5 Myths You've Read About Your Child's Sleep

No matter if you’re a stay-at-home-mom, a working mom, or somewhere in between, your kids are on your mind 24/7.  So, we tend to do a lot of research.  And with access to unlimited information via the internet, we tend to get some conflicting information.

So today, I want to focus on my area of expertise, that being sleep, and try to dispel some of the more popular myths I’ve seen.

1.      Sleeping too much during the day will keep baby up at night.

If your baby is sleeping poorly, this most likely isn’t the reason. Newborns especially need a ton of sleep. What keeps babies awake at night, more than anything else, is overtiredness. You might think that an exhausted baby is more likely to sack out for a full night than one who slept all day, but it’s actually just the opposite. The reason we refer to it as being “overtired” is because baby has missed the “tired” phase and their bodies start to kick back into gear, which keeps them from falling and staying asleep. There are substantial variations depending on baby’s age and the length of their naps, but especially in those first 6 months, they do need to sleep quite a bit during the day!

2.      Sleeping is a natural development and can’t be taught.

Sleeping is natural, absolutely. Everybody wakes up and falls back to sleep multiple times a night, regardless of their age. So no, you can’t teach a child to be sleepy. What can be taught,however, is the ability to fall back to sleep independently. The typical “bad sleeper” of a baby isn’t less in need of sleep, or more prone to waking up. They’ve just learned to depend on outside assistance to get back to sleep when they wake up. Once your little one has figured out how to get to sleep without assistance from outside sources, they start stringing those sleep cycles together effortlessly and seamlessly, and that’s the secret to “sleeping through the night”.

3.      Babies will naturally dictate their own sleep schedule

Sorry, but infant physiology is not flawlessly programmed to regulate a baby’s schedule. Our babies need extensive care and help in their development, and their sleep cycles are unbelievably erratic if left unregulated. If they miss their natural sleep cycle by as little as a half hour, their cortisol production can increase which causes a surge in energy, and things quickly spiral out of control. So as much as I wish babies could just fall asleep when they’re tired, it simply doesn’t always work that way. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t respond to their cues, but you shouldn’t rely exclusively on them either.

4.      Sleep training is stressful for the baby and can affect the parent-child attachment

Nope. And this isn’t just me talking here. This is the American Academy of Pediatrics. According to a 2016 study conducted by eight of their top researchers, behavioral intervention,(A.K.A Sleep training) “provide(s) significant sleep benefits above control,yet convey(s) no adverse stress responses or long-term effects on parent-child attachment or child emotions and behavior.”

5.      Babies are not “designed” to sleep through the night.

Trusting your child’s physiology to dictate their sleep schedule, their eating habits, their behavior, or just about any other aspect of their upbringing is a recipe for disaster. Is your toddler designed to eat three pounds of gummi bears? No. Will they if you don’t intervene? Without a doubt. Our little ones need our expertise and authority to guide them through their early years, and probably will for decades after that.This is especially true when it comes to their sleep. Some babies are naturally gifted sleepers, for sure, but don’t rely on the advice of those who tell you that babies should dictate their schedules. You’re in charge because you know best, even if it may not feel like it sometimes.

There are lots more myths and misconceptions surrounding babies and their sleep habits, but these are some of the most important to get the facts on. Remember, there are endless posts on social media and websites that portray themselves as factual, but there’s nothing stopping them from making that claim, regardless of their accuracy or basis in actual scientific evidence. Google scholar is a great place to find peer-reviewed scientific study on all things baby-related, and trusted sources like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Institutes of Health,Britain’s National Health Service, Canada’s Hospital for Sick Children, the World Health Organization, and other national children’s health organizations are excellent sources of information you can feel confident about using to answer questions about your baby.

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