What to Look for During 10-18 Month Sleep Regression and How to Make it Better
Some parents are anxious to try sleep training.
Or they worry their baby will cry for an hour. Some parents need advice and help for their kiddos having sleeping troubles.
Don’t worry about trying sleep training. Check out these couple of pointers to help navigate.
Getting your baby to put themselves back to sleep on their own is a worthwhile parent hack. Learn what to look for during 10-18 month sleep regression and tips on how to make it better.
Want More? Recommended: Online baby sleep training classes for parents everywhere.
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What to Look for During Sleep Regression Stages
What you’re looking for during sleep regression stages depends on the current sleep pattern cycle.
According to an article from the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine’s website, frequent night time awakenings are associated with poor cognitive function in toddlers.
Are sudden daily nap time battles getting more frequent?
Do they stop crying when you walk in the room?
Are inconsolable when you walk out of the room?
Do they wake up at night a lot?
Letting your toddler walking into the room every night is not an option in the foreseeable future. Most new parents miss sleeping in their own bed.
Without a third person crashing in at 2 or 3 in the morning.
Frequent nightly awakenings take its toll on the cognitive functioning of parents too. Not just toddlers. All the more reason to tackle it early on.
Rule Out the Usual Suspects:
No teething, illness, temperature, thirst, hunger or needing to change a diaper.
Whittle down the options of why your sweetheart is crying. Determine the sleep regression stages by using process of elimination.
10 Month Sleep Regression
Sometimes babies wake up a lot at night. It’s funny - there is usually one parent acting as a stricter, safe-sleep person. The other, not so much. Know how to fix it fast.
What’s important at the 10 month sleep regression stage is to set a routine.
A repeating set of behaviors that get your infant to sleep consistently. Not many unicorn sleepers out there.
You can incorporate a white noise machine, use a sleep sack, or a nightly bedtime nursery rhythm. Consistency is key. The best tool you can use. And the re-occurring theme in this article.
An episode of 10 month sleep regression usually passes within a month. So in 2-4 weeks the sleeping patterns will most likely subside back into something more normal.
Want More? Recommended: Top-rated online baby sleep training classes for new parents.
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12 Month Sleep Regression
Sleep aversion is common around the 1 year mark.
Many parents follow some form of the Ferber method when the need arises.
The good news is the halfway point life expectancy of sleep regression stages is at the 12 month old mark. It marks a possible sleep cycle phase your baby may have to go through.
All you can do really is stay vigilant and get prepared. As a desperate sleepy mom who just want their kids to sleep.
Want More? Recommended: 11 Essential New Parent Tips: How to Give Baby a Good Night’s Sleep.
Try to take them out for a drive if they start fighting naps. The hum from the engine can calm them down and allow them to get a daytime nap in.
15 Month Sleep Regression
You’ve never had to do sleep training with your infant. But need to revisit because of a desperation round of 15 month old sleep regression. You thought you were in the clear.
Help them learn to sleep independently. It’s a worthwhile activity. Now you’re forced all in.
Try this: When they cry, begin with the step of giving 5-10 minutes. See if they settle on their own first.
They won’t cry all day and night. Nor will you let them. It will be better for everyone in the long run. Remember, it’s a phase and it will pass.
Using short increments of time is easy to implement. A hiccup or two may pop up, like illness or a vacation.
A vacation sounds nice, actually. Just accept the tantrum and follow a consistent path.
18 Month Sleep Regression
Toddler sleep can be very scattered and sporadic - all over the place.
You are trying to make it so they don’t wander back into the room. Unable to put themselves back to sleep.
Bad sleep and a cranky toddler the next day is no bueno.
Over a year old when toddlers become more mobile, they’ll not want to sleep in their bed all the time.
If your toddler never experienced a sleep regression stage, consider yourself one of the lucky ones.
Want More? Recommended: 11 Essential New Parent Tips: How to Give Baby a Good Night’s Sleep.
If as a new parent you find yourself going through 18 month sleep regression, stay as consistent as possible.
The sleepless nights will go away soon. Stay focused and keep on grinding.
It will not last forever, even though it feels like it will.
How to Make Sleep Regression Better
Don’t get discouraged if you feel like nothing will ever work.
Print out a Ferber schedule and tape it to the door. Try using a comfort item like a stuffed toy. There are many methods to test out.
Try the method of waiting 10 minutes to respond to your child – but during night wakes.
Ten minutes goes by fast. It will be unbearable to listen to. If they’re crying for a different reason, you’ll know.
Picture yourself in the future as an 80 year old parent. Now think back to this present time.
Now feel how you appreciate your baby or toddler will never be this age again. They will never return to this age at this moment. What a difference in perspective that makes.
Remember, this will soon be in the past. Stay strong and keep pushing forward. Consistency, consistency, consistency. You got this.
Want More? Recommended: Top-rated online classes for baby sleep training.
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