Babies go through huge transitions throughout their first year of life and a number of variables can contribute to disturbed sleep: teething, sickness, travel, vaccinations and developmental milestones can all contribute to night time wakings. If you remain consistent with your approach your baby should slip back into their regular sleeping pattern relatively quickly.
If however, you have been relying on “sleep crutches” to get your baby to sleep, this then may be contributing to the interrupted sleep. From 4 months of age your baby’s night-time sleep is formed, and they will now complete 90 minute sleep cycles throughout the night and transitions from deep and light sleep at various intervals.
So consider this:
- Your baby is older than 6 months of age and won’t settle unless specific, familiar conditions are met, such as rocking.
- It takes more than 10 minutes for your baby to settle at bedtime.
- Your baby wakes frequently during the night.
- Your baby cannot settle herself when she rouses at night.
If this sounds familiar, then maybe you will need to work on phasing out associations that don’t keep your baby asleep for as long as they need to be. Remember, your child needs uninterrupted, unfragmented sleep in order to function at their best.
Night waking can also be caused by your baby not getting enough sleep during the day. Special attention should be paid to your baby’s day time sleep schedule and you should avoid cutting their naps short in an attempt to help them sleep better at night. You should ensure that their daytime sleep tank is filled, as sleep breeds sleep; and the better rested your baby is during the day, the better they will sleep for you at night. As well as needing the right amount of sleep during the day-the quality of sleep is important too-beyond 4 months you should begin to phase out motion sleep that doesn’t allow for deep restorative sleep and can prevent your baby sleeping well at night.
However, if your baby suddenly wants to feed more often, it is likely that they are going through a growth spurt, it normally only lasts a few days but can last up to a week.
If you would like some more advice on this why not contact our Careline.
