Wednesday 10 November 2010

Is it healthy to encourage babies to sleep through in early life?

Although we know that babies, from as early as two months, have a definate sleep pattern developing, how healthy is it to have an infant sleep through the night?
You may argue as a parent that you need your night sleep, and wake only to feed or comfort your child. That it is better for you, and makes it easier to cope, if your child sleeps through the night and lets you sleep too.

While this has become the accepted standard, and parents are particularly proud when they can tell others that their child sleeps through the night from as early as a few months old, we know that breast fed babies wake several times through the night and that this encourages milk production.
Breast fed babies usually feed quickly and with minimal disturbance to their own or their mothers sleep, depending on the sleeping place.

There is another school of thought that says babies who are encouraged too soon to sleep too deeply are more likely to overcome their bodies natural "protective" impulse to wake, may be more likely to succum to Sudden Infant Death.
This arousal mechanism is the primary means by which infants defend themselves against potentially fatal breathing or cardiac perturbations. Encouraging early sleep consolidation may be placing arousal-deficient infants at increased risk of sudden and unexpected death.

When the "experts" disagree it is confusing for parents who want to do the best they can for their baby. Perhaps parents whose children do not sleep through the night before 6-9months should take heart that, although they may have a sleep deficit as a consequense, they are not necessarily doing anything wrong.

The truth of the matter is, that what is a problem for one set of parents, is not necessarily viewed as a problem by other parents. We should be prepared to work with our children. Supporting them through life and encouraging the behaviours we find acceptable. At the same time accepting that we all develop at different paces and there is some joy in the differences too.

There is no "one rule suits all" nor should there be.
If you have concerns about your child's sleep, Contact Dream-Angus.com

When do babies start to sleep through the night?

A new study suggests that babies should be able to sleep through the night from about three months old. From about five months, parents should be able to expect a longer period of sleep.

Previous studies show that a sleep pattern develops before a real feeding pattern and this is usually at about 60 days (two months) of life.

Jacqueline M. T. Henderson, PhDa, Karyn G. France, PhDb, Joseph L. Owens, PhDa, and Neville M. Blampied, MSc of the Department of Psychology and Health Sciences Centre, University of Canterbury, Canterbury, New Zealand set the objective of investigating the consolidation of infants' self-regulated night sleep over the first year.
The idea was to determine when infants first sleep through the night from 24:00 to 05:00 hours, or for 8 hours, or between 22:00 and 06:00 hours. These times were chosen as the times that most parents would love to have babies sleep through without waking.

Parents of 75 typically developing infants completed sleep diaries for 6 days each month for 12 months. The accuracy of the parent reports were assessed by using videosomnography. (time lapse video of the sleeping child)

The researchers found that the most rapid increase in uninterrupted sleep occurred between one and four months, during which the babies gradually stretched their sustained snooze time by nearly three hours.

At five months of age, 50% of infants were sleeping from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. Babies reached the easier milestones earlier. Half of the babies slept from midnight to 5 a.m. by three months of age and 8 hours a night by four months, according to the October 25th online report in Pediatrics.

By 12 months, 85% of the babies met these two criteria -- but one of every four still wasn't sleeping from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

This study found that the most rapid consolidation in infant sleep regulation occurs in the first 4 months. Most infants are sleeping through the night at 2 and 3 months, regardless of the criterion used.
The most developmentally and socially valid criterion for sleeping through is from 22:00 to 0:600 hours.
At 5 months, more than half of the infants were sleeping concurrently with their parents.

Many infants have difficulties in consolidating their sleep and frequently wake during the night, which is a source of distress for the family. Understanding normal maturation may help in developing interventions and early prevention tools.

Sleep-promoting routines should include creating a sleep environment that is quiet, dark and at an appropriate temperature; maintaining consistent routines and sleep schedules; encouraging a baby to fall asleep and resume sleep in their cribs with little help; and gradually increasing intervals between night feedings.

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