Do you know that sleep props can hinder the healthy sleep in babies? Perhaps you are asking yourself, what are sleep props? How do you know if your baby is dependent on a sleep prop?
Every parent is always concerned about his or her baby’s sleep patterns. Parents always want their baby to get enough sleep and rest. On the other hand, they also realize that unless baby sleeps through the night, mom will most likely not get enough rest as well, making her cranky throughout the day. This does not bode well either for full-time stay-at-home moms or working moms who would leave their baby at the day care while she goes to work, because lack of sleep will affect not only her mood but also her productivity. This is why there is such importance in helping baby develop healthy sleep patterns.
Do you know that sleep props can hinder the healthy sleep in babies? Perhaps you are asking yourself, what are sleep props? How do you know if your baby is dependent on a sleep prop? To start with, a sleep prop is anything that helps induce sleepiness in a baby and will help him fall asleep. This can range from rocking, to pacifiers, to nursing to sleep. Some sleep props, like stuffed animals or security blankets, are relatively harmless, but others, like the pacifier, can become addictive.
So what happens when your baby is accustomed to a sleep prop? Simple: the baby will have a hard time falling asleep without it. The following are examples of sleep props that may cause baby to fall asleep initially, but will be required once baby wakes up during the night:
1. A baby who is rocked to sleep will only sleep when mom rocks him every night. This should be no problem if it will take a shorter rocking time, but what generally happens is that as the baby grows older and more attentive to his surroundings, it will require a longer and longer time for him to doze off. If he is used to rocking, can you imagine how long it will take mom to rock him to sleep by the time he is a year old?
2. Many families actually resort to putting baby’s bassinet on top of a working washing machine or spin dryer. This is similar to rocking baby to sleep, only it does not feel as tiring at first because it is not the caretaker that does the rocking. Other families even get in the car on a particularly difficult evening and drive around, hoping the lull of the machine will lull baby to sleep. Sure it might work, but what happens when baby wakes up at night? Shall mom take him down to the basement laundry room to rock him to sleep on the dryer again?
3. Many babies get accustomed to the pacifier. A newborn up to the age of six months generally have an inborn need to suckle, and unless you want him to take in milk every time he craves it, you can do well in giving him a pacifier. But when he is older, it can pose a problem, because if he falls asleep on a pacifier and loses it during the night, he may wake up looking for it. My baby used a pacifier, and at first I was impressed when he woke up at night and groped around for it, but after a while, he wound up crying every time. Even though he eventually found it, the crying was enough to disrupt everyone’s sleep, including baby’s own.
4. Nursing to sleep is another sleep prop that many moms are not aware of. This is because the usual pattern of babies to nurse is right before they sleep, and they wind up falling asleep while nursing or taking milk from a bottle. The mechanics of this sleep prop is similar to a pacifier, except that it has the added disadvantage of getting baby to sleep at perhaps a time when he has not yet had a full meal. This results in baby waking up every so often out of hunger, causing much disruption to sleep.
Now that you understand what these sleep props can do, you can accept the reality that a baby will be better off when trained to fall asleep on his own even from infancy. At least when baby learns to fall asleep on his own, even when he wakes up in the middle of the night, you can expect him to doze off again without needing any sleep prop to lull him to sleep. This translates into healthier sleep both for baby and for you!
Do you know that sleep props can hinder the healthy sleep in babies? Perhaps you are asking yourself, what are sleep props? How do you know if your baby is dependent on a sleep prop? To start with, a sleep prop is anything that helps induce sleepiness in a baby and will help him fall asleep. This can range from rocking, to pacifiers, to nursing to sleep. Some sleep props, like stuffed animals or security blankets, are relatively harmless, but others, like the pacifier, can become addictive.
So what happens when your baby is accustomed to a sleep prop? Simple: the baby will have a hard time falling asleep without it. The following are examples of sleep props that may cause baby to fall asleep initially, but will be required once baby wakes up during the night:
1. A baby who is rocked to sleep will only sleep when mom rocks him every night. This should be no problem if it will take a shorter rocking time, but what generally happens is that as the baby grows older and more attentive to his surroundings, it will require a longer and longer time for him to doze off. If he is used to rocking, can you imagine how long it will take mom to rock him to sleep by the time he is a year old?
2. Many families actually resort to putting baby’s bassinet on top of a working washing machine or spin dryer. This is similar to rocking baby to sleep, only it does not feel as tiring at first because it is not the caretaker that does the rocking. Other families even get in the car on a particularly difficult evening and drive around, hoping the lull of the machine will lull baby to sleep. Sure it might work, but what happens when baby wakes up at night? Shall mom take him down to the basement laundry room to rock him to sleep on the dryer again?
3. Many babies get accustomed to the pacifier. A newborn up to the age of six months generally have an inborn need to suckle, and unless you want him to take in milk every time he craves it, you can do well in giving him a pacifier. But when he is older, it can pose a problem, because if he falls asleep on a pacifier and loses it during the night, he may wake up looking for it. My baby used a pacifier, and at first I was impressed when he woke up at night and groped around for it, but after a while, he wound up crying every time. Even though he eventually found it, the crying was enough to disrupt everyone’s sleep, including baby’s own.
4. Nursing to sleep is another sleep prop that many moms are not aware of. This is because the usual pattern of babies to nurse is right before they sleep, and they wind up falling asleep while nursing or taking milk from a bottle. The mechanics of this sleep prop is similar to a pacifier, except that it has the added disadvantage of getting baby to sleep at perhaps a time when he has not yet had a full meal. This results in baby waking up every so often out of hunger, causing much disruption to sleep.
Now that you understand what these sleep props can do, you can accept the reality that a baby will be better off when trained to fall asleep on his own even from infancy. At least when baby learns to fall asleep on his own, even when he wakes up in the middle of the night, you can expect him to doze off again without needing any sleep prop to lull him to sleep. This translates into healthier sleep both for baby and for you!
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