Blog

Posted on

Building Healthy Sleep Habits: Why Babies Need to Fall Asleep on Their Own

A baby will cycle between periods of deep sleep and light sleep as the night progresses. These sleep cycles are short, lasting approximately 30 to 45 minutes. This means a baby will transition between sleep cycles multiple times during the night and a couple of times during a nap.

It is very common for a baby to wake up as they transition through these sleep cycles. If the baby has been helped to sleep by the parent(s) or has relied on ‘sleep props’ at bedtime, they will have difficulty falling back asleep on their own upon waking during the night. This reliance often results in frequent night wakings or short naps during the day.

When a baby does not know how to fall asleep independently, they will cry out or signal to their parent(s) every time they wake during the night. They seek the same help to return to sleep as they received at bedtime. This can disrupt much-needed rest for both the baby and the parent(s).

Think about it: if you went to sleep in your own bed, in your own room, in your own house, but woke up in the middle of the night to find yourself lying on the floor in a basement, would you simply roll over, snuggle into your pillow, and go back to sleep? No! You would be instantly alarmed, and your fight-or-flight response would immediately kick in because how and where you fell asleep is entirely different from where you woke up.

It is the same for your baby. If your baby fell asleep nursing in your arms, feeling warm and snuggly while being gently rocked, then wakes up all alone in their crib with no sign of you, they will naturally feel alarmed. They will cry out and signal for you to return and recreate the conditions in which they initially fell asleep.

If you respond by helping your baby back to sleep, this cycle will continue. A short while later, they will wake again, find that the conditions are different, and cry out for help. This means you will need to assist them back to sleep repeatedly throughout the night.

Teaching your baby to fall asleep independently is essential. When a baby learns this skill, they can go back to sleep on their own after waking during the night. If they wake up and know how to self-soothe, they can quickly and easily fall back asleep with minimal disruption for everyone.

Posted on

SLEEP PROPS  

A sleep prop is anything a baby uses to help him/her fall asleep. Nursing and rocking to sleep are the most common, but there are many others: use of a pacifier, white noise, bouncing, swinging, comfort nursing, movement in the car or stroller, etc. Sleep props are a normal part of falling asleep.

Only when these props disrupt a baby’s sleep do they become a problem. Helping a baby learn to fall asleep on their own without sleep props is a crucial component of sleep training and is the very first step to getting a baby to sleep well. Some babies may nurse or get rocked to sleep and can sleep through the night just fine, so there is no problem with doing this. Other babies, however, are more dependent and will need that same exact prop all throughout the night, especially when transitioning between sleep cycles.

Eliminating these props and helping a baby learn how to self-soothe will be key to improving the baby’s sleep. Babies with strong sleep associations usually have very poor sleep habits and patterns. This is because they are so dependent on these props to help them get to sleep and stay asleep. When those props are not readily available, they tend to wake up completely between sleep stages/cycles and cry out for their parents’ help. Once they receive their prop(s), they’ll fall asleep, only to wake again shortly thereafter. This becomes a vicious cycle, and both the baby’s and the parents’ sleep are constantly disrupted.

                                   IS MY BABY A ‘SLEEP PROP BABY’?

Your baby is a “sleep prop baby” if he/she

  1. Will not go to sleep, or go back to sleep without nursing, rocking, bouncing, stroller ride, use of a pacifier, or any other prop
  2. Falls asleep while bottle feeding or comfort nursing
  3. Wakes up crying or screaming only 30 to 40 minutes after being laid down to sleep
  4. Wakes frequently at night (usually every 1 to 2 hours)
  5. Will not sleep through the night without help from the parents
  6. Needs a pacifier reinserted multiple times a night
  7. Needs to be rocked or nursed back to sleep during the night
  8. Naps poorly (usually no longer than 30 to 40 minutes, the equivalence of one sleep cycle)
  9. Cries hysterically when laid down awake at bedtime or naptime
  10. Is clingy, cranky, and fussy throughout the day from all the fragmented sleep
  11. Bedtimes and naptimes are often hectic and chaotic, and parents are usually stuck rocking or feeding until the baby is completely asleep