Four to Eight Month Sleep
Sleep becomes a total game changer for your little one at four months old because it is at this age you can begin sleep training.
Some might call it a sleep regression, but really it is a sleep progression!
At this age your infant’s circadian rhythms have finally matured and their sleep is more organized – which makes sleep training easier!
If you have a laid a healthy sleep foundation – by either using my newborn guide or taking my newborn course – then sleep training will be a breeze! If not, don’t fret!
If you are helping your little one go to sleep in any way (feeding, rocking, walking, bouncing, driving them around) this is the perfect age to break that cycle!
The sooner we break those challenging habits, the better your ENTIRE family will be in the long run. The longer those habits stay around, the harder they will be to kick down the road.
My sleep training guide will walk you through step by step how to teach your little one to fall asleep independently – whether you want to use a gentle or direct method.
As you begin to get your little one established on a four-month schedule (four naps a day), don’t stress if night sleep is coming along well but naps are still lagging.
It can take several weeks for naps to come together. It is pretty quickly after your little one turns four months, that they transition to a three nap a day schedule. The goal is for this to happen by the time your little one is five months old.
Remember, on a four or three nap a day schedule, the last nap of the day has the least restorative value!
From five to the beginning of eight months, your infant should be on a three- nap-a-day schedule with all naps ending by 5pm.
Don’t be surprised if your little one starts to show signs of needing to transition to two naps at seven months, but we want to hold off and preserve the three naps as long as we can.
Transitioning too soon can mean early bedtimes for longer than we need and can put us in a cycle of early wake-ups. If you are currently struggling with early wake-ups, be sure to check out my early wake-up guide.
Don’t be surprise as your child gets older and develops mentally and physically if their sleep is temporarily impacted by them practicing their freshly learned skill when they should be sleeping.
This is very common however we want to remain as consistent as possible as we don’t want to make a permanent change to your infants sleep by trying to over compensate for the temporary challenges.
Once your little one is eight months old, it is time to make the push for the next big nap transition – three naps to two naps.
It is important to make this transition slowly, but we want to have it completed by the time your little one is nine-months-old.
Still feel a little lost and confused?
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