Family Case Study: From Short Naps & Night Wakings to Better Sleep

 

When Ailbhe's parents reached out to me, their 4-month-old was struggling with short contact naps, a late bedtime and frequent night wakings. Like many parents at this age, they wondered if they were experiencing the four-month sleep regression.

Ailbhe was often falling asleep in her parents' arms before being transferred to her cot and was waking multiple times overnight. Her parents were exhausted and wanted to help her develop more independent settling skills while also improving her naps and overall sleep timing.

The Sleep Challenges: Short Naps, Contact Naps & Frequent Night Wakings

After reviewing Ailbhe's intake form and speaking with her parents during our consultation, I looked at her whole 24-hour sleep picture rather than assuming that everything was simply down to the four-month sleep regression.

At around four months, significant changes are taking place in infant sleep. Sleep architecture is maturing and becoming increasingly organised into different REM and non-REM sleep stages, while the circadian system — your baby's internal body clock — is also continuing to develop.

This is a normal part of infant sleep development, but it doesn't mean every sleep difficulty at this age is caused by a "regression."

For Ailbhe, there were several things we could work on.

Her naps were short and inconsistent, she was often having multiple contact naps throughout the day, bedtime was quite late, and she relied heavily on parental support to fall asleep.

Rather than focusing on one issue in isolation, we looked at how daytime sleep, time awake between sleeps, bedtime timing and the way Ailbhe was settling to sleep were all working together.

The Sleep Plan: Supporting Better Naps, Sleep Timing & Independent Settling

Ailbhe's parents signed up for my 2-Week Sleep Support Package, and over the following two weeks we worked on creating a sleep rhythm appropriate for her age and individual sleep needs.

Our goals were to:

• Establish a more consistent morning start to the day
• Find appropriate times for naps
• Support sufficient daytime sleep
• Find Ailbhe's optimal bedtime
• Introduce a calm and consistent bedtime routine
• Gradually phase out reliance on the soother
• Help Ailbhe learn to fall asleep more independently

Most importantly, the plan was individual to Ailbhe.

Establishing an Age-Appropriate Sleep Rhythm

At this age, I don't think of wake windows as an exact biological countdown.

Instead, they give us a useful starting point for estimating when enough sleep pressure may have built for another sleep.

From the moment a baby wakes, their biological need for sleep — or sleep pressure — gradually builds. When they nap, some of that pressure is released, and when they wake it begins building again.

So when working out Ailbhe's nap times, we considered:

• When she woke in the morning
• How long she had been awake
• How restorative her previous nap had been
• Her sleepy cues
• How easily she was settling
• How much daytime sleep she was getting overall

We also established a more consistent morning wake time to give her day greater predictability and support her developing circadian rhythm — her internal 24-hour body clock.

Finding the Right Nap Times

At four months, babies can still vary considerably in the number and length of naps they need.

For Ailbhe, we worked towards three more restorative naps rather than the five or six short contact naps she had previously been taking, aiming for approximately 3–4 hours of daytime sleep when her individual sleep needs allowed.

The aim wasn't simply to make her sleep according to the clock.

We were trying to find her sleep sweet spot — allowing enough sleep pressure to build while also watching her individual sleepy cues and response to the schedule.

The Nap Rhythm That Worked for Ailbhe

While always watching her sleepy cues, we worked approximately towards:

• Morning Nap: around 8:30/9:00am
• Afternoon Nap: around 12:00/1:00pm
• Late Afternoon Nap: around 3:30/4:00pm, often a shorter 30–45 minute nap

This is an example of the schedule that worked for Ailbhe rather than a schedule every 4-month-old needs to follow. Nap timing should take into account morning wake time, previous naps, individual sleep needs and how the baby is responding.

Finding Ailbhe's Bedtime Sweet Spot

Bedtime had previously been quite late, so we gradually worked towards an earlier bedtime of approximately 6:30–7:00pm, depending on how her naps had gone that day.

This wasn't simply about putting Ailbhe to bed early.

We were looking for the point where enough sleep pressure had accumulated since her final nap and her biological timing was favourable for nighttime sleep.

This is what I often describe to parents as the sleep sweet spot.

If bedtime is offered before enough sleep pressure has accumulated, a baby may simply not be ready to sleep.

But keeping an already very tired baby awake for longer doesn't necessarily make settling easier either. A baby can have a very high need for sleep while also becoming increasingly fussy, alert or "wired", making the transition into sleep more difficult.

On days when Ailbhe's naps were shorter, we could therefore adjust her next sleep opportunity or bedtime rather than forcing her to reach a particular time on the clock.

Alongside this, we introduced a calm, predictable bedtime routine to create a consistent transition from daytime activity into nighttime sleep.

Supporting Independent Settling

Another important part of Ailbhe's plan was helping her learn to fall asleep with less parental support.

Previously, she was often falling asleep in her parents' arms or being rocked to sleep before being transferred to her cot.

We gradually worked on helping Ailbhe fall asleep independently in her own sleep space at naps and bedtime, using a sleep-training approach that her parents felt comfortable implementing.

Why did we work on this?

Babies naturally move through different sleep stages throughout the night and brief arousals are a normal part of sleep.

The goal therefore isn't necessarily to prevent every arousal. Instead, developing independent settling skills can help a baby have the opportunity to return to sleep following an arousal without always requiring the same support they had when initially falling asleep.

Phasing Out the Soother

We also gradually reduced Ailbhe's reliance on her soother.

Rather than repeatedly replacing it throughout the night, her parents could either remove it altogether or offer it initially without continually re-plugging it after subsequent arousals.

As with every element of the plan, the approach was tailored to Ailbhe and what her parents felt comfortable with.

The Results: Longer Naps & Better Night Sleep

Over the two weeks, Ailbhe made fantastic progress.

She moved from five or six short contact naps each day to longer, more restorative naps in her own cot.

Her bedtime moved earlier, she learned to settle herself to sleep, and she began getting approximately 11–12 hours of sleep overnight.

Most importantly, the family had moved from feeling exhausted and overwhelmed to having a much more predictable sleep rhythm that worked for them.

What Ailbhe's Parents Said

"Before we reached out to Liadhán we were living an exhausting life. We were having 30 minute contact naps 5-6 times a day and our little girl was constantly exhausted. She would only fall asleep for bedtime in our arms and would wake up multiple times during the night and eventually end up in our bed.

I was convinced sleep training would never work for us but Liadhán assured us it would. It only took 2 days to get onto an appropriate sleep schedule with Ailbhe taking long day time naps in her cot. At night she was able to settle herself to sleep at an earlier bedtime and sleep through the night.

It has completely changed our lives and Ailbhe is a much happier well rested baby."

What Can We Learn From Ailbhe's Sleep?

Ailbhe's story is a great example of why I don't look at one sleep problem in isolation.

Rather than simply assuming that frequent waking was caused by the four-month sleep regression, we looked at her entire 24-hour sleep picture.

We considered her daytime sleep, sleep pressure, time awake between sleeps, bedtime timing, developing circadian rhythm and how she was falling asleep.

The aim wasn't to find a perfect schedule that every four-month-old should follow.

It was to find Ailbhe's individual sleep sweet spot — offering sleep when enough sleep pressure had built, watching her sleepy cues and adjusting her schedule according to how she responded.

Alongside consistent routines and supporting more independent settling, these changes helped Ailbhe develop a much more settled and predictable sleep pattern.

Struggling With Your Baby's Sleep?

If you can relate to Ailbhe's story — perhaps your baby is taking short naps, waking frequently overnight, fighting bedtime or needing lots of support to fall asleep — you don't have to keep trying to work it all out on your own.

As a Child Sleep Consultant in Ireland, I look at your baby's whole sleep picture to understand what may be contributing to the difficulties and what changes may help.

You can book a free 15-minute sleep assessment call with me to talk through what's happening with your baby's sleep and find out how I can support your family.

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