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07/01/19: Dreaded 4 month sleep regression + sleep training?

So after I wrote the attack of the poopy monster post and attributed the bad sleep to constipation and poop.. I realized I probably wrote something similar like LITERALLY a month earlier when she had her immunizations?? Or that time she had another huge poop and I stayed up for most of the night with her.

WELL, this time, I think her bad sleep is actually attributed to sleep regression. Ah, I have finally hit that lovely milestone (sense my sarcasm here..?!??!) Her sleep has been pretty bad consistently since we moved back to SF. Coincidentally, the move back to SF was as she turned 4 months old. It probably didn't help that she is also in a new environment completely and her whole schedule and routine was out of whack when Carlo was in town. Nothing that could really be helped, of course.

SUCKS THOUGH. Her nighttime (AND NAPTIME!) sleep is worse than it's ever been. When she was a newborn, she was relatively easy to put down, she would just wake up a lot to nurse, but that's normal.

Since coming back, I've noticed that she absolutely HATES being put down for naps, and most of the time, they're only like.. 10-30 minutes long. And for nighttime sleep, I know that she needs to be put down for bed by around 8.. but she always fights it until at least 10-11 (driving me insane) and then has 2 nighttime feedings.

This regression is due to their brains finally developing sleep cycles - before 4 months, they would just be able to sleep whenever and however, but now that they are developing sleep cycles (drowsy, light sleep, deep REM sleep), it's a bit harder. I HOPE this is just a phase, but I doubt it will be. IDK, of course you will all find out eventually when I write about it. UGH.

Soo.. due to the last couple of hellish weeks, I've been considering sleep training and reading a lot about it. I keep going back and forth about it due to a few reasons:
  • My mom actually JUST found a part-time position as of last week and will now be working Monday, Wednesdays, and Saturdays from 9:30-6:30 (which means I'm by myself for about half the week). I totally didn't expect this and this obviously creates more work for me, but I reason that I need to do this eventually anyway when we go back to New York. BUT that was when we knew we would have found a day care. I didn't really expect to go solo so soon. I know my mom is happy though and this is something she wants and is better for everyone long term, since she isn't flying back out with us to New York come September.
    • This means that I don't have the daytime support that I usually do and have been used to. Thankfully Mya, at this age, is still fairly easy in the daytime since she isn't mobile yet...
  • My mom also has a couple of vacations planned in July 
    • This means that I won't have the nighttime support that I will most likely need before implementing cry it out / sleep training. Also, sleep training takes AT LEAST a week of consistency before it works, and I will definitely want someone's support during that time so I don't want to start while I'm solo =(
  • New York is going to mean another transition/move for the baby - new house, new environment, new everything. Also going to mean that she's transitioning to seeing Carlo again, and not my mom
Ugh, the more I type this, the more I get sad that I can't sleep train her earlier. Because this really sucks!! Then again, I have also read that it might be better for the baby developmentally at 6 months to start - most people recommend sleep training from 4-6 months.

It's kind of like newborn days again - but a little shittier from a mental standpoint, knowing that she was good for an entire month and then now it feels like crap again. HENCE, regression, right?! At least when she was a newborn, everything was anticipated.


Overall, I still get minimum of at least 6 hours sleep (which is what I need to function), so physically and from an energy standpoint, I'm not in bad shape. BUT OMG the mental toll it takes when she is so hard to put down for naps and takes about .. 4 hours to put down to sleep (I swear, I try from 8 PM to midnight). I sucks when you're in the daytime and nightime just pacing around or sitting in your blacked-out room just trying to get your baby to nap. I don't think it's healthy for ANYONE lol.

I'm defnitely going to go on more walks just to get out of the house. And some sunshine. Especially now that I've finally tried the carrier on my own and it's absolutely great (Thanks, Laura!! I know you read this, so shouts to you :)) and I don't  feel sore or anything even after 90 minutes of walking.. even if baby is probably around 16 pounds at this point.!

Anyway. Long post! Signing off.
BTW - How was I able to get this long post in? Baby only got 6 hours of sleep last night and she's taking her first nap. Usually the first nap is the only good nap - she's been going on now for 2 hours so she should be waking up soon.. BYEEE

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