Difficulty in settling young children to sleep

Difficulties in settling to sleep are often under diagnosed in infants and toddlers. Parental behaviours which reduce the child’s independence about sleep, for example requiring a parental presence, or being put to bed once asleep, are the primary grounds for the development of settling difficulties. Potentially, a small but chronic loss of sleep in childhood could directly affect the child’s behaviour and social competence, cognitive performance and physical condition.

Children who have short duration night sleep before 3.5 years of age show increased risk of hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and poorer learning skills at 6 years of age compared with children who sleep for 11 hours a night.

Children who experience persistent short sleep duration in early infancy, are also at increased risk of obesity at 6 years. The importance of sleeping for at least 10 hours a night in early childhood is stressed, as the National Sleep Foundation poll suggests, for optimal child development.

If your child has difficulties in settling to sleep, Contact Dream-Angus and let us help you to help your child.

Attachment and separation issues

A study, partly funded by the National Science Foundation, and conducted by researchers at the University of Reading (in the United Kingdom), the University of Leiden (in the Netherlands), the Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health National Health Service Trust (also in the U.K.), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign investigated Attachment Parenting theory.

This study, published in the March/April 2010 issue of the journal Child Development, suggests that children who cannot maintain a coherent strategy for coping with separation, are at greatest risk of later developing behavioural problems and becoming aggressive.

This study is a meta-analysis of 69 studies involving almost 6,000 children ages 12 and younger.

According to attachment theory, children with secure attachments have repeated experiences with caregivers who are responsive to their needs, and thus expect their caregivers to be available, and comforting when called upon. In contrast, children with insecure attachments, have an experience in which requests are discouraged, rejected, or responded to inconsistently, which is thought to make them vulnerable to developing behavioural problems.

The researchers sought to clarify the extent to which bonds between children and their mothers early in life, affect children's behavioural problems later, such as aggression or hostility. Behaviour problems were measured up to age 12. The studies included in their review used a range of methods for assessing children's behaviour problems, including parent and teacher questionnaires and direct observations.

If you consider all the small separations which allow your child to practice separation from mum and dad, like sleeping in their own bed, staying with another carer, attending nursery or creche it becomes even more obvious that these small events allow your child to develop coping skills. Children who never experience such small scale "practice" have much more difficulty in coping, not just with the separations life brings, but with many other events, for which they are totally unprepared.


If you would like help and support to move your child to their own bed;- Contact Dream-Angus

Bouncing to the beat.

How many mums-to-be have noted the increased movement of their unborn child in apparent response to music? Well, now psychologist Marcel Zentner, from the Univeristy of York, and his colleague Tuomas Eerola, from the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Music Research at the University of Jyvaskyla, in Finland, have detailed their findings of infants responses to music, in the March 15 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This research showed babies respond to the rhythm and tempo of music, and find it more engaging than speech. The findings, based on a study of 120 infants between 5 months and 2 years old, suggest that humans may be born with a predisposition to move rhythmically in response to music.


"Our research suggests that it is the beat rather than other features of the music, such as the melody, that produces the response in infants," said researcher Marcel Zentner, a psychologist at the University of York in England. "We also found that the better the children were able to synchronize their movements with the music, the more they smiled."

During the experiments the babies were sat on a parents lap. The adults wore headphones so that they could not hear the music, and were asked to sit still so that they could not affect the babies responses.

To test the babies', the researchers played recordings of classical music, rhythmic beats and speech to infants, and videotaped the results. They also recruited professional ballet dancers to analyze how well the babies matched their movements to the music.

The researchers found the babies moved their arms, hands, legs, feet, torsos and heads in response to the music, much more than to speech. Though the ability appears to be innate in humans, the researchers aren't sure why it evolved.

Parenting and infant sleep

It is becoming more fashionable these days to co-sleep. Co sleeping is accepted as a "norm" in Asian countries, and becoming part of "attachment parenting" in the West. Co sleeping has it's attractions and, as with every parenting style, those who believe it is the best possible thing to do, and those who warn of the dangers. There should be in all things a balance. Co sleeping while breast feeding an infant has benefits for mother and child. There should be a recognised time when co-sleeping is no longer an option.

A recent study reported in the Sleep Science Review journal looked at the effects of adult behaviour on infant sleep. Parental behaviours, particularly related to bedtime routines and interactions are recognised as having an effect on infant sleep patterns. It appears that parental personality, and related views on parenting, and emotions. contribute to parental sleep-related behaviours. This ultimately influences infant sleep. These links are effective in both directions, and they are dynamic. This means that poor infant sleep may influence parental behaviours, and poor infant sleep is recognised as being a family stressor and a risk factor for maternal depression.

In another study by Professor Mindell, it is reported that both mum and child.miss out on one stage of sleep when they co-sleep. There is certainly room for more work, looking at the effects of missing this stage of sleep, and at the effects of co sleeping which is prolonged beyond 6-9 months.

While co sleeping is a parental choice, setting a time after which the child will be in their own room in their own bed, is something which should be agreed and adhered to by both parents, in the interests of the child and of their own relationship.

When should sleep training start?

Training your child to sleep should begin as soon as possible. We teach our children to become reliant on us by always holding, rocking, allowing baby to suck and fall asleep when we are present. This builds the idea in the child's mind that falling asleep is difficult without the associated presence and action.

From only 8 weeks babies have a rudimentary rhythm to their sleep/wake cycle. They may not have such a good routine around food but it is developing. The earlier we encourage babies to fall asleep without us the easier it is for baby and parent to become confident about this. Of course if baby is unwell the demand for comfort and cuddles increases. Learning to anticipate baby's needs and recognise wants is an important part of parenting.

Children's needs should always be met, unconditionally. In the real world our desires/wants are not always me and it is easier to teach children this life lesson early. It is also kinder not to allow them to expect that they are always going to be given the things they desire as well as the things they need.

Baby should be put down in a safe sleeping place when he or she is drowsy but aware that this is what is happening. This will build security and independance into sleep time. If you are confident that things are fine baby will be confident too.

If you struggle to establish a routine for your little one, contact Dream-Angus, we can help you to teach your child this valuable lesson.

Sleep patterns in infants.

We expect babies to wake frequently through the night for feeds and for comfort. Most healthy term babies no longer require feeds at night when they are about 6 months old. Some stop looking for a mid night feed before that. Others are used to this feed and are reluctant to go without but usually they can be gently disuaded from maintaining this habit.

What may surprise mums, is that babies who are exposed only to daylight in the first few weeks of life demonstrate the begining of a sleep wake pattern at as early as 60 days/8 weeks. Starting to "sleep train" infants from this early stage could be highly effective.

When we start to discern a pattern to an infants sleep/wake periods the patterns could be reinforced by ensuring that naps are taken in daylight with normal ambient household noise, and night sleep started when the daylight fades. This follows our primeval sleep/wake pattern which we have adapted by using electric light and altering our lifestyles.

Learn to recognise your infants "sleepy signals". If your child is demonstrating these signs then take advantage of this and put your child to bed. There is only a short window when you can successfully persuade an infant to nap. Miss that slot and baby has gone beyond napping, got a second wind and become fussy and reluctant to settle.

If you would like help to improve your child's sleep Contact Dream-Angus.com