![]() Or maybe you’re exhausted by the game playing and attention seeking behavior that ramps up at the time she should be starting her bedtime routine. Maybe he throws a tantrum right as you’re trying to get him into his room. Besides, one day your child will be a teenager, and I assure you that (by then) your little one will love sleep.If you’re here, it’s likely you are feeling burnt out by bedtime tantrums or resistance from your toddler who won’t go to bed no matter what you do. Some children just march to the beat of a different drum. You’re doing a great job, and your baby is doing just fine. Be patient with yourself and realize that having a sleepless child doesn’t make you an inept person - or a bad parent. So while you may be tired - I know I am - please be kind to yourself. ![]() And even the most high-end swaddles we tried when he was a newborn didn’t soothe him to sleep, and that’s OK. Other parents swear by sound machines.īut my son didn’t care for any of these things. You can also try various tools, for example, some babies love to be swaddled during those first months. Put your baby in a dark, cool, quiet room. Consistency is key.Īnd you can (and should) create a space which encourages sleep. Some experts suggest putting your child to bed at a particular time, like 6 or 6:30 p.m., but the hour doesn’t matter as much as the habit. You can and should try to stick to a schedule. What works for one baby will not work for every baby.Īre there things you can do to promote good sleep? Even toddlers who wake early or in the middle of the night are developmentally normal.īabies also don’t wear clocks or read calendars, so while many books and articles suggest your infant will sleep through the night by a certain date, there’s no guarantee.Įvery baby is different. Infants are still learning to experience the world and aren’t fully equipped to self-soothe. Newborns need to wake for frequent feedings. So for every parent who claims their little one slept through the night at just a few weeks old, there are plenty who are still waking with their babies at 6 months, 12 months, and beyond. Researchers found that 43 percent of 12-month-olds woke up in the middle of the night. Older babies weren’t getting a full night’s shut-eye either. It has been firmly established that sleep cycles exist, and adults experience brief periods of wakefulness each night, so why do we expect different from our littlest ones?įurther, a 2018 study showed that 57 percent of 6-month-olds were not “sleeping through the night” for 8 hours. Strangers have told me what I am doing right… and wrong.Īnd even though no one agrees on the solution, everyone agrees my son is an anomaly.Ī 2019 study found that as babies passed the 6-month mark it wasn’t that they were waking fewer times each night - it was that they weren’t waking their parents as often. Moms on social media have inundated me with sleep training tips and suggestions. Of infants who began sleeping through the night by their 16th week or, in some cases, their 12th. Well-meaning friends have told me stories of their blissfully sleeping babes. She’s making excuses.” I can hear you saying, “She’s wrong.” And that’s because I’ve heard it all. Now I know what you’re thinking: You’re saying, “She’s rationalizing. ![]() Not salves, scents, oils, or the dreaded “ cry it out.” And that is because it is normal for babies to be sleepless and restless.īabies are not designed to sleep ‘through the night’ On a good day, he stays asleep until 5 a.m.Īnd while I’ve tried to get him to sleep in and (more importantly) sleep through the night - I’ve adjusted his diet, bedtime, and the length of his naps - nothing works. and it’s a struggle to get him back to sleep. He regularly falls asleep on me, in his stroller, and at the dinner table, but in the evening, he is restless. You see, my son - my 13-month-old son - isn’t (and has never been) a good sleeper. Should Hunter be sleeping through the night?” “Great,” I said, strapping my screaming, freshly vaccinated son into his stroller. “Okay, well if all is well, we’ll see you in 3 months.” “Do you have any other questions for me?” my son’s pediatrician asked. ![]()
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