Helping Everyone Get the Sleep They Need
"There never was a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him asleep."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is no one technique that always works with every child when it comes to having a baby fall asleep, stay asleep, nap regularly, or otherwise give his parents a chance to catch up on their own need for sleep. You will find lots of advice, of course, but the experts don't all agree .
That's because each child has a different temperament and a different rate of adjusting to life as he moves each month into new stages of growth. Each parent brings to their parenting different expectations and abilities to recognize what a baby's cries mean. It takes time to become your own sleep expert. If you breastfeed your baby, she will probably wake during the night for more months than you would like. Your sister, who chose to bottlefeed, will be more likely to to sleep through the night than you will. That doesn't mean bottle feeding is better. It isn't. It just means that breast milk, which is more easily digested, goes through that baby's system more quickly.
Consequently, always remember that in our culture of "experts," you are the expert on your own child—or will be shortly. So read the sidebar, try an approach that fits with your personality and strengths, and don't beat up on yourself if your child doesn't sleep through the night as soon as your friend's child.
The following are some of the better articles I've found on the topic of helping your baby sleep, so you can get some sleep as well. There's sure to be something in here that will give you a suggestion for what might work for you.
This page of the BabyCenter website allows you to chose the particular problem you have, for example, "won't go to sleep" or "normal sleep, wrong time." Then you can select the age of your baby from birth to three years.
Why two-year olds resist bedtime and what you can do about it
Like many parents, you look forward to getting your little charmer off to sleep as you can do the dishes and a dozen other chores before falling into bed exhausted. That's when your child decides he just can't stay in bed. Why? This article gives you some reasons and ways to cut down on the get-out-bed routine.
Why preschoolers resist bedtime and what you can do about it
Even if you managed to get through the third stage of development without too many sleep problems, you may find yourself with more problems on your hands when your child is a bit older. Read this article to learn what you can do to stop the bedtime battles.
Why kids wake up during the night (ages 2 to 4)
Even if you've done your best to teach your baby to go to sleep and stay asleep, the reality is that non of us sleeps through the night. We all have periods when we are closer to wakefulness and more deeply asleep. Being able to master the skill of going back to sleep without help once a toddler or preschooler has awakened during the night takes time to develop, especially if your child counts on you—or some other sleep aid—to help her nod off. The ideas here will help you get a better handle on what you can do about this sleep-depriving problem.
Will your baby ever “sleep through the night?”
The more you know about nightmares and night terrors the better—nightmares and night errors – 2 to 5
SIDEBAR TO ABOVE ARTICLE:
Four Experts, Four Perspectives
General sleep philosophies provides a brief description of four "experts": Dr. Jodi Mindell, Dr. Richer Ferber, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, and Dr. William Sears. Their perspectives on sleep demonstrates how even the experts don't agree on how you can help your child sleep better.
You Just Gotta Laugh
My favorite toddler sleep story happened years ago when my nephew, who was then about a year-and-a-half, kept asking my brother if he could get out of bed. "No," was the response, "It's night time and you need to go back to sleep."
Then my brother had this strange sixth sense that something was up. (If you're a parent, you know what I mean. It's when you can't see or hear your kid, but you know he's getting into trouble). Going into the room and checking on him, there was my nephew, standing up with one leg half way over the railing and his head resting on the rail with his eyes closed. The pose was a clear attempt to say, "Gee, Dad, I don't know how I could have gotten in this position. I just fell asleep and look where I am now."