Many families struggle with a baby won’t sleep
When your baby won’t sleep it can be a major struggle for the family. I personally wasn’t much of a sleeper as a baby; and I’m still not to be honest, and my daughter refused to nap. And even bedtime has had many challenges.
A recent article from Forbes.com goes into exhaustive detail about the reasons that many babies just won’t cooperate at bedtime, including breaking it down to their ages, and the different reasons that babies won’t sleep. As well as providing some expert advice on how to help establish sleep patterns for your baby, and when it may be necessary to see a doctor,
0-3 Month Old Baby Sleep Issues
“In general, from birth to 3 months, babies will sleep 14 to 18 hours per 24-hour day,” explains William Sears, M.D., pediatrician, professor of pediatrics and infant sleep specialist. “It is very unusual for babies to be ‘sleeping through the night’ in the first three months.”
However, Dr. Sears notes that if you notice your newborn won’t sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time at night, then there could be another reason at play, including the following.
10 Reasons Why Your Baby Won’t Sleep—And Expert-Backed Tips On How To Cope – Forbes Health
The reasons can be:
- Hunger
- Sleep Cycle is off
- Reflux
- Discomfort
The article proposes solutions to all of these common issues.
4-6 Month Old Baby Sleep Challenges
At about 4 to 6 months, you should notice that your baby is starting to sleep a little bit more. “In general, babies aged 4 to 6 months are capable of sleeping through the night as long as they have no other health problems or concerns,” says Dr. Adams. “Babies this age typically sleep between 14 to 16 hours a day and take between two to four naps a day.”
10 Reasons Why Your Baby Won’t Sleep—And Expert-Backed Tips On How To Cope – Forbes Health
This is where the challenges start to become a bit less clear and easy to deal with, but they include:
- Needing a better nap routine
- Being aware of their surroundings
- Needing a diaper change
7-12 Month Old Difficulties
At 7 to 12 months, babies need less sleep overall, but they should be sleeping for longer stretches at night. At this age, many babies stop waking up for night feedings. “They should be napping around two hours a day, maybe three, and sleeping 10 or 11 hours at night, “ says Dr. Karp.
10 Reasons Why Your Baby Won’t Sleep—And Expert-Backed Tips On How To Cope – Forbes Health
Now we deal with the issues can be harder to deal with immediately. These are the times when some parents have babies that sleep like, well, ‘babies’ and you are struggling with a wilful person who just won’t settle down. And you don’t know what you’re doing wrong. Well, some of these are things you can manage, but some are out of your control.
Like:
- Teething
- They don’t know how to self-soothe
- They’re going through sleep regression
General Advice on Helping Your Child to Sleep Better
The article has useful advice to help your baby to sleep, and to do it safely. Most of it common sense, but still worth going over. But a few less common pieces of advice, including the use of swaddling to help create a womb-like environment, and resisting the urge to check on them as soon as they cry out.
Also some very important self-care advice. after all, as a parent your own state of mind and health is important for the well-being of your whole family, and that sleepless baby. 🙂
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