And that took about five minutes but they went straight to bed. I fed them, and I burped them, and I talked to them (“night night darling, time to go to sleep, mummy will see you in the morning”). At three months I started to put them in awake. I usually just threw them into bed when I fed them. The other thing I did to help was at night sleep bedtime. I’m taking a whole week off the diary to work in it napping at home each time, not the pram or car etc. If they have done their 30-45 mins sleep and you’ve worked yourself into a neurotic sweat trying to push them over but it hasn’t worked, then lift them and wake them and start a new EASY cycle. Remember this is a permanent change so they will get used to your method, whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’. But don’t even think about lifting your baby to rock or away or cuddle to sleep. With Ben we rubbed him lower back & bum and he loved it so that would’ve been it. I learnt to be gentle (ie try not to wake them further) with the shush pat or whatever your thing is. It’s better if there’s someone in house who has the wit to entertain him and keep him quiet. Second I make sure he has a biscuit or two. But what do I do with Ben during this time? First I make sure he’s in the Complete Lock Down Child Proof room. I always give it a good fifteen minutes to twenty minutes of trying. And I quietly gloat when she does go back to sleep:) I do not stress any more when she doesn’t go back to sleep- that’s part of what this thing is about. The first few days she was not really in a four hour cycle and so there was a couple of days were she was napping three big naps & a fourth wee cat nap. That’s two naps a day (third nap is a cat nap so I don’t bother). We are three or four days in and it has worked 7 out of 10 times. Sometimes it happens easily sometimes there is a bawling match and then the shush pat works. It can take 2 minutes it can take 20 minutes. Then I sneak in and very gently shush-pat til she goes over again. If she stirrs and shuffles, I wait til she starts rising up in her cot. This time I sneak into her room or else stand outside listening around 30-40mins into her naps. And I get much more done and I don’t stress. Now I’m here with my daughter (DD) and I am making more of an effort. And I stressed about it and I never managed to get much done during his naps. Needless to say, with my first son (DS1 for those who like those awful abbreviations) only ever took 45 min naps and you can never get him to go back to sleep in a nap. But here’s a few tips on surviving the four month sleep regression. So if any one is reading this, I’m not telling you what it is all about or why it happens because reading and researching is actually a useful exercise. Turns out to be informed what it is is better for your health than not knowing. And then I dreaded and dreaded and dreaded it. I never heard of sleep recessions til a dear friend warned me: “beware the 4month sleep regression”.
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