r/sleeptrain • u/NebulaCute9523 • Feb 16 '26
4 - 6 months 4 m regression is INSANE
Baby turning 4 months in three days and I am assuming we are in full on regression mode because he is now waking EVERY HOUR. I would KILL for a 3 hour stretch at this point.
How do people survive this? Is the only way little one will come out of it to sleep train? Or will he figure it out on his own with time? He doesn’t sleep independently fwiw.
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u/Elegant_Expression89 Feb 17 '26
6 weeks. It randomly ended one day when we stretched wake windows and put him in his own room. Slept 10 hours but I kept waking up every hour because anxiety. We already had a good night time routine but omg. I could have died of sleep deprivation.
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u/NebulaCute9523 Feb 17 '26
How did you stretch wake windows? My LO barely makes 2 hours the few times he actually has
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u/Elegant_Expression89 Feb 17 '26
You can take them outside when they’re getting tired. My sleep consultant said you could wet their feet. Basically anything sensory!
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u/Elegant_Expression89 Feb 17 '26
The aspects of sleep training we adopted: appropriate wake windows, black out curtain, sound machine, not feeding to sleep and a solid bedtime routine. I couldn’t go through with CIO but we have been doing less rocking / patting (as little as we can).
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u/Realistic_Peace6931 Feb 16 '26
My baby is 13 months old now. I still have nightmares over that 4 month regression - it was honestly the most depressive period of my life. She went from sleeping in her crib to only doing contact naps. She could take 30-40 minutes to get asleep for each nap. She screamed 80% of the time she was awake. This went on for 7 weeks and then one day, she just stopped. She went back to a happy baby sleeping in her crib! I'll still never forget it though.
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u/myrrhizome Feb 16 '26
Sleep training, shifts, and medication.
It was worse than newborn days for us and lasted 6 weeks. I had a mental health episode. It was no joke.
We tried sleep wave, failed, and ended up doing CIO. It worked from 5-11 months. Then 6 more months of hell, then Ferber finally worked.
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u/NebulaCute9523 Feb 16 '26
I’ve already had a mental health episode as well. I’m just waiting for this to get better as a first time mom and it’s really not 🫠
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u/myrrhizome Feb 17 '26
I was very reticent about sleep training at first but it was a lifesaver for me.
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u/lauren_rae07 Feb 17 '26
I ended up in therapy, and on medication because of the 4 month sleep regression. I will say once we got on the other side of it my little one ( now 9.5 months) became a phenomenal sleeper. Takes 2 strong naps a day now and sleeps 11-11.5 hours straight with no wakeups. * been this way for a few months *
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u/kj032821 Feb 17 '26
Did you sleep train or did they come out of it on their own?
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u/lauren_rae07 Feb 17 '26
A mixture of both. I did a lot of contact naps to extend naps. We also did some light FIO sleep training. She definitely got better at sleeping on her own as well. I'd say around 5.5 months things really toom a turn for the better for us
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u/Wise-Raccoon-3069 Feb 16 '26
my baby had this brutal phase for almost 3 weeks and i just thought i was gonna die
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u/NebulaCute9523 Feb 16 '26
What’s happening now?!
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u/Wise-Raccoon-3069 Feb 16 '26
i should’ve also said i didn’t do anything, he just came out of it on his own and also he was always a bad sleeper and never ever had a 5 hour stretch, and always needs rocking to fall asleep
the regression was really really bad, the hourly wakings plus broken naps plus crying after falling asleep (5-15 minutes into sleep), plus so hard to resettle, plus always crying in waking up (at night and naps), i don’t know how i survived
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u/Wise-Raccoon-3069 Feb 16 '26
sorry, i should have clarified
my baby is now sleeping like this: 1st stretch 3h-4h depending on the night, second stretch 2h, third stretch 1h, fourth stretch 2h, up at 5 am, bedtime is 7 pm, total sleep in 24 hours including naps 13 hours, baby is 19w4d
sleep regression started 14w1d and ended at about 18.5 weeks
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u/Tccrdj Feb 17 '26
It would be better to do like my kid did and just NOT FUCKING SLEEP for the first 10 months. Cant regress when there was no sleep in the first place.
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u/EmotionalPenguin5 Feb 17 '26
My experience: it kind of sort of got better on its own after a few weeks but I had zero confidence in bedtime until we sleep trained.
We had a bedtime routine, white noise, had already dropped the swaddle a few weeks before it started so we were just using the sleep sack. Baby would sometimes link cycles once she was down, but less so during regression. We ended up rocking her for hours just to maybe transfer her to the crib successfully.
The breaking point finally came when she literally would. NOT. sleep. at. all unless she was being held. Not cosleeping, held. My husband put her in the crib, told her good night, and left her in her nursery while we watched on the monitor. She cried for about 20 minutes and then fell asleep. We started officially sleep training the very next night.
It’s been 4 weeks now and aside from the occasional false start, she generally stays down once she falls asleep and is sleeping well. Naps are still trash but at least nights are better!
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u/Lecture_Particular Feb 17 '26
We dropped to 3 naps and extended wake windows slowly. We also only picked her up after 15 minutes most of the time she fell back asleep within the 15 and then eventually learned how to link her sleep cycles
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u/SilentObserver3456 Feb 17 '26
Mine did this around 3 and a half months. It’s torturous but it slowly got better with longer stretches. Hang in there ❤️
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u/Efficient_Bee4584 Feb 16 '26
I’m in the same boat. We’ve been doing this for three weeks now with no end in sight. I’ve tried a bunch of different things but nothing seems to help other than cosleeping which I’m not a fan of. Not sure what to do anymore 😩
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u/NebulaCute9523 Feb 16 '26
How are we going to survive 🥲
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u/Efficient_Bee4584 Feb 16 '26
It drives me crazy when I see people complain about their baby waking every three hours. I WISH! She’ll sleep in her bassinet for an hour and then it’s almost impossible to get her back down again. She’ll fall asleep instantly in my arms but almost as soon as I put her down she’s back up again. I’ll be praying for you I understand the struggle 😭
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u/cappuccinocat92 Feb 16 '26
Right there with you. This has been going on for over a month already, we are starting sleep training in a week as soon as he turns 4 months. We can’t function like this anymore. People complaining about 2-3 wakes during the regression are cracking me up lol.
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u/NebulaCute9523 Feb 16 '26
Ugh I have a sleep trainer lined up when he hits 5 months but hoping he figures it out himself before then bc it ain’t cheap!!! And I’m not sure I will survive that long lol
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u/cappuccinocat92 Feb 16 '26
I would love to wait a bit longer but it’s just become unsustainable. I hope they both figure it out one way or another!
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u/SocialStigma29 2.75y & 7m |CIO & Ferber| complete at 4.5m Feb 16 '26
I did shifts with my husband for 6 weeks and then sleep trained when it became clear it was not ending anytime soon.
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u/NebulaCute9523 Feb 16 '26
What method did you use? How did it go?
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u/SocialStigma29 2.75y & 7m |CIO & Ferber| complete at 4.5m Feb 16 '26
Extinction/CIO and it went surprisingly well. No crying by night 3 when falling asleep. Dropped to 1-2 wakes to feed only. I'm about to sleep train baby #2 this week and I'm looking forward to getting my evenings back! This time I'm not waiting to see if it will end on its own.
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u/Siltyclayloam9 Feb 16 '26
My baby did this for two months until we decided to sleep train at 6 months old
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u/Ebrill918 Feb 17 '26
What schedule did you have when you sleep trained?
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u/Siltyclayloam9 Feb 17 '26
We had a very hard time with schedules because daycare wouldn’t follow one but we tried to at least get up at 6 every day and go to bed at 7 with the last feed at 6:30
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u/aloha_321 Feb 16 '26
Sleep trained with Ferber method. Went from hourly wakes to sleeping through the night in one night.
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u/TrueCuriousPassion26 Feb 16 '26
How long did you deal with the regression before you decided to sleep train?
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u/aloha_321 Feb 16 '26
A few weeks. He nicely hit the 4 months regression at 3 months so I dealt with it until I could sleep train at 4 months (he was too young at 3 months)
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u/Exotic_Researcher789 Feb 17 '26
Can second Ferber. We started right when our LO hit 4 months and we had a few nights of extra wake ups but got over the hill fairly early than many I’ve seen post.
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u/Typical-Spend-4746 Feb 17 '26
The 4 month regression can be really hard. Waking every hour is exhausting, so it makes sense that you’re feeling this way. A lot of parents go through this stage. Around this age babies’ sleep cycles are changing, which is why they wake more often. It does not mean you are doing anything wrong. For many babies, it improves on its own after a few weeks as they adjust. You do not have to sleep train unless you feel ready. Some families choose to, others wait it out. Both approaches are completely valid. A steady white noise or simple rain sound can sometimes help them connect sleep cycles a little better. It is not a magic fix, but it can make nights slightly easier. This phase feels endless when you are in it, but it really does pass.
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u/thesleepnut_ Sleep Consultant Feb 16 '26
How was he sleeping before this?
Move to 2 hour windows if not already
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u/NebulaCute9523 Feb 16 '26
He slept great until 3 months and then it kind of all went down hill; but we were still getting 3/4 hour stretches.
He melts down most times if we try to push him to 2 hr WW
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u/thesleepnut_ Sleep Consultant Feb 16 '26
If focus on some good long contact naps so he can then sustain longer wake windows.
Also consider them being cold. 1 hour wakes tells me something else might be a little off
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u/NebulaCute9523 Feb 16 '26
He has been a bit constipated recently. Could this be a factor? He is exclusively formula fed and we are giving him similac even though it stops him up bc he rejects gentle formulas and won’t drink them due to the taste even though it makes him more regular. It is seriously so frustrating 😵💫
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u/thesleepnut_ Sleep Consultant Feb 16 '26
That sounds super hard I’m sorry.
Possibly? Try and get on top of it as much as you can.
You can sleep train after 4 months of age. Ferber or pick up put down. If they can’t make 2 hours aim for 1.75 at least wake window
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Feb 16 '26
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u/elmarin_e Feb 16 '26
Also, I developed a genuinely deeper appreciation for coffee at that period. One cup of coffee felt like the equivalent of a refreshing swim followed by a gourmet meal...we also called the spare room Barbados because that's what it felt like hehe
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u/Sorry-World3019 Feb 16 '26
Fine tuning schedule and teaching to fall asleep indep was the only thing saved us :(
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u/Reasonable-Pair-7648 Feb 17 '26
My first born started her sleep first regression at around 6months (before nursing to sleep worked fine) And it only got worse until we finally sleep trained at 9 months.
My second born (newly 4months old) stsrted sleeping horribly around 2.5-3 months and we started sleep training 2nights ago - already seing huge improvements!
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u/Particular-Bend1527 Feb 17 '26
Hang in there! It will end 🥲 we did cry it out at 5 months and it was a game changer. So worth it. She only cried 15 min and then fell asleep. Her being able to self soothe is a game changer.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Box_339 Feb 16 '26
It is honestly so brutal. Buckle up!
It hit my baby at three months and took him one month to get over it. I’m not sure if it was a natural progression out of it, or if it was because we did some sleep training tactics. He was waking hourly or every two hours for about a month. Now he is 4.5 months and we are down to just 2-4 wake ups, 2 of them are his usual feeds overnight.
This is what we did:
- Established a bedtime routine, ours was 30 minutes before bedtime. It was feed, sleep slack, story, mini Massage, then put on crib awake.
- Put baby down for every nap and bedtime awake, not already asleep
- did CIO at bedtime. Tbh he was already crying whether I held him or put him in the crib so I felt it was a natural decision to do CIO. The only cried between 2 - 20 minutes each night, and now he often doesn’t cry at all.
- for night wakes, we used the soothing ladder. I.e. use a minimal amount of soothing required to get him back to sleep
- When he wakes in the middle of the night, don’t rush straight to him. Wait to see if it’s going to be a full cry or just a fuss
- make sure your day schedule is correct so he has enough sleep pressure to fall asleep at night. We did 1.5/1.75/1.75/1.75/2 for a while in month 4, we are now on 2/2/2/2/2. Bedtime is between 7:30-8:30 depending on his last nap; and wake time 6:30-7 depending on his bedtime (aim for 11 hrs in bed overnight)
Now that we are through it, I do believe for some babies it’s probably just a phase that ends. BUT it’s also an opportunity to begin some sleep training, and many will do it naturally out of desperation, because nothing else is working! That was us. Our next step is to move into his own cot in his own room, and he will use modified Ferber (Taking Cara Babies program) to deal with the night wake ups.
YOU WILL SLEEP AGAIN Good luck 🤞
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u/Accomplished_Flow222 Feb 16 '26
Thorough great advice . What we did !! Only had one night of full regression mode because of good sleep habits prior !!
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u/NebulaCute9523 Feb 16 '26
I am struggling with the last nap / bedtime. He really can’t make it a full two hours, so he wants a catnap between 6 and 7 pm, but I feel like that’s too early for bedtime…. Ugh
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u/smittnkitten Feb 17 '26
We were in the same boat. 4.5m old waking up every 45 min. We endured it for 10 days until we decided to sleep train with very low expectations. We started a semi aggressive Ferber method 4 days ago. The first two nights were rough but after that she started putting herself to sleep within 10 min with no crying. Only wakes up twice to feed and this morning I had to wake her up to start her day which has never happened before! I definitely recommend doing it now. They say during the 4m regression is actually great timing bc they’re developmentally ready! Good luck 🍀
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u/Ok_Stress688 Feb 16 '26
It’s rough. Some babies grow out of it, adjusting their schedule accordingly for day time sleep and working on independent sleep habits even if you aren’t planning on sleep training will sometimes help.
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u/canamel Feb 16 '26
We had about a week of terrible sleep where my baby would only sleep 20-30 mins in her crib and transfers failed 80% of the time. She seems to have come out of the worst of it now, though some nights are still rough. We adjusted her schedule to allow for more wake time during the day and that seems to have helped a bit.
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u/NebulaCute9523 Feb 16 '26
How many naps per day and how much day sleep total? This is where I struggle
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u/canamel Feb 17 '26
She has 4 naps per day still because her naps are so short. We capped total day sleep at 3.5 hours and tried to get close to 10 hours awake time during the day. So for example, wake up at 7am, nap 3 hours, bedtime at 8pm.
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u/ilovejesushahagotcha Feb 17 '26
Sleep train. He needs to learn how to self-soothe. It’ll be better for him and for you. You’ll both get more sleep. Yes it’s hard to hear them cry, but parenting is full of listening to your kid crying. Hard things to learn always come with frustration.
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u/Desert-Kat99 Feb 17 '26
For is it was a little of both. We sleep trained for bedtime only and after a week nighttime waking became less frequent and after a couple weeks we were down to only 1 wake up most nights. During night wakings I’d give baby about 5 mins to cry/fuss and if he was still awake I’d nurse him back to sleep.
Every baby is so different though!
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Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
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u/soul-searcher3476 Feb 17 '26
The 10 month one is just as bad.
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u/pink_camouflage23 Feb 17 '26
9 months here and 7-9 months was the worst sleep regression! I think we are finally coming out the other side
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u/hockeymusicteaching Feb 16 '26
Have twins & were 4 weeks into it. I might already be dead and my ghost is posting this.