn to sleep through the night. It is essential to highlight here that “sleeping through the night (STTN)” means different things depending on your child’s age. For your 4-month-old baby, STTN is the ability to sleep 8 hours straight before needing a feed to continue sleeping.
Often, you rock, pat, feed or drive your baby to sleep. However, independent sleep is not possible if babies are dependent on these crutches. If your baby only falls asleep when any of these things are done, they will always depend on them. Babies go through sleep cycles that last 90–120 minutes throughout the night. Without learning how to self-settle, they will struggle to continue to link sleep cycles with your repeated help, leaving you exhausted.
