BABY SLEEP PROBLEMS

More  than  half  of  all  parents  experience  problems  with  their  baby’s  sleep  pattern  between  six  and  twelve
months of age. These problems may include difficulty in getting to sleep, frequent night waking, and failing to return
to  sleep  after  waking.  They  are  often  the  result  of  a  behaviour  the  child  has  learned,  and  rarely  due  to  any
underlying medical problem.

Strategies to change the behaviour of these babies is successful in the vast majority if correctly applied, but this
may take up to three weeks of persistence in applying a consistent form of behaviour. Sedative medications should
very rarely be used under twelve months of age, and even in older children, should be used with great caution.
Different babies need different amounts of sleep, and what is appropriate in one child, is not necessarily what is
appropriate in another. Nine out of ten babies under twelve months will need a daytime nap, and some need two.
These naps may vary from 15 minutes to two hours in length between six and twelve months of age.
A child may be put down to sleep at any convenient time between 6 PM and 10 PM or even later, but this time
will become a long-term habit. Babies may take up to half an hour to fall asleep, and most then sleep for more than
ten hours, but most also wake at least once during the night.
Waking during  the night  is very common, but  is only a problem when  the baby  is unable  to  fall asleep again
without a parent’s assistance. This problem can be worsened by the way in which the baby is put to sleep initially,
as  this  is  the way  the  child  expects  to  return  to  sleep  after waking,  so  that  if  a  baby  normally  falls  asleep  in  a
parent’s arms, or while being rocked, that is the way in which they will expect to return to sleep after waking.
A baby who becomes used to falling asleep with a dummy in its mouth, may be unable to return to sleep if the
dummy falls out during the night. Tie the dummy to a short ribbon and attach this to the clothing collar. When the
baby wakes and starts  to cry  for  the dummy, run  the  infant’s hand  from  the collar down  the ribbon  to  the dummy
and let them reinsert it themselves. Most children learn this trick by eight months of age.
It may become necessary  to  teach  the child  to  fall asleep on  its own. When starting a new scheme  to  teach a
baby to sleep, start by changing the sleep environment by altering the position of the cot in the room, and installing
(or  removing) a night-light. The baby should be put  in  the cot while awake, and  then allowed  to  fall asleep.  If  the
baby cries, this can be dealt with in three ways -
- leaving the child alone to cry itself to sleep. Very tiring on the nerves and may lead to an insecure child.
- controlled crying. This means comforting the child when it starts crying, but during the night, extending the
time between each comfort session. As soon as the child settles, it should be left alone immediately and
allowed to fall asleep by itself. If crying starts again, return after an increased time to comfort it again. On
subsequent nights the times between each comfort are slowly extended further.

- allowing the child, in its cot, to fall asleep while a parent lies beside the cot. Initially the parent may be
actually touching the child gently with a hand, but gradually, night by night, the parent moves further and
further away, and eventually out of the room.
Spending  a  week  or  three  changing  a  child’s  sleep  habits  will  be  very  tiring  for  the  parents,  and  possibly
stressful in the short term for the child, but in the long term, all will benefit.
After one year of age sleep problems steadily decrease, but even at three years of age, one in twenty children
wake during the night.