How to Handle the 6 Week Sleep Regression

Is your newborn fighting sleep and going through a growth spurt? Learn how to handle the 6 week sleep regression with these tips!

Six weeks later, I found myself with less sleep than when I first brought my baby home.

Despite rocking him for a long time, he’d wake up the second I moved or laid him down in the crib. The longer he stayed awake, the crankier he got. And even though it was “only” a nap, I was beyond exhausted and emotional trying to meet his needs.

If anything, I just wanted to know that there would be an end in sight.

It was then that I learned about the 6 week sleep regression when many babies have a growth spurt and a peak of fussiness. Whatever sleep schedule you’ve had doesn’t work anymore, and it seems like you’re going downhill instead of up.

Hang in there, friend—we’ve all experienced challenges like these. While your baby won’t be sleeping through the night for a few more months, you can still do plenty to establish healthy sleep habits and get him back on track. Here’s what helped me get through this sleep regression, and I hope they work for you, too:

Table of Contents

1. Watch the clock

The first mistake I made was assuming that my baby would fall asleep whenever he felt tired. Unfortunately, I learned that babies need our help to snooze. No matter how long they’ve been awake, they won’t always fall asleep.

In fact, the longer they stay awake, the harder it gets to put them to sleep.

Instead, watch the clock. At six weeks old, your baby can likely be awake for only 45-60 minutes at a time. As soon as she wakes up, either for the day or from her last nap, make a note of when to put her down so she doesn’t get overtired.

For instance, if she wakes up for the day at 6am, she’s likely ready to sleep again around 6:45-7am.

Free resource: Want to learn more about how her awake time might be affecting how well she sleeps? Join my newsletter and get One Mistake You’re Making with Your Baby’s Awake Time—at no cost to you. Don’t make the same mistakes I did—help her fall asleep with this one simple trick! Grab it below:

2. Look for sleep signs

Another way to handle your 6 week old fighting sleep is to look for newborn sleep cues. This is her way of letting you know that she could use a break just about now.

A few cues to look for include:

Yawning (I’ve heard to put your baby down before the third yawn)
Rubbing her eyes
Tugging at her ears
Glazed eyes that aren’t really alert

Watch out for these baby tired signs you might be missing.

3. Give your baby a bath (even during the day)

By now, your baby may have gotten used to taking a warm bath as part of her nighttime routine, a way to calmly end the day and settle in for the night. If you find that she sleeps better at night after a consistent bedtime routine, consider bathing her before one of her naps as well.

Do the same routine as you would before nighttime sleep, changing her into pajamas after a bath. Keep the bathroom subdued and calm to help her relax. Not all babies like baths (some cry more during one), but if yours enjoys it, giving her a bath can help.

4. Keep your baby snug

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One simple trick to help during the 6 week sleep regression is to keep your baby snug and tight. You might have found that she sleeps hours on end when she’s held in your arms during the day, but only a short period when she’s in the bassinet.

But since you can’t always hold her 24/7, keeping her snug in other ways is your next best bet.

For instance, wrap her in a swaddle like this and gently rock her to a drowsy state before putting her down. Carry her in a baby wrap, which frees up your arms while still keeping her close to you. Place her in the swing or even the stroller for added motion that can lull her to sleep.

Feeling snug and tight offers her the comfort she needs to finally drift off.

Learn what to do when your baby won’t nap unless held.

5. Offer a pacifier

Not all babies take to a pacifier (one of my kids certainly didn’t get the memo). But a pacifier can be a fantastic way to lull your baby to sleep—or at least extend it mid-cycle.

The sucking motion gives her comfort when she might be feeling overwhelmed and cranky, relaxing her enough to finally fall asleep. Or perhaps she’s about to wake up and stir from a short nap—giving her pacifier a gentle “tug” can encourage her to suck on it more and start another sleep cycle.

Even if you set her down drowsy but awake, offering a pacifier right after can help her drift off than if you had simply put her down.

6. Feed on demand

The newborn stage is not the time to dole out rations of milk—instead, feed on demand, or as often as your baby needs.

At first, I didn’t like this idea, especially since I breastfed and was the only one who could fulfill this need. But as our pediatrician told us, babies usually cry because of hunger than for any other reason. After all, their stomachs are still so tiny.

So, even though it seemed like you had just fed your baby, or that she’s feeding more than usual, give her what she needs. You’ll find that she’ll likely sleep better once she’s full than if you had stuck to a strict schedule.

Of course, you also want to balance this out with making sure that she’s actually eating, especially if you’re nursing and suffering from pain. Prevent her from falling asleep while feeding, and check for signs of swallowing, like listening for a gulp or looking at her throat for movement.

Learn how to cope with your newborn cluster feeding all night.

7. Comfort your baby

I don’t know about you, but whenever my baby didn’t sleep, I saw it as a setback and felt a sense of failure on my shoulders. A short or skipped nap was enough to make my day feel horrible. At times, I’d feel frustrated and resentful toward him, thinking, Why won’t you sleep already?!

I’ve since learned that this isn’t exactly what a baby needs right now. Instead, she needs you to comfort her during this time.

After all, if you’re upset, you can imagine how she feels. She’s certainly not fighting sleep on purpose—in fact, she needs your help and comfort more than anything.

So, instead of getting upset, see this as a chance to help. Carry and walk her throughout the house. Sing lullabies. Show compassion to her tears and frustration. Give her a massage.

If anything, calm down enough to know that you haven’t failed in any way. Remind yourself that these sleep problems are temporary in the long run. And more than likely, she’ll take your cue and calm down as well.

Conclusion

Dealing with the 6 week sleep regression is never easy, especially when you’d been hoping things would get better, not worse. Rest assured friend, this is normal and will pass soon enough. Still, you can do plenty to cope in the meantime.

First, see if she’s overtired and make sure she isn’t awake too long. Give her a bath during the day and keep her snug and tight to help her relax. Offer a pacifier to calm her down and extend her sleep.

Feed her as often as she needs instead of going by a strict schedule. And finally, give her the comfort she craves—this can help her settle down faster than if you stayed frustrated.

No more sleep regression, friend! Here’s to getting more sleep—not less—moving forward.

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4 Comments

Ed says:

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My wife and I are first time parents and we just had a son who cries what seems to be non-stop no matter what we try. We give him a bottle and rock him back to sleep. We place him in his swing which works for a few minutes. It feels like we’re doing something wrong but we can’t figure out what it is.

1. Nina Garcia says:
  
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  Hi Ed! It’s definitely tough when your little one won’t sleep, or for very long. It’s so exhausting, but know that you’re still in the thick of the newborn stage and that frequent wake ups and erratic sleep is still normal. When he’s past the newborn stage, you can then consider sleep training him to sleep through the night. At this point though, it’s all about survival mode and doing what you can to help him sleep.
  
  He likely has gotten used to feeding and rocking to sleep, which explains why he won’t keep sleeping once you put him down. Hang in there!
  
Becca says:

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I have a 6 week old baby boy and he is the best thing that’s ever happened to me! He struggles a lot with being fussy when he is awake and wont just hang out with me and my husband during his awake time. That’s my biggest struggle along with trying to get him to nap. He sleeps GREAT at night time (I hope I’m not speaking too soon), but has a hard time falling and staying asleep during the day more recently. And when he wakes up, I’m dying for him to not be fussy and to just hang out in his swing and be entertained. Nothing seems to work, not even holding him. If you have and knowledge you could share on how to make these things happen I would be forever grateful!!! Thank you and I look forward to reading more of your stuff!

1. Nina Garcia says:
  
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  It can definitely be hard when our babies are fussy the minute they’re awake. There are some common culprits, the first being that he’s still tired and needs more sleep. When my baby was like this, I made sure to keep his wake times to a minimum. 90 minutes max is about the most they can be awake at this stage, and even shorter the younger they are (sometimes they’re ready to sleep after 45 minutes).
  
  It could also be that he has physical discomforts with gas, or that he’s waking up hungry. I actually recommend feeding them after they wake up, not to go to sleep, for many reasons, but one is that they have the energy and food to be content and alert when they’re awake.
  
  I hope that helps, Becca! Congrats on your little bundle, and hopefully the resources I offer will help!