For Parents from Angelique
A monthly featured topic for parents with suggestions and tips related to infant/child sleep, developmental milestones, and general parenting concerns and questions
DEBUNKING COMMON SLEEP MYTHS
Very often when I am speaking at workshops and conferences or working with parents in their home, common questions include opinion parents have heard about infant sleep and infant sleep development. There are many sleep books available to parents that are “opinion-based” sleep books and not evidence based sleep books. This can be very confusing for parents who want to make an informed choice about how best to help themselves and their babies sleep. Also, misconceptions about infant sleep development are common because the filed of infant sleep research is limited and the research is primarily focused on t=one area: behavioral changes.
In the meantime, it is best to debunk some of the common sleep myths while helping parents to make informed sleep choices that support parent philosophy and an infant or child’s developmental needs.
A FEW COMMON SLEEP MYTHS
- Babies sleep patterns are fully developed at birth
Babies sleep patterns are not fully develop at birth. In fact, one of the most common reasons babies aren’t able to “sleep well” is that the part of the brain that organizes sleepis just beginning to form in the first three to six months, This includes the development of circadian rhythms, those biological temporal rhythms that help our bodies “know” a 24-hour day and the different between day and night. Babies are born without fully developed circadian rhythms and actually are dependent on their environment, vis-a-vis their caregivers, to provide Zeitgeibers, environmental cues necessary to the development of rhythms. Parents can help their babies cue their circadian rhythms by bringing them outside, opening the shades in the nursery and other rooms where the family spends time, and feeding frequently during a day and having play and sleep routines.
- Babies need to be sleep trained in order to learn how to sleep
It has widely been believed that babies would not learn how to sleep unless they were sleep trained. Studies addressing childhood sleep problems have only looked at sleep training methods that utilize crying as a solution. New research i snow showing us that parents may use one of many different methods being successful. In addition, research is now showing us that whether or not a sleep method is successful may rely upon an infant or child’s temperament plays a role in how infants develop soothing and settling patterns for sleep and how parents’ perceptions of their infants sleep may also play a role in how their develop sleep patterns.
- Co-sleeping hinders your newborn developing independence
It has been mistakenly believed that co-sleeping leads to problems with a child developing independence and self-reliance. Parents have often been discourage from co-sleeping because it may hinder their infant’s self-soothing skills becoming too reliant on parents for sleep. A strong emphasis has been put on newborns sleeping alone andindependently as a way to foster self–soothing and sleeping. New research is now showing us that newborns may need to be close to us to help develop cycles and sleep safely. The research has been important enough that the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending that parents room-share with their babies the first six months (theAAP still advises against bed-sharing). It seems that babies need our help to develop sleep cycles early on.
- Sleep training leads to 12 hrs of sleep at night for your baby
Very often parents will ask me how they can attain the “holy grail” of infant sleep: twelve hours of straight sleep. Many opinion-based sleep books suggest that all babies can sleep twelve hours straight at night.This is simply not true and leads to parents not following their babies sleep cues and babies individual sleep needs, and worse, parents feeling like they may be doing something wrong if their baby doesn’t sleep twelve hours. The research shows that babies need between 10-12 hours of sleep at night and daytime sleep varies depending on your babies age. And the research shows that “sleeping through the night” may yet include one feed at night for a six-month old. Watch your babies sleep cues and signs of tiredness so that your baby doesn’t get over-tired.
A few very good recent studies have addressed the relationship between infant/child and such a toppics as attachment, child independence, maternal postpartumdepression/anxiety, and health problems such as childhood diabetes, obesity, depression, and ADHD. the fields of infant and child sleep are expanding and we will see mane great studies in the future covering a range of topics and helping parents make choice that they can live with… ad sleep with to!
Wishing you and your family peaceful sleeping and parenting!
– Angelique Millette
Sleep Consultant, Parent Educator, and creator of the Millette Method