![]() Why does my baby need my help to fall asleep?īabies commonly need some form of parental input or assistance to fall (and stay) asleep. If you want to maximise their sleep, most babies will sleep for longer if they are in your arms or on your chest - and this is normal. The range has been noted to be 9.7-15.9 hours ( 3). Though you will hear that most babies sleep for 14 hours a day, that is an average. Your baby’s individual temperament will determine how much sleep they need and how much time they are happy to spend sleeping away from you. They have never known what it means to be separate from their mother and now that they are on the outside, it is just a matter of them slowly adapting to being in a different environment. Your baby has spent the past 10 months living and growing inside your body. Why does my baby prefer to sleep close to me? They will wake seeking comfort too and this is normal and appropriate. However, if you think that switching to formula will mean your baby sleeps more independently, think again! Babies’ needs are complex and they will wake for more than just food. This makes them more difficult for a human baby to digest ( 2), so these babies may feed less often. It may be seen by some to be inconvenient that our babies want to breastfeed so often, but what better way to ensure they are always safe and close to their mother?Īrtificial milk, made from cow or goat’s milk, contain more of the protein casein. This is the first clever way for nature to ensure that we keep our babies close. Our milk is similar to other primate milk in that it is low in fat and protein (1), which suggests that it is a type of milk that’s designed to be fed continuously. Human infants have small stomachs and breastmilk is easily digested. Why does my baby need frequent feeds overnight? Nature is clever and our baby’s biology gives us lots of hints about the best ways to nurture them and keep them happy. ![]() So why are these behaviours normal? And how do we know that they are normal?įor the answer to these questions, we need to look at our babies from a basic, biological point of view. The normal infant may have bouts of frequent waking when they are going through a sleep progression due to a phase of rapid physical, mental or emotional development The normal infant cries when they are put down and left alone, to alert an adult caregiver to pick them up again and keep them safe The normal infant needs help to fall asleep, through feeding, motion, warmth and comfort ![]() The normal infant prefers to sleep close to an adult caregiver, with preference usually given to the birth mother, whose smell and taste is familiar The normal infant needs frequent feeding overnight This issue is unrealistic expectations when it comes to biologically normal infant sleep: 'Hang on', they think in a panic, 'what is wrong with my baby?! Why won’t she fall asleep by herself in the cot? Why will she only sleep in my arms? Why does she wake up as soon as I put her down? Why does she wake through the night and only settle with a feed? How come she was sleeping well, and is now waking constantly again?'Īll these concerns are valid and common, and they highlight one of the biggest issues in our society related to our smallest humans. They walk back in and quickly pick their baby up. These new parents come home with their sweet-smelling bundle of joy, place them down into the brand-new cot with the organic cotton sheets, matching the freshly painted walls of the beautifully decorated nursery, then walk out, ready for a nap themselves… So is it any wonder that new parents expect the same of their newborn babies? In most movies and TV shows, babies sleep happily in cots, often in their own bedrooms, with only a lullaby needed for baby to drift off to sleep. Visit any pre-school and you will see the children playing with the dolls, then lying them down in plastic play cots when it’s time for sleep. In our culture, we learn from an early age that babies should be happy sleeping alone.
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