Let’s Talk Infant Sleep

Infant sleep is one of the most divisive topics when it comes to child rearing.

In one corner you have families who believe that you should just follow babies natural cues. Allow them to sleep and wake according to their natural rhythm.

In the other corner you have families who believe that you need to guide an infants sleep, much like we teach children to use the toilet, dress themselves, and tie their shoes.

There is a huge misconception that sleep training always means leaving a baby to cry it out (CIO), and while CIO also known as extinction method is one option there are many others.

What method you use depends on many factors, including the age of your baby, what you have been doing up until that point, and ultimately what your sleep goals are and your comfort level as the parent.

I like to start from day one by practicing healthy sleep habits.

What does this look like....?

-Follow a pattern of eat, awake, sleep. By doing this you avoid a feeding to sleep association which makes getting to sleep and staying asleep easier.

-Capping daytime naps. There is such a thing as too much daytime sleep which can effect night time sleep.

-Practice putting baby down drowsy but awake. Transferring a sleeping baby from your arms to their bed leads to more wakings. Think of it like this... if you fell asleep on the couch and you woke up in your bed, would you close your eyes and keep sleeping? or would you startle and wonder how the hell you got there? If a baby falls asleep in your arms and wakes in their bed they're less likely to put themselves back to sleep and more likely to be disoriented trying to figure out how they got from point A to B.

This is all sounds so easy when reading it right? But the truth is that it's hard to do in that first month. Newborn babies are FUSSY. They are new to the world and their little systems are onboarding in those first weeks. They are getting used to life on the outside and a million other new experiences.

Not every day will be perfect, but by practicing every day you slowly build a solid sleep foundation.