THE GREAT AWAKENING
What is the Great Awakening?
Usually around 3-5 months of age, your little one starts to become cognizant of their existence in the world. Due to a rapid increase in brain connectivity and an exuberant burst of synapse formation, your baby is becoming much more alert and ON!
Their attention span and memory are starting to increase, so they are not only taking in more info but they are beginning to apply it. This time is generally characterized by more social smiles, eye contact, cooing, recognizing familiar faces and unfortunately, for some, a disruption in your baby’s sleep. The good news on the sleep tip is that it is also around 4 months that their brain starts to more reliably release the sleep hormone melatonin so by no means is this stage all about sleep disruption--for many parents it's the time they start to tackle sleep training.
Your baby is also achieving some exciting physical milestones: working on rolling over and getting more head control.
One of the most important breakthroughs that comes with this cognitive burst is getting the concept of cause and effect. One day, your baby will make a connection between doing something and the effect that it causes—for example, she may shake a rattle and notice that each time she does, it makes a noise. That is BIG NEWS for them…they can actually participate in and shape their environment!
It is enough to keep them up at night thinking of and experimenting with the possibilities…
What is Happening with Your Baby’s Sleep?
1. Developmental spurt with major connection of the synapses. Your baby is becoming much more alert and ON. They are probably also working on some physical development: rolling over, getting more head control and recognizing people. This can make it a bit harder to fall asleep for some babies. Imagine if you realized you could fly....you wouldn't then roll over and go to sleep--you'd bask in your new skill!
2. Changes in sleep patterns. At four months we are generally moving towards helping the babies learn to self soothe. Remember they come in and out of sleep cycles every 45 minutes or so now so it’s an important skill for them to be able to fall right back asleep.
3. Changes in sleep needs. As if there already wasn’t enough going on, he’s also probably in the middle of a nap transition. Or in some cases, they may be ready for a firmer schedule. The good news is that around 4 months most babies are physiologically ready to release the melatonin they need to be able to sleep for a 12 hour stretch.
What are Some Things that Can Help During the Great Awakening?
SCHEDULE
Sample Sleep Schedule - Around 4-5 months, your baby's schedule will include four or three naps per day depending on how long each nap is. It is easier to think of your day in blocks of time. So from “wake up” time (or the time you go and get your little one out of the crib - say, 7am), their maximum awake time will be between 90-120 minutes including feeding and playing time. Then they will go back down for another nap. The last nap of the day we recommend to be no later than 4:30pm in order to get them back down for bedtime. If your baby is on 3 naps, we recommend the last nap begins no later than 3PM. If they are on the younger side of this stage and still in need of a fourth nap, a "cat nap" is preferable for this last daytime snooze. If they're still sleeping at 5pm, you can gently wake them in order to stay on track and start your bedtime routine to make a 7PM bedtime.
I found it helpful during this stage to write down a rough schedule --which in reality varied depending on how long naps lasted each day-- but it encouraged me to be firm about sticking to 3 specific fixed points: waking baby around 7am every day, last nap no later than 4:30pm (I woke them by 5pm at the very latest) and bedtime at 6:45/7pm. It might be helpful for you to jot down a schedule that seems doable for you and your baby. We will provide you with sample schedules for the first year of your baby’s life in our recap emails.
Once you have your written schedule, try putting it somewhere visible in your kitchen to keep you on track throughout the day. Sometimes, it can be hard to follow exactly because naps don't last long enough and then they're ready for the next nap too early - but it will still help in giving you a rough idea of where you want to be each day and will also aid in sticking to feeding times which is really helpful.
NAP AND BEDTIME ROUTINE
Not only should we aim for the time of sleep to be consistent day in and day out, but we should also have a consistent routine that exists before the sleep.
For Bedtime we recommend something like this:
Bath (if they are getting one that day)
Bottle or Breast
Book
Sound Machine and Song
For naps = same minus the bath.
Why do we move the bottle or breast from the last position? The bottle/breast is another sleep aid that we don’t want immediately associated with falling asleep. It’s easier to remove this connection if it isn’t the last thing they do before falling asleep.
TRANSITIONAL OBJECTS
A transitional object is something that can help your baby self-soothe instead of using your bouncing, rocking, bottle or breast. It usually is a lovey (small blanket with an animal head on it). If you sleep with it one day and give it your scent, you place it with your little one as they fall asleep. Eventually they will look for it and use it to comfort themselves. You can always tie a knot in it if you are wary of putting anything in the crib.
A pacifier is also something that can help with self-soothing although you may need to go in and help them get it back in. It can also be helpful to put many pacifiers in the crib and eventually they will find one and put it in their own mouth. Some parents decide to skip the paci altogether because at some point you have to wean your baby off of it.
ANOTHER CONCEPT THEY WILL START TO UNDERSTAND
Towards the end of this “great awakening” (closer to 6 months) is the concept of Object Permanence –meaning, something can still exist even if you can’t see it. Ex: even if Daddy is not in the room, he is still around and will likely come back. Games like hide and seek can help develop this understanding. Often, with this understanding, we see the beginnings of Separation Anxiety….more on that later.
REMEMBER TO FEED YOUR BABY
As your baby is growing, they will start to eat more ounces at each feeding. It usually corresponds to 2 ounces of milk per pound that they weigh capping out at 32-40 ounces. Some babies can eat a meal all at one feeding and others may eat a bit when they wake up and a bit more before they go back down. Once they're consistently drinking enough during the daytime hours, your pediatrician will likely give you the go-ahead to drop nighttime feedings!