Look at that face. Now that’s the face they talk about when we hear the phrase
“sleeping like a baby.”
This baby be sleepin' like he had a job.
*snores*
But let’s be honest, it’s not always like this.
I’ve gone through quite a few sleepless nights myself, and I know there are some of you out
there that know what I’m talking about; middle of the night crying, fussing, diaper changes,
2AM feedings, and you’re walking around half-awake. But...why is that?
Why does my baby have trouble sleeping through the night?
I got a little sweat pea over here who needs his pajamas on.
Sleeping through the night simply means the baby did not disturb the parents' sleep. Nobody, not
a baby. Not an adult ever really sleeps through the night. We're just not aware of our awakenings.
Wait a minute, if they're not sleeping through the night, what are they doing?
Babies wake up about every 60 minutes, Look around, make sure they’re okay,
and they go back to sleep. It is a misconception to describe babies as being
light sleepers. They're short sleepers. They have short sleeping bouts.
But once they're asleep, they're very deep.
Now, Dr. Paleyo says adults do this too--but on a longer cycle, about every 90 minutes. So you
and your baby are not on a routine yet, and so it’s brutal, but actually pretty normal.
At birth, babies will sleep randomly. And there seems to be no predictable
pattern to it. They sleep a lot of hours, they sleep about 18 hours.
And with all that sleepin’, you know they GOT to be hungry!
When babies are feeding, they have very small stomachs. They need to be fed more often.
When we talk about babies, probably the most common reason they wake up
at night is because they're still being fed at night. The family has to decide how
much feeding they will be doing and how much nursing you're going to be doing.
But the babies that are sleeping, so-called through the night, are breastfeeding less.
But trust me, it won’t be like this forever. Babies slowly get the hang of it.
I was lucky to have my twins who seemed to feed off each other’s sleepy energy.
Babies start emerging their circadian rhythm by the time they're one week
old and by the time they're about six weeks old, they'll have a much more
predictable pattern as far as when they'll be awake and when they'll be asleep.
And this is where biology can meet some parental guidance. So for example, I like to sleep at night
like most parents, so I made sure to get those twins to sleep at the same time as me.
I think the first thing you wanna do is have the parents have a healthy routine,
it's very tempting for parents to try to adapt themselves to the baby.
But in reality, the baby is born sleeping randomly and the baby is primed to actually
adapt to the parent's sleep cycle. We can break it down and make it very predictable to them.
BUT one
small disclaimer and this one hurts me too because I love holding my babies,
but you don’t actually want them to fall asleep in your arms.
If you associate sleeping with being rocked in somebody's arms,
being kissed and loved, it's so loving, it's so beautiful. But then an hour or two later,
you find yourself on a flat mattress, and a crib and nobody's holding you,
you should notify people that something has changed.
I am guilty as charged your honor. I LOVE holding my babies and feeling their heartbeat but yeah,
although the twins were easy. My youngest is liking my hugs for just a little too long now.
I need a little help.
So one of the common principles is that babies should fall asleep
in the same situation of how they'll find themselves later in the night. So that's what we want to
maybe put them down in their sleeping surface when they're drowsy, but not fully asleep.
And don’t be fooled if they seem fast-asleep,
but they’re still latched onto you or a bottle. They’re playin’ you hard.
It's just so natural to have a baby fall asleep as they're nursing,
or are being fed. But babies have the ability to suck in their sleep, they have a sucking motion,
but they don't really swallow. No, the baby's not hungry, the baby is just reflexively sucking.
So you really want to get them JUST RIGHT when putting them down and, while there’s
a lot to go over on how babies sleep, Dr. Paleyo sums up some key milestones.
By the end of the three months,
you should have a clear sense of the baby's getting the bulk of their sleep at night.
Three to six months, they should no longer need to be fed at night. Parents can decide to feed
them if they want to encourage nursing, but they should not require to be fed at night.
My doctor is actually who encouraged me to know that eventually, babies don't need to be fed at night.
They're only feeding at night because they're used to feeding at night. They can actually go longer hours
if you allow them to go longer hours. So I said "BET. You can wait till the morning."
Six to twelve months the baby already knows when they're gonna be sleeping.
The baby kind of starts anticipating what's going on, the baby recognizes the parents.
They already know what's going to be happening and sleep should not be a huge turmoil.
So no matter how your baby gets to sleep, just remember this precious sleeping face once they do.
It makes it all worth it.
*snores*
Thank you for watching Seeker Baby! I’m Angel Laketa Moore,
and I hope you’re enjoying learning more about babies as much as I
am. If there’s a baby topic you want us to cover, leave us a comment.
And keep coming back to Seeker! I'll see you next time.