When your baby is sleeping for longer stretches, you feel like you’ve been given a new lease on life. So if they suddenly have a sleep disruption—having trouble falling asleep, waking up more often, being fussy—it’s like being sent back to the start of your parenting game…without passing go or collecting $200.
But there’s hope, a Get Out of Jail Free card: First, reframe how you think about sleep disruptions. The change in your child’s sleep habits is less about their seeming to forget or backslide on skills they’ve built up and more about them going through developmentally normal phases and/or something interrupting—and disrupting—your child’s usual sleep patterns. And although these sleep disruptions can be common and are totally normal, they are certainly not inevitable. And (cue the balloons and confetti) they will pass.
So, what are some of the more common sleep disruptions?
The definition is pretty much what it sounds like: anything that disrupts your baby’s sleep. But there are a few typical causes that come up for babies, often starting around 4 months old and on into toddlerhood. They include:
Approaching and/or achieving developmental milestones
When your child is learning how to do something big—physically or mentally—research has shown that it can mess with their sleep. Milestones such as learning to roll over, sit up, crawl, and starting to talk can all interfere with your baby’s sleep as babies often process and practice these new skills at night, waking themselves up and/or having trouble settling down.
Separation anxiety
Especially in the 4 to 10 month age range, babies are more interested in and learning to connect to objects and people. So at naptimes and bedtimes, they may start to fuss and cry when it’s time for you to leave the room or have a harder time going back to sleep if they wake up in the night and don’t see you closeby.
Changes in routine
These include any situations that cause a child’s usual schedule to shift—getting sick, for example, or traveling.
One usual suspect who may not, after all, be responsible for your little one’s sleep troubles? Teething! In a surprise twist, a recent study discovered that teething may not be as disruptive to babies’ sleep as people have assumed. Instead, research indicated that restless nights are more likely linked to the causes above—developmental milestones, illness or changes in routine—than the arrival of pearly whites.
How to help your child through sleep disruptions
Remember, these times are temporary and your little one will make it through them, getting back to their easier-on-everyone sleeping habits. Here’s how you can help:
1. Create the best possible sleep environment.
Make sure your child’s sleep space supports good sleep with items like blackout curtains, white noise, and a room that’s the ideal temperature (between 68 and 72 degrees) and humidity (40 to 60 percent). Your Nanit baby monitor can act as your assistant on these last details, letting you know if either move out of optimal range.
2. Get back to consistent sleep schedules and bedtime routines.
The regularity of the routine eases separation anxiety as little ones start to learn and trust that they’ll see you again (or a familiar caregiver face) when they wake up. If you’ve been traveling, a return to regular bedtimes will help get your child used to their usual time zone and make up for possible lost sleep. Same goes for a child who hasn’t been sleeping well due to being sick.
3. Build (or build back) your child’s skill at soothing themselves and putting themselves to sleep.
Let part of your regular nap or bedtime routines include putting your child into their crib when they’re drowsy but not fully asleep, saying goodnight and leaving the room. They’ll remember or develop ways to comfort themselves to drop off to sleep (and once those skills are well established, they’ll always be with your child). And if possible, when your routine is upset, during an illness for example, avoid returning to habits you’ve moved away from, such as doing a feeding at night if your child has been sleeping through without one. It’ll be easier for your child to get back to their usual good sleep patterns if they haven’t veered too far off the path.
4. Consider whether your toddler may be ready to drop a nap or change their nap schedule.
Your toddler’s sleep difficulties could be tied to their needing less sleep overall. If that’s the case, shorter naps or less naps may help them fall—and stay—asleep more easily at night and during any naps you keep in the schedule. Nanit’s Sleep Schedule Generator and the OK to Wake function of Nanit’s Sound + Light machine can be useful support tools should you need to adjust naptimes and bedtimes.
Lean on creating supportive sleep environments, consistent routines, and tuning into your child’s sleep needs and you’ll make it through these tricky transition times. In other words, there’s a good night’s sleep at the end of the tunnel. (Now pass go and collect $200.)
Look forward to bedtime with the Nanit Sound and Light Machine, designed to grow with your child from the early days of newborn sleep through toddlerhood and beyond. This all-in-one device creates a soothing and consistent sleep environment to promote more restful routines. 
