These are times in your baby’s life that they are going through huge leaps whether physical or mental, and of course it can play havoc on their sleep. Many of these milestones you will have heard of, but some will surprise you! Below you’ll find a list of the most common milestones that a baby comes across in their first year, and what you can do to help them through it (and keep them sleeping!):
4 Months: The dreaded 4 month sleep regression. This isn’t actually a regression, it’s actually a sign that your little one is developing properly. When babies are newborns they fall asleep and go right into a deep sleep. They stay in this stage (rotating between REM and deep sleep) until they wake out of hunger, or habit. This is why it is quite easy to rock/nurse a young baby to sleep, lay them in their crib and they stay asleep. But around 3.5-5 months this changes. Babies develop adult sleep. When we fall asleep we go from a light sleep to a deeper sleep and then back again all night long. This means that it takes much longer for them to fall into that SUPER deep sleep if you’re rocking them to sleep. It also means they wake up a whole lot more if they aren’t falling asleep independently!
6 Months: Rolling! Babies love to roll, and once they learn this skill they find their first taste of freedom. They can independently get themselves places! Do some rolling practice with them to really help them get a taste of how it feels to roll (both ways), so that when they do roll in their crib it doesn’t startle them as much.
8 Months: Crawling. Who wants to sleep when you can crawl around your crib all night? Let your little one practice this skill as much as possible during the day so that you know that they’re tired when they go to bed, AND it won’t be as exciting to practice overnight.
9 Months: Pulling themselves to a standing position. This one you really need to practice during the day as it can be a safety issue. Stand them by the side of the couch with a pillow or blanket underneath them and get them to practice standing up, then sitting down a LOT. By doing this you’re again not only tiring them out, but you’re also showing them the skill to sit back down if they get themselves into a standing position in their crib. Let them practice a few times in the crib as well just to make sure they’ve got it down pat and that they’re transferring the skill.
12 Months : Walking. As with the other two physical milestones let them practice as much as possible during the day so that once they get in bed it won’t be as exciting overnight.
24 Months: Speech Burst. This is generally when children get a whole bunch of new words in a very short period of time. You might hear them chatting away in their beds, they’re just practicing their new skill, and can’t wait to show it off!
All of these milestones can affect sleep (before, during and after learning the skill), but the best piece of advice I can give you is to remain consistent with your sleep routines, as well as their self settling skills. After a week or two they should get past the milestone and get back to great sleep!
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