Growing up is hard work, and babies need a lot of rest. Your newborn will sleep up to 16 hours per day, but they’ll do it intermittently or sporadically. Brand-new babies rarely sleep for more than four hours at a time, forcing parents out of bed at least once or twice throughout the night. It takes a little while for babies to learn to live on a 24-hour cycle, but it will happen.
Then, when your baby starts sleeping through the night, and you think there’s a light at the end of the sleep deprivation tunnel, they suddenly start waking up again and you might wonder what in the world is happening?!?!?! This is known as sleep regression and is a typical phase (even if a little frustrating) of early childhood development. During sleep regression, babies seem to revert to an earlier stage when they couldn’t sleep through the night.
In addition to waking up during the night, signs of sleep regression include increased fussiness, limited naps, and taking longer to fall asleep. While sleep regression typically happens around four months of age, it can happen later, especially near certain physical or cognitive milestones. You could encounter sleep regression anytime between four and twelve months. Toddlers may also experience a separate bout of sleep regression in the first few years of life due to nightmares, teething, and more.
How Object Permanence Impacts a Baby’s Sleep
As your baby grows, they will experience several critical developmental milestones. In addition to impacting how your baby navigates the waking world, those milestones may also affect their sleep. Among those milestones is the development of object permanence.
Object permanence is the understanding that things exist even when we can’t see or sense them. That might seem like a simple concept to you and me, but newborn babies have to learn it. Babies are only aware of what they can directly sense for the first few months of life. When something is out of sight, your baby might think it has disappeared forever. You’ll know that your baby has developed object permanence when they start looking for people, toys, and other objects when they aren’t around.
Babies begin to develop object permanence between four and eight months of age, and their skills increase over the next few months. When object permanence isn’t fully developed, sleeping alone may cause distress. As your baby develops object permanence, they may begin to want things (caregivers, pets, toys, treats, etc.) they can’t see, making it difficult to sleep.
How Separation Anxiety Affects A Baby’s Sleep
Separation anxiety can impact anyone, no matter their age, but it’s especially common among infants and toddlers, peaking between 8 and 18 months and typically improving by age three. Signs of separation anxiety can include being overly clingy, throwing tantrums during or before separation, and increased worry about where a parent or a loved one is.
As your baby grows, they’ll start recognizing their dependence on caregivers. Suddenly, the thought of losing those caregivers becomes frightening. The bond between you and your baby is strengthening, and they may feel uncomfortable when you’re not around. You’re likely to notice separation anxiety when dropping your little ones off at daycare, school, or with extended family, and it may also impact sleep. Worrying that a parent or caregiver will leave and not come back can cause crying when you leave the room or refusal to sleep if you’re not nearby.
To prevent or mitigate separation anxiety, play peek-a-boo to strengthen your baby’s understanding that things exist even when they can’t see them. Peek-a-boo is especially effective for six to eight-month-olds. Continue reinforcing self-soothing techniques to build resilience, reduce stress, and help your baby manage their emotions. Clearly communicate when you need to leave and reassure your child that you will be back. If you use a sitter, try using the same one whenever possible to provide consistency. Don’t prolong goodbyes; have a teacher, sitter, or other caregiver distract your child during separation to help with the transition.
Other Factors That Affect Infant Sleep Regression
In addition to object permanence and separation anxiety, there are several typical milestones or experiences that can negatively impact your baby’s ability to sleep through the night.
- Teething – When your baby’s primary teeth emerge, it can cause pain and discomfort. During the day, your child can more easily self-soothe, but alone in their cribs, the pain may become more apparent, disrupting sleep.
- Increased mobility – Learning to crawl and walk are some of the most exciting milestones in your baby’s young life, and they change the way your baby sees the world. With mobility comes newfound freedom; babies may want to exercise that freedom, even at bedtime.
- Growth spurts – Similarly to teething, periods of rapid growth can cause pain in the limbs, especially the legs. As your baby grows, these periods of discomfort can temporarily impact their ability to sleep through the night.
- Disrupted routine – Just like the rest of us, babies thrive on predictable routines. If there’s been a sudden change, like a new daycare or shift in morning or nighttime routines, the stress of the change can impact the quality of sleep.
- Unfamiliar places – Nobody sleeps very well in a strange bed. If you’re traveling or sleeping in an unfamiliar environment, your baby may struggle to sleep or stay asleep throughout the night.
- Illness – Even adults have trouble sleeping when they’re not feeling well, and babies don’t have the benefit of understanding what’s happening. If your baby is feeling ill, they may struggle to get good quality sleep.
Tips To Help Parents And Caregivers Manage Sleep Disruptions
If your baby wakes up and starts crying during the night, you may be tempted to intervene, but bedtime is an opportunity to help your little one learn independence. Waking up during the night is perfectly okay, even adults frequently wake up during the night. The trick is teaching your baby to get back to sleep on their own. Rather than running to your baby’s rescue, try some self-soothing techniques to help them transition back to sleep.
- Put your baby to bed fed – Make sure your baby has gotten enough to eat so they don’t get hungry overnight. Eating can also make babies sleepy, so feeding them about 15 minutes before bedtime can make falling asleep easier.
- Remove distractions – Create a space that facilitates rest. Remove toys, lights, and sounds that might be overstimulating and could keep your baby awake.
- Go to bed awake – Don’t wait for your little one to fall asleep before moving them to the crib. Putting them to bed when they are still awake but tired helps them learn that they can fall asleep on their own.
- Give them time – If you hear crying at night, don’t respond immediately. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends “graduated extinction,” in which caregivers respond at longer and longer intervals. The first night, wait through five minutes of crying before you respond. The next night, wait ten minutes, and so on. Soon, your baby will learn to fall back asleep on their own without your help.
Whatever methods you choose, make sure you’re consistent. Babies quickly learn once they know what to expect. And remember, sleep regression is a normal and temporary challenge that will get better. Before you know it, you and your baby will both be sleeping soundly through the night.
