Since today seems to be the day that I’m offering commentary on current research I figured I’d include a post on this study as well. A new study from the University of Montreal noted that if your baby wakes in the middle of the night and you go to him and stay with him until he falls asleep again, you might be setting your child up for sleeping problems later.
The problem that I have with this study isn’t that the conclusion is necessarily off, but that there are a thousand and one exceptions to putting your baby down awake if you choose to use a crib. I also have to wonder if it’s parenting behavior or actually the parent staying with the infant that causes the sleep issues later. If you’ll venture with me into our own sleeping experiences I’ll tell you what I mean.
Don’t Co-Sleep, You’ll Never Get Rid of Them
When our oldest was born, numerous people swore to me that if we co-slept, we’d never get our child out of our bed. We did co-sleep with all of our babies and as the twins approach their 3rd birthday this June, I can tell you that our bed is now baby free. We did in fact (rather easily) “rid” our babies from our bed with minimal amount of fanfare or issues. How did we do it? When they were ready, we told them where they were going to sleep and expected them to sleep there. If they came out, we escorted them back to bed. . .when they were ready.
Determining that readiness is key and I think that’s where lots of parents struggle. Night time parenting for babies is not optional. Night time parenting for preschoolers indicates that something is askew and needs to be reevaluated. Is your preschooler waking because when he was a baby you were responsive to his cues? I highly doubt it. I suspect rather preschoolers with sleep issues, were toddlers with sleep issues whose parents got into a permanent pattern of allowing the toddler to wake, get up, make demands, etc. before going back to sleep.
So how do you avoid this? I say, respond to your baby as much as you need to while he is an infant. As you move into the toddler stage, begin to set boundaries in baby steps.
Other Posts on Sleeping Or Lack Thereof:
Sleep Deprivation and Infant Abuse
Lack of Sleep Makes Babies Fat
Are You Causing Your Toddler’s Sleeping Problems?
3 Bad Bedtime Habits You Shouldn’t Start
Valorie Delp shares recipes and kitchen tips in the food blog, solves breastfeeding problems, shares parenting tips, and current research in the baby blog, and insight, resources and ideas as a regular guest blogger in the homeschooling blog. To read more articles by Valorie Delp, click here.
Are you subscribed to the Families.com Baby Blog? With the click of a button, you can receive an email notification anytime a new blog is posted in the Families.com Baby Blog! Just look to the right of this blog and find the subscription center (it looks just like this picture). Click on “Subscribe via Email”. You’ll be instantly subscribed and the email address that you registered at Families.com with will receive an instant notification whenever we post a new Baby Blog! Don’t miss a thing – subscribe now!