The arrival of a baby in the family is an immense joy, a lot of satisfaction, a lot of laughter and surprises, but also many sleepless nights. The newly released parents cannot explain how it is possible to stay on their feet after a few months without sleeping more than three hours at a time. It turns out that babies also suffer from insomnia because no one has taught them to sleep.
Sleep in babies
- Insomnia in babies can be of various types. Either the baby can’t fall asleep, or he wakes up countless times during the night. And the truth is that in the first months of life is when she needs more sleep. The baby who barely sleeps at night compensates for exhaustion by falling asleep at times during the day, but we cannot forget what night after night without sleep means for parents.
- Although we consider it normal for a baby to sleep at intervals during the day and at night, it is not entirely true. A baby can sleep through the night, but we must teach him to do it, in the same way that we must teach him to eat or talk. It is so important to teach her to sleep, that the quality of her sleep in the future will depend on that learning. And that of the parents too.
- It must be borne in mind that a baby’s biological clock does not yet distinguish day from night. Since her sleep cycle is not regulated, it will be the parents who must teach her that distinction based on routines and familiar elements. But one thing must be clear: if the parents do not slow down their activities in the late afternoon, the baby will notice and it will be impossible for her to fall asleep.
Sleep hygiene is also for babies
- We do not enter into the different ideologies of families, whether it is better for the baby to learn to sleep alone or, on the contrary, co-sleeping is preferable. But whichever option is chosen, the baby must learn and acquire regular sleep patterns. Always the same, because sleeping, like so many other things, is learned through repetition.
- Creating sleep hygiene for the baby consists of performing a series of rituals, always the same, always in the same order, always with the same elements and always at the same time so that the baby relates these activities to the act of sleeping. Bath, dinner, reading a story, teddy bear and light off can be the perfect order for the child to associate each moment and each object with bedtime.
- The truth is that it is not easy to teach a baby to sleep, especially if the parents themselves are not aware of the importance of proper sleep hygiene for themselves. In any case, while the process of learning the habit of sleep lasts, parents will need a large dose of patience and will.
