Has your usually predictable little sleeper suddenly started resisting bedtime, waking randomly in the night, or perhaps they’ve started to skip their usual naps? And you’re starting to panic, wondering whether it could be a sleep regression - and does it mean something needs to change?
Here’s a 7-day plan to follow before jumping to conclusions,
Days 1 to 3, just wait it out. It might be a random sleep blip.
Even as adults we can have random nights where we just don’t sleep as well. We might have something on our minds and find it really hard to fall asleep.
Babies are the same! It’s really common for them to wake in the night and decide it’s a perfect time to practice a new skill. The key is to not force them back to sleep, just leave them be and give them the space to fall back to sleep when they’re ready.
Sickness and teething can also cause some temporary disruptions to sleep. So check whether they’re showing any other symptoms during awake periods as well.
Days 4 to 6, play detective. Assess whether anything has recently changed.
Has your routine slipped a little? Are they eating as well? Are they getting more or less active time? Has your approach to bedtime changed? Has anything in their environment changed? Have you changed their sleepwear recently? Is it getting colder overnight?
(PS. if you're not sure how to tell whether they're too hot or cold overnight go grab our Free Sleepwear & Temperature guide).
Days 7 plus, sound the alarm!
If you’ve ruled out all of the above, and it’s been more than a week - then it’s likely a more permanent sleep issue and it might mean something will need to change for you to be able to get their sleep back on track.
Getting sleep back on track...
Often all that's needed is a simple tweak to their routine, they might need their nap timings adjusted or maybe they're ready to drop a nap. If you're not sure how much total day sleep or many naps your baby even needs, go grab an age-appropriate routine. This might be enough to solve your little one's random sleep regression.
Sometimes though, a routine tweak on it's own might not be enough. Say they've started waking early in the morning and it's been over 7 days - it might now be a habit wake. In this case, we recommend grabbing our Early Rising Guide to shift their wake up time to a more reasonable hour.
And if you think you're facing a BIG REGRESSION, and your baby is no longer self settling, or they're waking several times in the night and it's been more than a week, then this is when our Sleep Support Packages or our self-guided Baby Program are ideal.
