If you’re googling about the 6 week sleep regression, chances are you’re experiencing some pretty awful sleep with your newborn! It may seem like your snuggly little potato baby is out of the newborn honeymoon phase and is no longer sleeping day or night. They’ve woken up to the world, they’re more alert, and they’re MAD about that! (I mean, I get it— same!)

Is there a 6 week sleep regression?

To validate your child’s difficulty with sleep and your (likely) lack of sleep, yep— there’s a 6 week sleep regression. Want to know why? (Sometimes that helps me maintain some sanity if I know why something is happening and it isn’t something I’m doing “wrong”.)

Here’s what is likely going on to cause this 6 week sleep regression:

When your baby was born, they were born with an underdeveloped pineal gland. This means they’re not producing sleep hormones like you and I. They’re relying on maternal melatonin stores from birth to get them through… but those melatonin stores start wearing off AND their pineal gland doesn’t start producing sleep hormones until around 8 weeks. It’s fully developed by ~11 weeks. Which means it can feel like a really wonky month or so until things balance back out.

According to Dr. Weissbluth, an American Pediatrician, at 6 weeks, babies are coming out of the newborn stage into the “peak of fussiness state.” Meaning they are coming out of the newborn drowsy state and observing the world around them! All of the observing is overwhelming and also causing them to be overstimulated which results in being overtired and cranky! So at 6 weeks it is really a double whammy of sleep regression and growth spurt!

Signs of the 6 week sleep regression:

they’re harder to soothe
not falling asleep easily in loud/bright environments
increased fussiness
crying for extended periods of time
waking up even more frequently at night/impossible to put back down

6 week sleep regression tips:

feed on demand (understand hunger and sleep cues)
prevent overtiredness (do what you need to do to support sleep without letting them stay up too long)
using calming tools (like the 5 S’s from Dr. Karp, but a dark room with loud white noise while bouncing is our go-to)
baby wearing
getting outside (natural light also helps sleep)
take shifts with a partner (more on there here for sleep tips for new parents)

And our biggest tip is: know that it doesn’t last forever. You’ll come out of this fog with a happier, smilier, better sleeping baby in no time. If you’re looking for support for better sleep with a personalized approach, we’d love to help!