Common Sleep Myths!

Keep your baby awake all day, they will sleep all night

Hand up if you’ve been told this one? I think we all have at some point… This is untrue and bad advise, and here is why. Babies build up sleep pressure when they are awake, too much and their body releases too much cortisol and adrenaline which leads to your baby becoming overtired. High levels of coritisol can lead to waking frequently after bedtime, known as a false start, frequently through the night, and early for the day.

You should never wake a sleeping baby

Starting the day at the same time of day, is an important part of programming the circadian rhythm, this promotes consistent naps and bedtime, which promotes sleep in children.

Solids will encourage your baby to sleep longer at night

There is no evidence to show solids, increases length of sleep at night. Generally longer stretches of sleep are due to baby maturing, their tummy growing so they can take bigger feeds, and aren’t waking as frequent for feeds.

All sleep should be in a dark room…

Babies are born without a circadian rhythm, they do not know day from night. Natural light is the no 1 thing to encourage the development of their circadian ryhthm, so as much exposure to daylight in the day will encourage them understanding day from night, which is often when they begin sleeping longer stretches at night.

Babies are scared of the dark

Babies are born with 2 innate fears, falling and loud noises. Darkness at night promotes sleep, as it signals to the brain to release melatonin.

Formula will make your baby sleep for longer

There is no evidence to support formula fed babies sleep longer at night. I have worked with lots of breastfed babies, who have slept well at night. I have seen no difference in how long a baby goes between feeds during the night in breastfed babies to formula fed babies.

If a baby is tired enough they will fall asleep

FACT: some babies mask their tired signs well, I know my own boy at 6 weeks old could go most of the day without falling asleep. He was definitely tired, and my mother in-law kept saying he will fall asleep if he is tired enough… This isn’t the case for some babies and children. They don’t display clear signs, this is where following wake windows can be helpful.

Babies can self soothe

Babies can self soothe, for a person to self soothe they must be able to regulate and babies can not calm themselves down in any other context. What they learn to do is self settle, this is the ability to fall asleep without help.