The Wonder Weeks iPhone app

You all know of my love for the book The Wonder Weeks. I love it because it explains what developmental leaps happen when with your child, up through the first 15 months or so, so you know why your happy or sleeping baby is suddenly wigging out and/or not sleeping. By doing that, it revealed exactly why there's a hideous 4-month sleep regression as well as an equally-if-not-more-hideous 8-9-month sleep regression. It's a book that tells you what's going on, not what you're supposed to do. I can't count the number of times people have said to me, "It let me have patience with my baby and realize I wasn't doing anything wrong." Score. 

Read a previous review here. Buy it here.

So last week I was on Twitter and discovered that The Wonder Weeks has a Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/thewonderweeks) and...

an iPhone app.

Which I think is just brilliant. Also, the iPhone app is only US$2 (yes, that's two dollars). Even more brilliant. Buy the app here.

Which was worse for you: the 4-month sleep regression or the 8-9-month sleep regression?

It was definitely the later one for me the first time around, because I thought we were out of the woods with sleep stuff (I hadn't seen the Wonder Weeks yet and no one bothered to tell me baby sleep wasn't at least a little bit linear).

Then the second time around I was just so much more tired that the 4-month one hit me hard.

How about you?

Comments

[jeannie]

The first was was worst for us. Then we sleep trained at 5 months (I know, I know, I'm a mean horrible ogre, but it worked fast any my kid has slept like a dream ever since).
We never had the 8-9 month regression, or if we did, didn't notice it.

[Beth]

4 months was the worst. BY FAR. By 9 months, we knew it was coming, shrugged and dealt with it. Also, the 4 month one lasted for TWO SOLID WEEKS and included lots of daytime screaming as well. The 9 month one was a piece of cake by comparison. A few nights of screaming out, we'd go in, resettle, done. The 4 month one had us stripping him naked at 3 in the morning to find out if something was poking him to make him yell like that. Good times.

[caramama]

I dt have an iPhone (*sob*), but yeah for the twitter feed! I'm going to go follow now!

The worst regression for my household was the 4-STRAIGHT-THROUGH-9 months with my daughter. Compared to that, I don't even remember what was bad with my son. Out of those I guess the 4-month regression was worse for him, although I'm thinking that his worst sleep time was right around the 6-months growth spurt, when he woke up every hour to nurse.

[pennifer]

The 4 mo one was worse, as far as I can remember. The sleep deprivation caused memory loss. I definitely remember hitting a wall really hard at the 4 mo mark. I remember the other one at 9.5-10 mo - that was when we switched effortlessly from co-sleeping (had become a nursing/squirmfest) to crib in his own room. He never slept more than 2 hours straight until he was 10 mos old.

He's become a good sleeper, but has always been a horrifically early riser - just now started sleeping until 6am, at the age of 2.5.

[paola]

No. 1 was a great sleeper and so I never noticed any hiccups in sleep until around 3.5 years old.

No. 2 had been sleeping 12 hour nights since she was 6 weeks old (!) and then whammo, 4 months came along and things went down the gurgler. We sleep-trained at 6 months and so didn't notice the 9 month regression. Had a failry good first 20 months sleepwise and then everything went pear-shape. From 20 - 36 months, terrible sleep. From 3-3.5 great sleep and I thought we were over the hump, but now things are the worse they have been since she was 20 months old. So much for my excellent sleeper.

[Molly]

I was expecting both the 4 month and the 9 month sleep regressions, so I didn't take it too hard when my kiddo's already-crappy sleep got even crappier. The one that hit me really hard happened at 12 months (is that even considered a sleep regression? or just general shittiness all around?), right about the time she was learning to walk. At 4 and 9 months she woke up frequently, but I generally didn't have much trouble getting her back to sleep for a few hours. At 12 months, though, she would wake up LIVID and nothing worked anymore to get her back to sleep. I think that was what made it so painful-- before, I at least had some idea of what to do to help her, but at 12 months I was completely at a loss. It would take over an hour, sometimes upwards of 3, of nursing/walking/rocking/singing/pleading just to get her settled again, and then she would only sleep for 2 or 3 hours before waking up to do it all again. I was reduced to tears on a biweekly basis, but felt lucky to be a stay-at-home mom; there's no way I could have functioned at a full-time job on 4 hours of broken sleep.

My kid is a rotten sleeper in general. She's 20 months old now, and she's never, not once in her whole life, slept through the night. It doesn't help that she's been teething pretty much nonstop since she was 6 months old. I just realized yesterday that it's been almost 2 years since the last time I got a full night's sleep, and it made me want to cry.

[lauracamacho]

In the middle of the 4 month regression right now and hating my life!!!! It IS harder the second time around, because once you're done putting the baby to sleep, you still have to go and interact with the 3.5 year old. You can't just sleep when the baby sleeps anymore.

So, I'm dying. I was actually just on here last night reading about 4th month stuff, just to remind myself that it doesn't last forever and that I am unlikely to die of sleep deprivation.

::sigh::

[Mama Fuss]

The 9-month one was worst for me with my first baby - she wouldn't stop eating in the middle of the night and I ended up having to make my husband get up with her every night until she realized she didn't have to eat when she woke up...

[Jac]

4 months was the worst for me. Rock bottom. Waking up every 45 minutes. The particular hi-lights were swearing at my baby, and sobbing in the middle of the night. Sleep trained at 5 months. 9 months affected his going to sleep (started taking a couple of hours) but not the frequency of his nightwakings.

Am definitely going to be buying the iphone app when #2 arrives.

[Sarah in Ottawa]

I have no iphone, so no need for an app. I do, however, adore The Wonder Weeks. I read it before I had kids and bought a copy before Teddy was 5 weeks old (used bookstore online). That reminds me - I'd better get my copy back from a friend before baby #2 arrives at the end of August.

For us, the 4-month sleep regression was FAAR worse. It was like he was a different child during that period and we kept thinking "Is this the new normal?!" Happily, he leapt and went back to his usual cheery, good-sleeping little self. The 8-9 month one, which was combined with teething and travelling, was nowhere near as rough.

[Susan]

4 months! I can form no sentences to describe the horror, only ... !

[Cloud]

The first time around, sleep just sucked from about 4 months until almost a year. Around 9 months is when I cracked and went and bought the No-Cry Sleep book. So maybe the 8-9 month one was the worst?

With the second, we've just hit the 8-9 month regression, and it is mostly manifesting as a refusal to go down for the night. It is driving me bonkers. I think the 4 month one manifested as a "ha! Those two weeks in which I slept through the night were just a tease!" thing. Hard to say which is worse.

[Amy M]

The first time around, the 4 month one was definitely worse. DD started sleeping all night at 9 weeks and it stopped abruptly at 4 months. There were many ups and downs, but she wouldn't reliably sleep through again until 14 months. 8/9 months sucked, but by then I had found your site, read about the regressions and drank lots of coffee to get through it.

With child #2, I was prepared for crappy sleep and was delighted to find that DS was relatively easy to nurse to sleep so even though he woke up more consistently, since he was always back to sleep in 20-30 minutes it wasn't so bad. There were a few occurrences of being *awake* for 60-90 minutes during the 4 and 8/9 month spurts. But knowing what they were helped and since we were bedsharing it wasn't so bad.

But the 13 month (55 week regression) has actually been a lot harder for me to deal with. It came just a few weeks after DS finally started STTN in his crib 3-4 nights a week, and in addition to more/longer overnight wakings, he's been a bear to get to sleep at bedtime as well. And the bedtime troubles really frazzle my nerves and make it even harder for me to keep up with chores.

I'm dreading 18 months already, but I'm hoping that the 13 month cr*p is almost done with us.

[eep]

With my first, 4 months was the worst. The worst of everything. I hadn't found Moxie yet, and had no idea about the Wonder Weeks. I actually took my son in to the pediatrician because I thought something must be wrong with him. Why had he quit napping altogether? Why did getting him down at night take 90 minutes? Why did I have to do it 6 billion times a night?

My ped smiled grimly and told me that it was a really crummy time for a baby, and that I was doing everything right. The only thing to do was hold him until he fell asleep, then do it again when he woke up. I hated the doctor then, but loved him more. Looking back, that is one of the kindest thing a medical professional has ever said to me.

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DD1 hit every sleep regression, but it was manageable. I don't remember hitting a wall until she could walk and talk.

DD2 is 6 months old and we're keeping our fingers crossed because all has been well.

[BlueBirdMama]

Four months was by far the worst for us. We were also coming right out of colic at that point. I can't even remember the 9 month regression, so it can't have been that bad. Wait, wait. I do remember. Him screaming, me sitting outside his door listening and feeling awful, my husband telling me not to go in. Ugh. Awful. But it passed relatively quickly-- only a week or so. After that, he's always slept all the way through the night (naps and early waking have been our problems). Now at 3.25 yo early waking is our bogey man. I remember last summer he slept every single day until 7:30. It fills me with longing just to think about it.

[ARC]

You must be reading my mind, Moxie :) We are right in the middle of the 8/9 mo regression and it's kicking my ass because we had a baby who slept through the night at 9 weeks (!). She would sleep blissfully for 12 hours straight. Now she wakes every 2.5-3 hours to eat. Woe is me. On the bright side, I just nurse her and she's back to sleep easily. So some nights we cosleep.

I hope this ends soon as I am one of those people who needs 9-10 hours of sleep to feel good. I fantasize about a whole night of uninterrupted sleep and waking when I want to. In fact, that's what I told my hubby I wanted for my birthday. So sad.

[Shana]

Actually, neither the 4 month nor the 8-9 month were a fraction as horrible (although they certainly did suck) as the 6 month and the 18 month regressions. At 6 months, I wanted to die from the sleep deprivation. Oh, the misery. The 18 month was the 2nd worst, but I had learned better coping methods by then so I wasn't quite as miserable.

[Charisse]

4 months was worse - I remember congratulating myself on a baby who only woke up once, at a relatively decent hour, at her 4-month checkup. The very next night she started a pattern that bled right into the 6 month regression - I didn't get more than 3 hours of sleep in a night, and that interrupted, until she hit 7 months.

And I didn't know about Moxie at the time - so pity my poor pitiful self!! It sucked.

[zed]

Four months was worse, because things seemed to be going pretty well, and I was very pleased that this had happened without my having to 'do' anything. Then I went back to work part time, the regression came, I didn't know it was coming, and I was feeling exhausted, guilty about working, and sick from lack of sleep. Nine months was also awful, but by that point I was more experienced and didn't blame myself (I discovered Moxie around that time).

[Daisy]

Our Bear clearly has no understanding of the passage of time. Month four was actually bliss -- It was as though he knew mommy had to go back to work and was gonna need sleep. Month six was bad. Months eight through fourteen were about nonstop night nursing. Did some sleep training and all was good, until six months ago (age 3!) he randomly began staying wide awake until 10 or so, then snuck into our bed while we were passed out. Killing the nap has done wonders and all is bliss again. But I know better than to assume it will last forever. There's probably a fourty-eighth month sleep regression lying in wait for us.

[Kelby]

Sleep regression for DS lasted from 4 months to 11 months. He started reverse cycling and I just didn't have the heart to sleep train him because I was at work all day and didn't get much time with him. I hated it, but in some ways it was our time together just the 2 of us in the middle of the night. Of course at work during that time I was a complete zombie.

[mida]

it totally depended on the kid.
kid#1 the 8-9 month one hit me hard, because i thought i'd fixed his sleep problems, and suddenly CIO was no longer working. (I hadn't even noticed the 4 month regression)

kid#2 the 4 month old was horrid, because he was sleeping so poorly from the start and i knew there was nothing i could do but just suffer for another month until we could get to a trainable period. And the 8-9 month regression bled into all the other months and he just won't sleep. sigh.

[theklamsays]

Oh wow, four months was definitely the worse. The monkey decided to cut oh, 4 or 5 teeth AT ONCE right about then, so we had sleep regression plus teething from hell. (Note: do not believe doctors who tell you your child is too young to be teething.) So ya, that was awful. His sleep never really recovered until he was older than one, so nine months was just more of the same.

[Bonnie]

definitely 4 months. by 9 months i had read wonder weeks and like others, just shrugged it off. he was a shoddy sleeper all the time (even when he was night weaned he would still wake up in the middle of the night) until about 14 months when something clicked and we went from "waking up 2-3 times per night and needing serious help getting back to sleep" to waking up 1-2 times per week in the night and needing minimal help getting back to sleep" *frantically knocking wood for things to stay this way for at least a while longer*

[heather]

With my #1, the 8-month regression was the worst. She didn't nap for 2 weeks straight, took over an hour to fall asleep at night, woke every 2-3 hours, and had to nurse for ~30 minutes to get back to sleep. It reduced me to tears.

With my #2, I didn't notice the 4- or 8-month regressions, probably because I was trying to get a handle on having 2 kids. However, #2 is almost 14 months old now and his sleep has been terrible for the past 3 weeks: takes about an hour to fall asleep at night and wakes at least every 4 hours. He has never slept through the night, and actually only a few times has he woken only once at night. I am too tired to be frustrated.

[Rebecca]

The 4 month regression was awful. I Googled frantically while my child screamed (in her dad's arms) and barely left the house, I was so tired. Then, it was over and we enjoyed some blissful weeks before the 9 month regression hit. But now, like other commenters above, I feel like an old hand and am no longer questioning the worth of my parenting when my baby refuses to go to bed at night.

[MissHell]

See how much I have blocked ALL of this out of my mind? After reading all of your comments I keep thinking, jeez, was it really that bad? Of course it was but I don't remember when-at 4 months or 8/9? My son is almost 3 now and #2 is due at the end of Oct. Now I am terrified.

[Meg]

the 9-month regression was by far the worst (although 4- months wasn't a picnic either!). I had decided that 9-months of SAHM-ing was just the right time to go back to grad school, and so was facing classes in the morning on no sleep at night. Mr Noodle was up every 2 hours for what seemed like weeks. He also started getting violent with me at night~ pinching and hair-pulling if we tried to co-sleep, but unwilling to sleep alone either. It was joyous...

Now, he's almost 17-months, and what I would call a middling sleeper. STTN or one brief waking mostly, but easily thrown off schedule, and a super early riser. I'm dreading the 18-month regression, honestly.

[the milliner]

Why oh why can't there be a Wonder Weeks for all the weeks up until 18 years old? I miss having a guide like that to what was going on (though I must admit, Ask Moxie is filling that gap quite nicely for the 'is this only happening to us?!?!' part).

For us, 8/9 month regression was the worst. Hands down. Lasted until 11 months or so. Nightmarish and never ending. I dreaded the 18-month regression. But happily the really bad nights were short lived. Nothing near as bad as the 8/9 month. And hope was found just short of 2 years - DS is finally (mostly) sleeping through and napping regularly, she says knocking on wood not to jinx the whole damn thing.

[Stephanie]

It looks like there were a few comments about 6 month problems. We were enjoying some quiet evenings (finally), and my 6 month old is now waking. Last night - Every. 20. Minutes. Nights before that, crying out often, and generally being strange. She is about 29 weeks old, so not in a "wonder week." I am in a wonder week, wondering what the hell is going on. Someone encourage me, and all of us...please!

[Anon]

4 months was horrible, but mostly during the day (or at least no new and unexpected horribleness at night).... But NINE MONTHS!! I had no idea it was coming. We were traveling, and sharing hotel rooms, and o! the wailing all night long! I was scheduled to go back to work at ten months, and I have to admit that no first-time mother has ever anticipated work and daycare with as much delight as I did... Nothing in the year since has even come close to the nine-monther. Things are quite fun right now, actually!

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