Believing you can sleep

Many children believe that they cannot sleep unless their parents do specific things to help them relax and settle to sleep. These things which may include being rocked to sleep, being held with ot without added movement, being fed have become part of the child's touchstones, because they have never learned to fall asleep without them.

Every child can learn to go to sleep by themselves. As parents this is one of the most valuable lessons we can teach them.

Children's sleep is not a quiet still loss of awareness of the world. Children can be very noisy in sleep, babbling to themselves, moving round in their bed or crib. They also experience lighter and deeper sleep. As adults when our sleep is lighter, we may alter our position in the bed, become aware that we could wake up, but realise that it is too early, and return to sleep. For children who have developed the need to have mum or dad hold them, or be present, this lighter sleep can result in waking and not returning to sleep, because the association that they have developed, requires the presence of a parent to ensure a return to sleep.

Children who have developed associations and cannot sleep without them need to unlearn these bad habits so that they can settle by themselves. It is very important however, that one association is not replaced by another as this is not a solution.

Any alteration in behaviour needs to be consistent and repeated many times before it becomes accepted as a normal part of life. Following a sleep plan requires repetition for at least ten days before it can be reviewed and evaluated. Most behaviours, in healthy children can be resolved within four to six weeks. Children with specific health needs may require a prolonged repetition of a few months before any progress is made.

If you need help to alter your child's sleep associations contact Dream-Angus.com

Children's sleep difficulties.

Children's sleep difficulties vary with the age and developmental stage of the child. They can be simple with a single cause and a quick solution, or they can be complex with more than one difficulty. It is always important to differentiate between a genuine sleep difficulty and a physical or psychological problem. The most common sleep difficulties are related to going to bed, getting to sleep, and staying asleep all night without interruption.


Some children are resistant to bed time. They always want another story, another drink or snack, and generally put off the time when they must go to bed. For some children this is because they are fearful of being alone, of the dark or because they have had bad dreams, or fear bad things lurking in their room. Developing a good short recognisable pre bed routine which allows the child to quiet their thoughts and calm before bed is helpful and there are simple reassuring measures that parents can take to make the experience less worrying.


Learning to go to sleep without requiring any other stimulation is entirely possible. Always being be held, fed, rocked or to have a parent present, leads the child to believe that without these contacts and reassurances they cannot get to sleep by themselves. In fact every child can get to sleep without these associations but some take longer to learn this. Parents who have had difficulties in getting their child to sleep may inadvertantly create a situation where the child will not sleep without their presence and this has to be unlearned.


Although sleep is considered to be a quiet activity this is not always the case. Most children have between five and eight periods of lighter sleep when they may waken. If they required a parental presence to get them to sleep at bed time, they will require this again when their lighter sleep results in a night waking. Adults also have these periods of lighter sleep but they are usually aware that this is light sleep and may change their position and return to sleep without a full awareness of having been lightly asleep. Children have to learn to do this too.

If you need help to teach your child to sleep Contact us at Dream-Angus.com

Night Waking

Waking in the night is one of the most common difficulties that beset children. Recent studies looking at the age and stage of children who have difficulty in sustaining sleep show that 25-50% of 6-12month olds, 30% of 1year old children and 15-20% of toddlers 1-3 years old continue to have night wakings.

These night wakings occur for a variety of different reasons but persistent problematic night wakings are often due to inappropriate sleep onset associations. For some these wakings occur as regularly as every 45-90 minutes. This is of great concern to parents who are also deprived of sleep in order to settle the child.

There is often considerable variation in the night to night and week to week patterns and neither infants, nor parents, are consistent in the way they behave and interact at these wake times. Of course what one parent sees as a difficulty another parent or family accept as "normal" so night wakings are seldom addressed in the same fashion across the population.

Children or adolescents who experience persistant night wakings that are extermely disruptive to the family as well as the complainant should be seen by a sleep specialist. There are very effective ways to alter this night waking behaviour and to improve the night sleep.

If you are experiencing this difficulty within your family Contact Dream-Angus.com we can help you to resolve this issue and improve your night sleep.

Night Feeds

Newborn babies need regular feeds whether breast or formula. Some will look for feeds 2-3 hourly others will accept a regimen of 4 hourly feeds. In the first few months, waking to feed a baby is an expected part of infant care.
By the time an infant is six months old fewer will physically require a night time feed. Some will perisist through habit and, most mums, don't mind this too much if it is simply a case of feeding the infant and re settling. If this can be done within a few minutes it can almost be accomplished in mum's sleep.
Other infants are more awake. Through habit they have developed a lighter phase of sleep at this time and they may also associate a feed as being the thing that helps them to return to sleep. There may be no real hunger and the breast or bottle may only be a plaything, an opportunity to interact with mum.
At this point it is up to mum to decide whether or not she is happy to continue to have her night's sleep interrupted. There are a variety of ways of stopping this night waking behaviour. As this is a habit, once the infant has slept through the night for a few nights usually the behaviour stops completely.


If you need help to change your infant's sleep pattern contact www. Dream-Angus.com
Working with you to improve your child's sleep.

Night waking

Night waking is, as the title suggests a waking in the night when everyone should be sleeping. it is one of the most common problems parents face. Although babies of 6 months are physically capable of sleeping through the night and no longer require night feeds, a high percentage of them still wake.
In fact it is recognised that all children, regardless of age wake briefly four to six times during the night. Children who do not rouse their parents have learned to self soothe and return to sleep without any intervention. Children who have come to rely on set conditions being met before their initial sleep often require that the same situation is re created before they will resettle.
This is known as "sleep Associations". learning to sleep involves learning to sleep with the "right/good" associations so that further intervention is not required.

Sleep is a learned behaviour and we owe it to our children to teach them the best possible associations and behaviour patterns so that they can carry them throughout their lives and reap the benefits.


If your child has problems with night waking contact us at Dream-Angus.com for information and support.