Many of our frustrations with children and sleep stem from our assumption that babies should learn to sleep through the night at as early an age as possible. We place high expectations on our children, even as newborns, by anticipating that they should sleep a full eight hours. By revisiting the sleep expectations and habits that we develop in our children, we might begin to better understand, prevent and treat the chronic sleep problems of adolescence and adulthood. This article provides some useful tips on dealing with the challenges that parents and babies are faced with during this important time.

Baby's Sleep Patterns

We all know the feeling after a good night's sleep. Sleep provides rest, boosts the immune system, helps concentration and memory and generally makes you feel and look better. The same is true for infants, although your baby's new born needs will be different to yours. Adjusting to your baby's sleep pattern will be one of your first challenges as a parent. No baby sleeps in exactly the same way as another, and a wide variety of sleep patterns fall within the bounds of normal, healthy infant behaviour. Sleeping patterns can also change during phases of teething, illness and growth spurts.

In general, humans experience different stages and cycles of sleep during the night, oscillating between active and quiet sleep. REM (rapid eye movement) is the active sleep cycle and the phase where most of the dreaming occurs. During this cycle the brain is active and working, making this the easiest time to wake up or rouse your baby. NonREM (NREM) sleep, on the other hand, is the quiet sleep cycle. The deeper sleep experienced in this phase helps replenish energy and strengthen the body. An adult can fall asleep and easily fall into a deep, sound NREM sleep. After approximately ninety minutes of deep sleep, the cycle usually shifts to lighter REM sleep, in which the brain is more active. An adult will spend about six hours in quiet sleep, and two hours in active sleep a night. As we age, deep sleep lessens in proportion to active sleep.

Babies, on the other hand, fall into an active REM sleep cycle that lasts approximately twenty minutes. Signs that your baby is still in this active sleep stage include movements like muscle twitches, startling, and sucking. Some babies will easily arouse if they are put down too early during this phase. For those babies who awaken while being put to bed, try a bedtime ritual: this may include nursing your baby to sleep, singing a lullaby, or rocking baby for a long enough period to allow him to enter the deeper sleep cycle. You will know she is in deeper sleep when the body is less active, his arms and legs are limp, and he is less easy to arouse. Newborns sleep as well as feed in two- to three-hour cycles. In the first few months, sleep cycles are shorter, which means there are more periods of light active REM sleep. Half of your baby's sleep time is spent in REM sleep, compared to twenty percent of an adult's cycle. Given this, it is not surprising that baby wakes up more often than mom from birth to six months: as often as two to three times a night, and then once a night until two years old. In general breastfed babies wake up more frequently and easily than formula-fed babies because breast milk is digested and absorbed more quickly and efficiently.

In the first six months of life, your baby's breathing will have an important impact on her sleep. In infancy, a baby's breathing organs are still young and not fully developed, and it is not uncommon for her to have irregular breathing patterns during sleep. This is known as periodic breathing in which there can be several pauses in breathing lasting more than three seconds. They can occur up to three times in a row, and this may be considered normal. Your baby will usually sense that she is not getting sufficient oxygen and will wake up. Typically she will then begin breathing normally again. By six months old, your baby should be breathing at a regular rate and the periodic episodes will lessen. Periodic breathing is more common in premature infants. If you have any concern about, or you would like to know more about your child's breathing pattern, please contact your practitioner for advice.

Napping:

Throughout the day, your child's energy (and yours too) will flag, leaving her feeling tired, restless and irritable. Especially in the early months when parents are recovering from the physical, mental, and emotional changes of a new baby, naps for both infant and parents are important opportunities to restore one's energy, mood, and productivity. Naps are most effective when they follow a predictable pattern, becoming an integral part of the day rather than an as-needed interruption to the usual schedule. Routines in eating, sleeping, and napping help enforce habits that will stay with your child throughout childhood, so especially in the beginning, try to adhere to an established naptime in the morning and in the afternoon. Similar to nighttime rituals, naptime might include darkening of the room, using music, and nursing and rocking to sleep. Naptime also evolves, and you will probably need to adjust the hours and amount of time your child sleeps according to their age and developmental phase. By around age two or three, your child will probably only need one nap a day, and at around four years of age, may stop napping altogether.

Research shows that naptime may be beneficial for nighttime sleeping. Far from decreasing the amount of time your child sleeps at night, regular naps can aid her in sleeping consistently for longer periods of time. The timing of naps, however, is important. For babies who take one to two naps a day, the afternoon nap is best taken in the early afternoon. Ideally your child should be allowed to nap or go to sleep when he shows signs of sleepiness. If you wait too long, he may get a second wind and be unable to fall asleep.

The Bedtime Ritual

Putting your baby down to sleep is often the most intimate and special time you spend together during the course of the day. Nighttime rituals are more than just habits, they allow for vital bonding between parent and child, and help to establish familial rhythms that will last for a lifetime. Bedtime rituals are unique to each family, but many fathers and mothers make use of baths, books, gentle rocking, singing or massage as ways for readying a child for sleep.

Certain end-of-the-day habits will help to ensure that your child gets sufficient rest:

• Since many bodily and hormonal functions work best while the body is at rest, earlier bedtimes tend to be better for children than later.
• For both infants and older children, atmosphere cannot be underestimated in helping to aid rest. The room should be protected from bright direct light and extreme temperatures. An over warm room can often cause sleep difficulties. In this age of artificial cooling and heating devices, even temperatures and good ventilation, even temperature and good ventilation are especially important, since artificial heat in particular can cause dryness in the mouth and nose.
• Breastfeeding is one of the most effective bedtime rituals, and the calcium in mother's milk is known to soothe the nerves and to help baby relax.
• Proper dressing should be neither too cool nor too warm. If your baby kicks off the covers, make sure baby is adequately covered, since feet can easily become cold. Dress baby in pajamas with foot coverings.
• Daily fresh air and daytime exercise improve sleep. Weather permitting, most babies enjoy being outside and exploring life around them.
• Prescription drugs and other over-the-counter medicines can interrupt sleep. Natural and holistic alternatives are available from your health practitioner and chemist. Caffeine containing foods and drinks should also be avoided at all costs.
• Electromagnetic fields can interrupt sleep patterns. Avoid placing electric alarm clocks near the bed.
• If your child uses a nightlight, keep it at a distance from the sleep area in order to avoid bright light.

Conventional Sleep Training Methods

Most advice on conventional sleep training emphasizes precisely that, sleep training. Parents are taught that they should detach from their infants in order to make babies more independent and self-sufficient. Fussy or irritable babies need simply to learn not to fuss. Crying babies need to learn that crying will not answer their needs. Sleep training experts advise putting baby to bed while she is still awake, waiting progressive periods of time before going in to check on your crying baby, and soothing without touch. Parents are also encouraged to follow the hands of the clock, rather than the cues of their babies. In this way, babies are 'trained' to soothe themselves through behavioural conditions, and parents are trained to distance themselves from the distress of their child.

Conventional sleep training teaches that most babies do not need a nighttime feeding by three months of age, and that, by six months, no baby needs a night feeding at all. These recommendations are based upon research done with formula fed babies, it may not apply to breast fed babies. Breast milk is relatively low in fat and protein, so breast fed babies usually need to be fed more often than formula fed babies, and awaken more quickly. But with time, they begin to sleep for longer periods of time.

For some families, conventional sleep training works well. The approach, however, is the antithesis of natural training philosophy, which recognises that baby sleep patterns differ from those of adults, and that they wake during the night for feedings, diaper changes, comfort and a variety of other reasons. The natural parenting approach emphasizes listening to your child, rather than sticking to a schedule: she is trying to tell you what she needs, and as her parents you are best-equipped to respond. When an infant's cries are ignored the parents inadvertently introduce an element of insecurity into their child's life, signaling that the primary caregivers cannot be relied upon for comfort, security, or a loving touch. To deprive a baby of cuddling, reassurance, and support may contribute to larger emotional problems for him as a child and later on as an adult.

Expectations that babies are meant to sleep through the night and that letting them cry is a way of instilling that behaviour, are contrary to both infants' and mothers' physiologies. The baby's cries affect the mother's hormonal and body chemistry levels, translating into an instinctual urge to go and pick up the crying baby. The popular 'let the baby cry it out' approach thus runs counter a mother's natural intuition and set up an all too common parenting phenomenon in which parents no longer trust their judgment and insight. Although we humans possess a highly developed intellect, our babies' needs operate on a more instinctive plane. Babies communicate to us when they are hungry, uncomfortable, scared or in pain, and we communicate back to them by providing love, attention, and emotional and physical care. Building a foundation that begins with the compassionate care of your infant will lead to a happier, more well-adjusted future for your child, as well as a happier and more well adjusted attitude for you.

Implementing of some of the above detailed techniques and tips will assist you in ensuring that your baby is more rested and settled into his routine, also allowing more rest for mom and dad. We hope that you have found the above article informative, and we wish you many happy and pleasant hours spent with your new baby.