Reply To: Feed-play-sleep

[Emma H]

Hi Marien,

No need to apologise—this is a great discussion to revisit! You’re absolutely right to think ahead about the 4‑month sleep regression, so let me clarify exactly what’s happening and how you can set her up for success.

Why the 4‑month mark feels tricky
Between about 3–5 months of age, babies’ sleep patterns mature. Instead of cycling through just two sleep stages (Active and Deep Sleep), they move through four stages, and then briefly wake at the end of the cycle. If your little one only ever learns to fall asleep while being held, there’s a chance she’ll wake after each cycle and need you to recreate that same “holding” environment to drift off again.

However, once she learns to settle off to sleep in her crib, she’s much more likely to settle back on her own between those brief wake‑ups—provided she’s still tired and not hungry.

You’re not stuck in “holding” forever
It’s absolutely possible to transition from holding your little one to settling her to sleep in the crib. The suggestions we discussed in April were to help your little one with this transition. These suggestions were:

1. Adjusting your nap/bedtime routine slightly.

2. Trying the settling pyramid once she started staying awake after feeds during the day.

3. If the settling pyramid wasn’t possible, settling her to sleep in your arms without movement (so while you hold her still).

Have you had a chance to implement the nap/bedtime routine and the settling pyramid? The settling pyramid is a gentle, step‑by‑step way to help her learn to fall asleep in the crib with your support—building exactly the skill she’ll need to fall back to sleep again when she briefly wakes between sleep cycles.

Does that make sense?

Emma