Luna's Sleep Journey: 4 month Regression + Transitioning out of the SNOO

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Tips for transitioning out of the SNOO

We are officially SNOO graduates and I couldn’t be more pleased with how the transition went. TBH, I was DREADING it. Luna loved the SNOO and I couldn’t fathom her being able to sleep without it, but she was honestly so ready to move to the crib. As I mentioned in our first sleep journey post, the plan was always to wait until 5.5 - 6 months per Happiest Baby recommendation. There were a few times when I thought other wise - aka 4 month regression - but I’m glad we waited. Keep scrolling for our experience with the 4 month regression and transition out of the SNOO.

Reminder: if I’ve learned anything these past 6 months it’s that every baby is SO different. I’m part of the SNOO Mamas facebook group and oh boy, there are SOO many different tales and stories of every baby’s sleep journey. Luna is definitely a very CHILL. She never experienced colic or issues with nursing (except 4 month regression), and has genuinely been a good sleeper since she was born. My hope by sharing our journey is to give you a little insight into some of the tips + tricks we used but not to make anyone feel like they are doing something wrong or that because their baby isn’t doing X,Y, or Z that their baby is bad. We are all in this motherhood journey together! xo

Pediatrician Tips for 4 month regression

Our experience with the 4 month regression

4 Month Regression

For us, the four month regression aligned perfectly with the 4th leap in the wonder weeks app and had a sort of bell curve, peaking right in the middle with a MOTN feed. Before 15 weeks Luna had been sleeping through the night since 6.5 weeks (no dream feed + no paci-pops) so it felt like the 4 month regression hit hard. In reality it wasn’t THAT bad but it’s all relative, right? A quick timeline:

• 15.5 weeks: started with one or two night wake ups that were resolved with a paci pop

• 16.5 weeks: bedtime feed nursing strikes (highly suggest following Karrie Locher on IG if you’re a new mama. She has a lot of tips and really helped me get through the nursing strike). Plus 2-3 night time wakes up with paci pops that started to lead into wanting a MOTN feed.

• 17.5 weeks: a week of 1 MOTN feeds

• 18.5 weeks - literally 2 days after the 4th leap ended she went back to sleeping through the night with maybe a paci pop here and there

Takeaway: During this time Luna had her 4 month check-up and I told the doc that we were def in the regression and that I thought she wanted a MOTN feed but I didn’t want to start any bad habits. He said: feed her! No bad habits can be formed yet, don’t even think about real sleep training until 6 months. And TBH, I’m glad I fed her because she had a HUGE growth spurt from 30th percentile in height to 75th percentile. When I was in the middle of the regression it felt NEVER ending and all I wanted was to find a solution - we even tried doing arms out of the swaddle (she was not ready) - and now that it’s over I realize we just needed to ride it out and really cater to what Luna wanted.

Tips for transitioning out of the SNOO

SNOO Transition

We kept Luna in the SNOO through the regression even though I know a lot of mamas use this time to transition. My mind set was that her body and mind were already going through SO much with the regression that I didn’t want to add another layer of change to it. I’m glad we waited. We officially transitioned at a little past 5 months at 23.5 weeks. A quick timeline:

• 19 weeks: 1 arm out naps

• 20 weeks: 1 arm out naps and nighttime

• 21 weeks: two arms out naps in the zipadee-zip underneath the Snoo swaddle. I also cut the Snoo swaddle arms holes even more than what they are when unbuttoned to give her more range of motion.

• 21.5 weeks: two arms out all sleep in the zipadee-zip underneath the Snoo swaddle

• 22.5 weeks: crib naps in zipadee-zip and start wean mode for nighttime sleep in SNOO

• 23.5 weeks: first night in the crib and she slept through the night!

Notes:

• I went with the zipadee-zip as I know a lot of other mamas have had success with it. It is a transition swaddle but different because baby can roll in it and wear up to 3 yrs. We are also in the dead of winter and I liked the idea of having fabric over her hands both to keep her warm and to keep her from scratching her face (ain’t nobody got time to file nails daily!)

• During this transition she needed a few paci pops here and there but otherwise it was pretty seamless. Baby girl was READY!!

• Also important to note that she literally had NEVER slept in her crib before this. All of her naps after 8+ weeks were in the SNOO.

• For SNOO, we had never taken off the motion limiter. I didn’t use wean mode until week 22.5 weeks for nighttime sleep. We never used it for naps + just went cold turkey to the crib.

• I noticed with the zipadee-zip she had much more mobility in her legs than she was used to so even though she was able to put herself to sleep for naps and nighttime she was sometimes waking herself up mid-sleep. A paci always soothed her but I decided to make my own transitional swaddle with our existing SNOO sack and cut the wings off it. (There’s a video saved to my 5.5 month day in the life highlight on IG)

• Recently (almost 6 mo) I removed my DIY SNOO sack and she is now just in the zipadee-zip no problem

• We have the HATCH rest and have used the white noise (TV setting) since we transitioned her into her room at 2 weeks. So this was always on + the SNOO sound. After transition to crib we kept with HATCH.

I’ll do a full SNOO review blog post soon but all in all I highly recommend it! We had a really positive sleep experience and easy transition to the crib.

Baby Sleep Tips + Personal experience

Sleep Training

So far, at almost 6 months we haven’t had to do any CIO or sleep training methods outside of implementing a schedule. As I mentioned in my previous sleep blog post we started MOMS ON CALL schedule at 2 weeks old. (reminder from my first sleep post: we only followed MOC schedule not the book’s sleep training methodology).

She can put herself to sleep from fully awake for nap time (started around 13 weeks) and nighttime and I believe the SNOO helped a lot with this. One day we just tried putting her down and turning the SNOO on vs. rocking her then putting her in and it stuck. Luna might be a unicorn baby but I also feel strongly that making sure she had enough feedings/oz during the day and the appropriate daytime sleep for her age really set us up for sleep success. All of our schedules are saved to my baby tips highlight on IG. Sending you positive sleep vibes mama! xo Ash

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