Infant Sleep and Popular Advice
Kathy Hansen, Parent Educator

New parents frequently ask “How do I get my baby to ‘sleep through the night’?” Look anywhere and there is parenting advice on sleep methods. According to Danielle Z. Kassow PhD., Research Associate at the Talaris Research Center, “Infant sleep and crying is one of parents biggest concerns.”  The advice is frustrating and inconsistent. The nightwakings that infants have are an exhausting stressor for parents, and overtime the “sleep advice” and the “sleep interventions” themselves have been both confusing and stressful for parents.

“Cry it Out” (CIO) is one sleep method that stirs much discussion and debate among new parents, pediatricians and the research community. In her research article, Dr. Kassow talks about the importance of responding to an infant’s cries.  Consistent, warm and nurturing parental responses to an infant in the first year of life helps infants develop a secure and loving bond with parents.  These loving responses are critical to the young child’s emotional health, brain development, and long term life outcomes, including success in school and life. 

Another researcher, Gordon Macall, M.D., who is an adjunct professor at Antioch University in Seattle and an expert on “crying it out” was interested in the conflicting messages about sleep this method sends.  On one hand experts are saying to let the baby cry to go back to sleep, which is inconsistent with the brain research on the importance of meeting your child’s needs. This conflicting message is very stressful for parents.

We cannot even attempt to advocate one style or approach about sleeping over another.  Babies are too individual for that.  Whatever approach you use make sure it fits your baby’s temperament, capability and capacities and that it feels right for you as the parent.  This will help to establish the essential attachment your baby needs to grow and develop in healthy ways.

Most babies sleep through the night once their teeth come in and they have mastered the developmental task of walking. Every baby has a unique timetable.  If your baby is still waking in the middle of the night during the second half of the first year, know that it is perfectly normal.  Responding to their needs as best you can will contribute to a safe and emotionally secure feeling for your baby.

Tips to Understanding Your Child’s Sleep Needs:

1. There is no magic age in which a baby will sleep through the night.  Some never do.

2. Babies need to be parented to sleep, not just put to sleep. Some babies can be put down, while drowsy, and others need to be rocked into a deep sleep.

3. Some babies need help getting back to sleep; others go to sleep with difficulty but will stay asleep.  Other babies neither want to go to sleep nor stay asleep.

4. Consider your infant’s temperament- If your child’s temperament is a tense neediness during the day, that same temperament will exist at night. This supersensitive trait carries over into the sleep habits in the night.  Also, your child’s sensitivity to outside stimulus is also a factor in their sleep habits. Some children can “tune it out” while other babies react to the outside stimulus.

5. Young babies spend much of their sleeping time in a light sleep (REM).  As they grow,  babies alternate between light sleep and deep sleep.  As infants mature, the deep sleep stages lengthen.  More highly sensitive infants may take longer to develop sleep maturity and they do not “sleep through the night” as early as less sensitive babies.

6. Some babies also have a high degree of separation anxiety and have trouble going to sleep at night and staying asleep during the night.

Additional Resources:

"Is 'Crying it Out' Appropriate for Infants?  A Critical Review of the Literature on the use of Extinction in Infancy" (Gordon, M.D., & Hill, S. L., Poster presented at the World Infant Mental Health Conference, 2006)

"What to do about Sleep?  A Survey of Parents’ Experiences with Sleep Interventions and Popular Advice" (Gordon, M.D.  & Hill S.L. Poster presented at the International Society for Infant Studies, 2008)

"Self-Contained Individualism and the Cultural Construction of Infant Sleep" (Gordon, M.D. 2008)

"The Relational Context of Infant Crying"  (Gordon, M.D, 2006)

www.infantsleep.org
A parenting Myth:  Can I spoil my Baby?
8 Infant Sleep Facts
CIO research poster
Listen to the interview with Macall Gordon

www.talaris.org

www.askdrsears.com
"The Baby Sleep Book", by Dr. Sears
"The Successful Child Book", by Dr. Sears
"25 Things Every New Mother Should Know", by Dr. Sears

"Rethinking 'Healthy' Infant Sleep", by Dr. James McKenna, Ph.D.

http://www.Parentingcounts.org

http://www.zerotothree.org

" The Youngest Minds: Parenting and Genes in the Development of Intellect and Emotion", by Barnet, A.B., & Barnet, R. J. (1998).  New York: Simon & Schuster

" The Scientist in the Crib: Minds, Brains, and How Children Learn", by Gopnik, A., Meltzoff, A.N. & Kuhl, P. K. (1999).  New York:  Morrow