Sleeping Baby
This post is for my new baby friend, Isabella, and her Mom.
Babies are born into a world where everything in unfamiliar to them. being out of the womb is new territory for them. It is hard for them to go to sleep and stay asleep.
Unlike a parent who cherishes your sleep, babies do not feel the same way. Not only do they resist going to sleep, they resist staying asleep
Of course, they will sleep if you are holding them and you need to take a shower, and fold laundry and answer the phone, but you can’t move because the baby just fell asleep.
Babies may also cry and protest at bedtime because they do not want to be separated from their parents and they feel scared or unprotected. Cross-cultural studies have shown that babies who live in cultures where they are carried most of the day and where they sleep next to their mothers at night seldom cry when it is time to go to sleep. Instead, they nurse to sleep or they become calm in response to the rhythmic breathing of an adult lying beside them. A human infant, like other primates, is genetically programmed to respond to adult care. If you lie down next to a baby at nap time or bedtime*, you may notice a lot less resistance to going to sleep.
* remember, while co-sleeping is a highly debated issue, it can be a SIDS risk.
bedtime, sleep, nap time, sleep habits, infants, babies, sleep refusal
source
November 18th, 2006 at 1:07 am
I know that co-sleeping is highly debated, but my youngest still sleeps with me and it has worked for us. The others didn’t, as much, and it worked out in different ways. My youngest told me a couple of months ago that he was going to start sleeping in his own bed when he turned 5. Well that 5th birthday came and went, and here he is! (actually 3 of them are in here snoozing with me and my laptop, but we don’t need to share that with just anyone!
)
But I digress.. My point was that I was not aware that co-sleeping was a SIDS concern. I had in fact heard that we tend to measure our breathing to the person sleeping with us, so those babies who are sleeping with a parent are less likely to stop breathing.
Have you heard this? I wonder what the science is behind either theory?
Have a great day!
Jill
November 18th, 2006 at 9:17 am
Jill, I thin kyou have to do what works for you. I could never sleep with a little person in my bed nad I already don’t get enough sleep without someone kicking me in the gut 40 times a night! : )
I think the sleeping together risk is small for SIDS but still there. I will discuss it here this week.
November 18th, 2006 at 9:42 pm
Yeah I thought SIDS risk was reduced with co-sleeping for the reasons Jill mentioned…well I know there are OTHER risks involved. Which, BTW here is a good checklist for co-sleeping safely:
http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/5-ap/312-co-sleeping-safety.htm
November 19th, 2006 at 9:38 am
That is a great list mamaC-ta, thanks for sharing.
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