Hi @Ania, I’m sorry you’ve recently started experiencing difficulties with your daughter’s sleep! It is certainly possible it is the 4 month sleep regression. 1-3 wake ups for feedings are normal at this age as they are still growing at such a rapid pace, but anything beyond that may be a result of the regression. Here is a link to download a free guide with tips to help your baby sleep through the night: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-through-night-free-ebook/
Again, I will mention that lots of babies don’t actually sleep through at this age, but the guide will give you tips on how to get her on an age appropriate schedule for sleep. If you need more help working through this, let us know! We are here to help.

Hi again Anna,
Yes, some babies who are born a little late end up being a little bit more mature for the first 6 months to a year, so that could very well explain why she’s run into the regression a little early!

She was born when I was 42 weeks and 1 day pregnant. Would that have anything to do with acting like a 4 month old?

Hi Anna,
Thank you for checking out The Baby Sleep Site! We do sometimes see the 4 month sleep regression pop in a little early. We have a lot of articles on that regression since it can be so tough, but here is a good one: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-regression-2/4-month-sleep-regression-checklist/
Sometimes night waking that often can also be a sign that there’s something wrong with her schedule, and she’s either overtired, being put down too often, or having some kind of feeding trouble. We have a sample 3 month-old schedule here that you can reference: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/3-month-old-baby-sleep-and-feeding-schedule/
I hope these help!

Hi @Jacqueline, thank you for writing to us! I recently went through the all 4 molars coming in at the same time with my son, so trust me when I say I understand how you’re feeling! I am sorry to hear it’s been a struggle for your daughter’s sleep. You may want to check out our free guide available on how to help your child sleep through the night and see if there are any tips in there that you haven’t tried yet: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-through-night-free-ebook/ Here at the Baby Sleep Site we have much knowledge on sleep training that goes beyond crying it out, so if you decide you need more help our sleep consultants would love to work with you on this – and you can know that they will be happy to create a plan for helping your daughter sleep better on her own with the least amount of crying. If you’re interested in that, you can view the options to work with a consultant here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/
Hang in there and I hope this passes quickly!

Before the molars (which was around 16 months), she was down to only waking up 1-3 times most nights. She has a pretty consistent bedtime routine which hasn’t changed much since she was maybe 4 months old, and is usually asleep between 730 and 830. She wakes up for good between 630 and 7 most days. She has finally been taking good naps at daycare (1 to 1 1/2 hours after lunch); she used to only sleep for maybe 30 minutes on the way to daycare, 45 minutes at daycare, and maybe 30-45 minutes on the way home. She combined the naps into one maybe 2 months ago.

She still uses a pacifier, but mostly when her teeth hurt or she is sleepy. She’s been slowly weaning herself during the day and often only has it at naptime when at daycare during the week. I plan on working more forcefully to get rid of it once her canines are all in. I do rock her to sleep, which I don’t mind doing till she’s 3 or so; I did that with my son and then transitioned to patting his back while he fell asleep, then only patting his back for a certain amount of time. He is 9 and sleeps great, so I’m not worried about that part too much. When she wakes up, sometimes all she needs is her pacifier and a little back rub, other times it’s some milk to drink, and other times it’s just a snuggle for a few minutes. I’m usually not up for more than 10 minutes each time, but when she wakes up 4-6 times a night, it’s rough. I would be happy with getting back to 1-2 times, as I am able to function very well with that much sleep.

Tradition sleep training isn’t really an option; she is just like my son and won’t actually cry herself to sleep. She just cries and cries until she gets too worked up and then vomits.

I have found that she does well with small, gradual changes. For example, I started switching from a bottle to a sippy cup during her middle of the night drinks once I was confident she knew how to use it well. It took a couple weeks, but she went from sippy cup only sometimes during the day to only sippy cup with very little fussing. If you bring too much attention to the change, she bucks against it quite hard.

I would greatly appreciate any advice you have!

Hi Sarah,
So nice to hear back from you! I’m glad the information was helpful, and your plan sounds great. He’s very young yet, and it sounds like you’re helping him develop a solid schedule and encouraging him gently to learn to fall asleep on his own. Those are great foundations and will help both of you a lot as he’s learning 🙂 Hang in there, and do get in touch if we can be of further help!

Hi Megan,
Thank you for using The Baby Sleep Site as a resource! I’m sorry to hear you’re having some trouble at bedtime. If it’s just that your son is crying a bit at bedtime before sleeping, then that can be normal. Some babies do just cry at bedtime, sometimes for a couple of months, to release tension and calm themselves down. This does usually stop eventually as they grow and develop different methods of self-soothing. However, if your son seems very upset, or he’s waking a lot at night and crying every time, there might be more going on. For example, if bedtime is too early or too late, many babies will cry excessively and experience more night waking. We’d be happy to help you troubleshoot further, if you’d like to write us with a little more information about his day-to-day schedule and whether he’s waking at night: contact@babysleepsite.com . Good luck with everything!