Help Your Baby “Sleep Through The Night”

Most parents get to a point where their current method of supporting baby’s sleep stops working. Perhaps you want to switch things up in your bedtime routine, or you want to change what you use to help your baby to sleep. Whatever your reason for wanting to change up the sleep associations, these are my quick tips for making gentle changes without any need for sleep training.

False starts can be a common, and frustrating, issue for parents when it comes to their baby’s sleep. There are many common causes of false starts, including lack of sleep pressure, overtiredness, discomfort or pain, connecting sleep cycles, separation anxiety, and hunger. In this article, I’ll break down what false starts are, why they happen, and what you can do to help your baby get to sleep easier.

Teething can be so rough on both baby and parent. Have you ever stopped to think about just how much it must hurt? Keeping this in mind, of course your baby is going to be extra fussy and irritable when they’re teething. And of course sleep might suffer for a little while, especially if the teeth are coming in back to back or multiple at a time!

Have you noticed your baby “fighting” sleep? Suddenly naps are a battle, or the fussiness seems to have no end. Nap time and/or bedtime take forever and are full of tears. This is a really, really common experience, but of course, that doesn’t make it any less frustrating (or draining!) for everyone involved. In my experience this often happens for younger babies, especially between about 4-10 months old. There is SO much huge development happening, plus spikes in separation anxiety around 6 and 9 months. If you can’t pinpoint a reason for the fussiness, you might try just riding the wave and letting the phase pass. The big thing to always rule out first is pain, discomfort, or feeding issues.

Chances are you’ve heard of “colicky” babies or may even have a child who’s been diagnosed with “colic.” It’s important to understand though, that the term colic has been used as a catch-all term for when doctors don’t know why an otherwise healthy newborn is inconsolable for much of the day or night. Colic is a symptom. It is not an acceptable diagnosis.