Sleep Regression in Kids

Newborns and toddlers will often struggle to sleep through the night. Once you’ve finally got them consistently doing so, you can celebrate the accomplishment. It takes a lot of work and persistence to get them sleeping through the entire night, and it’s often one of the happiest moments of parenting since you can finally sleep through the night again.

Of course, if it all comes crashing down again, it can be extremely frustrating for you. You’re finally sleeping through the night again, and have been for a year, and all of a sudden your child is no longer sleeping through the night. Those blissful nights have turned into a nightmare again where you’re up with your child begging them to go back to sleep - you’re tired and so are they.

Sleep regression doesn’t always happen for every child. As a parent, cross your fingers that your child doesn’t go through this as it’s unbelievably frustrating. Unfortunately, many kids do go through a stage where they will stop sleeping through the night again. If this happens, be patient (I know, it’s hard) and work through it the best you can.

Figure out the reason they’re not sleeping through the night

The first step, after getting up and getting them back to sleep, is to start figuring out what may have caused the sleep regression. There are many different possibilities for this, so you’ll have to figure out what may be going on in their life. It also may not be completely obvious and a combination of things. Below are a few common reasons that kids regress in their sleeping (this list is nowhere near comprehensive):

• New sibling (baby)
• Change in daily schedule
• Change in eating habits
• Scared by movie or TV show
• Friends moved away
• Change in regular schedule
• Tooth hurting or other growing pains
• More stress in the home (fighting or otherwise between parents)

This is just a small sample of potential reasons that your child may have regressed in their sleep. Talk with your child during the day and before bed to see if you can figure out what they’re feeling and why they might be waking up at night. Ideally, they’ll just tell you but most kids won’t be able to put their own finger on it and if they can then they won’t be able to tell you what it is.

Use similar techniques to sleep training

You’re going to have to go back to some of the things you used for sleep training to work on getting your child to sleep through the night again. We’ve written plenty on how to do this - it’s a lot of work, but it can be quite effective. If you’ve already sleep trained once, start by trying the same method again. If that doesn’t work, then try a new method.

Kids that won’t go to sleep when laying down to sleep vs kids waking up in the middle of the night are two different problems that you have to solve. Generally, the former is easier to deal with. Getting kids to go to sleep through different methods will generally be the easier problem to solve (and less demanding on your sleep schedule). Regardless, use the tools available for sleep training.

Be patient and consistent

Patience is extremely important when dealing with sleep. You’re tired, and it’s so easy to lose your temper with your kids when that’s the case. Take a deep breath (or two or three) when you have to interrupt your own sleep to get your kids to sleep. Don’t lash out at them, and be as patient as you can. 

Be consistent in working with the kids as well. It’s so simple to give up after a few nights - you’re going to need to make sure that you’re ready for a potentially long period of time in working with getting kids to sleep through the night. Consistency is one of the primary keys in being successful as a parent.

Conclusion

Sleep regression in your kids is never fun for anyone. Figure out what’s going on and work with your kids to get them sleeping through the night again. It will be another time to celebrate when they do.