Infant Sleep

Infant Sleep

The first year of your child’s life comes with constant changes. Teething, introduction to solids, TONS of physical, cognitive and emotional developments, multiple sleep regressions, and more adult-like sleep patterns are being established. Awareness is increased, separation anxiety comes to into play, and little glimpses of independence start appearing.

Infant sleep is often considered ages 4 months to 18 months, but can extend up to 2 years. It is often an age when sleep start to derail. Usually as a result of the 4-month sleep regression.

Here’s what you need to know about infant sleep.

Around 4 months is really when your child’s sleep patterns start to evolve to more adult-like sleep patterns. It is also an age when the first physical developmental leap begins, usually rolling from back to belly.

Before we get into developmental leaps, let’s talk about the changes in your child’s sleep patterns.

Your child will start spending a lot less time in deep sleep, and more time in the light stages of sleep. Which is why you will go from those long newborn naps to a lot of short naps. Falling asleep and connecting sleep cycles has become a lot harder to do.

The drive to sleep is stronger at night than in the day, which is why you might experience short naps but long stretches at night. Usually around 5-6 months, your baby is developmentally capable of connecting their sleep cycles for naps, too. But it will take practice and your support!

Here’s how you can help your child who is waking after a 20-40-minute nap or wakes shortly after going to bed at night (and it is NOT time for a feeding.)

When your child wakes, be sure to give them a little space! Don’t rush in and scoop them up. Give your child the opportunity to try to self settle and get back to sleep on their own. As parents, we often want to stop the crying or get our child back to sleep right away. Don’t stand in the way of your child learning the sleep skill.

If your child does wake and cannot get themselves back to sleep after providing some space, go in and place a firm hand on their belly and gently rock them with your hand. Loudly shush or, even better, use a sound machine. You could sing a lullaby or even do a shush-pat. Do what you can to support baby to get them back to sleep without physically picking them up and holding them. If baby doesn’t settle after offering support, go ahead and rock or nurse them.

The point of this strategy is that you are supporting your child and helping them get back to sleep, without providing a sleep crutch or picking them up and feeding them. This will take a lot of practice and patience. It could take weeks to really start seeing consistent success. But it is through YOUR consistency that baby will learn the sleep skill. You are in this together with your baby.

Babies can start to recognize patterns as early as 6 weeks. So by 4 months, you should already have a solid bedtime and nap time routine in place. Routines provide an outlet of communication with your child at a time when verbal communication is limited. All humans appreciate and value communication. Providing a consistent routine is showing respect to your child through transparent communication. Consistency creates habits. Habits create patterns. Patterns manage expectations.

Now, on to the developmental aspects as it relates to sleep!

If your child is going through a sleep regression related to physical developments such as rolling over or pulling up, they are going to require A LOT of daytime practice. Physical developments are just as mentally demanding as they are related to physical activity. Provide plenty of opportunities for your child to practice tummy time for rolling or be a good spot if they are sitting or pulling up. Give them space to practice crawling and walking. As silly as it sounds, baby will spend EVERY opportunity working on these skills… even in the crib at night. Make all caregivers aware of these new developments so baby gets adequate daytime practice. Daytime training will wear their bodies and their minds out for sleep at night.

If your child IS practicing these skills at night, it is best to let them go. Make sure the crib is safe with no loose blankets, stuffed animals or pillows they could use as a step stool. Make sure the mattress is on an appropriate level if they are standing. And let them go. As part of their human development, they NEED to practice these skills. It is visceral to their evolution. If your child is rolling over and can’t roll back over, it’s okay to replace them once or twice a night. But NO MORE than that. If they are strong enough to roll over, they are strong enough to roll back. They just need practice. If you continually replace them throughout the night, they will think it is a game and learn that if they roll and cry, mom or dad will be there to roll them back over.

Rolling is scary, I totally get it. It looks like their face is smashed into the mattress and it feels like the word SIDS is tattooed inside your eyelids. MOST babies, despite looking like their face is smashed into the mattress, still have room to breathe. You usually can’t see from your monitor angle. HOWEVER, please, please follow your intuition. If anything feels “off” to you, do what you feel is best and helps you sleep at night. Most babies are more comfortable sleeping on their bellies so try to let them explore this new position and give them the space they need to get comfortable. I promise the rolling phase ends rather quickly and you will sleep again!

A quick note on teething because it was the biggest sleep hindrance for my family the first year after my daughter was born. The pain associated with teething should ONLY last 1-3 days. MAX 3 days. The pain occurs when the tooth is physically pushing through the gum. However, your child might exhibit cranky behavior and interrupted sleep for much longer than 3 days. Every child is different, some are more bothered by the pain than others. Go to your child when they are teething or ill. They need the extra snuggles. But once that tooth pops through, be sure to go back to your old routine and don’t let any new habits become your new routine.

Provide plenty of teething relief options such as teethers, frozen wash clothes or a frozen waffle, mom or dad’s finger! Anything that puts pressure on the gums provides relief. And talk to your pediatrician about OTC pain relievers. Tylenol can be administered at age 6 months and Motrin at age 12 months. Always, always check with your physician FIRST before using any medication.

Lastly, mind your wake windows and naps. Below is a guide to help understand just how much sleep is required at each age and how many naps you can expect. Exceeding the necessary daytime sleep could result in frequent night wakings or early morning wakings. You will want to be sure they are getting at least 10-12 hours of sleep at night. Too much sleep during the day means they won’t need that sleep at night, which means a 4am PJ party with mom and dad!

Again, early wakings, short naps, and having a hard time getting to sleep could be the result of too much daytime sleep. Use the table below as a resource for sleep based on your child’s age.

Naps and Wake Windows Guide (Infant)
AGE	DAILY NAPS	DAYTIME SLEEP	AWAKE TIME
4-6 MONTHS	3-4	3-4 HOURS	1.5-2.5 HOURS
7-13 MONTHS	2	2-3 HOURS	2.5-3.5 HOURS
13-18 MONTHS	1	2-3 HOURS	3-4 HOURS

No amount of snuggling, rocking or nursing to sleep in the newborn phase will prevent your child from becoming an independent sleeper. Even if you extend these habits past the newborn phase, you can always implement healthy habits at any age and any stage. It’s really what works best for YOUR family!

And remember, ALL babies WANT to sleep. They often just need to learn HOW.

If you are looking for a new sleep strategy for your family or you are ready to start getting healthy sleep habits implemented NOW, check out our services page. I have a package just for infants! I’d love to work with your family to make sleep a priority.

Sweet Dreams!