Baby Sleep Problem - Learning baby sleep problem, understanding sleep pattern

Baby sleep problems are very common. Almost all parents experience some difficulties with their baby’s sleep pattern. Babies up to seven months old may need night feeding. During these early months most babies wake for a feed and then go back to sleep, allowing the parent to return to sleep. Babies over seven months do not need night feeding, except if the baby is unwell or during a hot night. Babies which are breast fed are more likely to wake at night than those bottle fed. Newborn babies usually sleep 14 to 20 hours a day, a three month old sleeps for about 15 hours and a one year old sleeps 13 to 14 hours usually at night.

Across the globe, there are thousands of new parents who daily struggle with their baby’s sleep problems. Parents really have a tough time if their children don’t nap easily.

During the early years, most of the babies have an irregular sleep pattern because of many reasons. Some of the most important key factors contributing to irregular sleep patterns are hunger, illness, pain and wet nappy.

It is believed that many babies have the habit of night feeding till about seven to eight months of their birth. They feel hungry during the night hours and then they don’t sleep at all because their stomach is full to enjoy the glory of night. The research and studies also states that babies that are breast fed are more likely to stay awake at night as compared to those who are bottle fed.

Another baby’s sleep problem faced by most of the parents is illness. When a baby is ill and has some pain in any body part, he or she becomes restless and is not comfortable even in sleep. Baby tries to express his pain to his or her parents but unfortunately, babies don’t have words, they only have expressions. Almost 99% of parents understand the words of expression because of the internal bonding they have with their babies but the rest 1% really fail to understand why their babies are not sleeping.

Wet nappies are also a major sleep problem. Babies usually wet their nappies during sleep and when the nappies get wet, they become uncomfortable. They fall back to sleep only when parents get awake and change their wet nappies.
Apart from these, some of the other baby sleep problems are extreme weather conditions and boredom. They also face problem in sleeping if they are tightly wrapped with clothes and blankets. They need freedom both day and night.

Here are some sleep management for parents to deal with Baby sleep problems. There are many reasons why your baby won't go to sleep. It could be illness, boredom, pain, frustration, wet nappy, your baby is hungry, thirsty, tightly wrapped, having wind or some other cause.

To help your baby sleep, you could try rocking the baby, playing some soft music, or giving the baby a massage. or a relaxing bath. You could also try taking the baby a drive in the car, or walk in the pram. If your baby continues to cry & find it very difficult to settle the baby, seek advise from experienced friends, call your doctor or local early childhood health centre.