Baby Sleeping Patterns
 Some Tips From The Baby Sleep Pattern Experts
By Donald Goldmacher, MD and Michael Fox, RN
Countless parents like yourself often find themselves exhausted, frustrated, and wondering if their baby
will ever sleep through the night. If you are feeling this way, you are not alone. Like other parents, you've read all the baby sleep books, but nothing seems to be working.The truth is more than 70 percent of infants and toddlers have
a Baby Sleeping pattern problem, according to a 2004 survey by the National Sleep Foundation.
Watch a preview of our video
But the good news is
your baby can sleep through the night with your help.
Infant Sleep
For over twenty years, we have provided parents like yourself with simple, practical advice to help their
Baby and themselves get a good night's
sleep. Our tips are based on the ground breaking research conducted with Infants and Babies at the Stanford University
Infant Sleep Laboratory, and subsequently confirmed by numerous Baby Sleep Experts. Most importantly, they observed that young Babies learn to use their own natural abilities to sleep through the night, and will fall asleep on their own if put to bed awake.
Infant Sleep Patterns: the first few
weeks of life.
The Typical Infant Sleep pattern, during the first 4-8 weeks of life, is to randomly sleep
from 16-20 hours during a 24 hour cycle. Unfortunately, a new baby can not yet tell the difference between day and night. However, since they are, after all, new
infant humans, they share the same biological drive to sleep at night that we adults do. In fact, if
your baby is put to sleep awake at the same time each night, her infant sleep
pattern will begin to change, and you will see your
baby sleeping for longer and longer periods
by the time your baby is 8-12 weeks old!
Infant Sleep Patterns: learn to self-soothe
All of the infant sleep research, all the leading Baby Sleep experts, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics, agree that
allowing your baby to fall asleep on his own is the most important step in his ability to learn to sleep through the night.
Numerous studies have shown that allowing your baby the opportunity to fall asleep on his own, is the key to preventing baby sleep difficulties down the road.
A substantial late night feeding
helps Infant Sleep Pattern.
Your
baby is getting more mature week by week, and by 10-16 weeks of
age, if your baby has eaten enough food when he goes to
sleep, your sleeping baby is less likely to wake in the middle
of the night because of hunger.To help your baby learn to sleep through the night, we recommend that you give him a substantial feeding at the same time each evening, between ten and midnight, and then put him down to sleep while still awake. This is known as a focal feeding. Observations of baby sleep patterns have
found that feeding your baby after midnight can actually interfere with your baby sleeping through the night.
The Difference Between Day and Night
You can teach your baby the difference between day and night. This simply means that
your home should be a stimulating place during the day, and a quiet one at
night. At night, reduce the amount of noise and stimulation. Infant Sleep Patterns
In summary, if your baby is consistently allowed to soothe himself back to sleep, to learn the difference between day and night, and given a late night feeding, 96% of you will have your baby sleeping through the night by 10-16 weeks of age.
For Babies 4-12 Months of Age
If your baby is already more than 3 months old, not to worry. The sleep training methods described above will work for babies that are even one year old. We want to re-emphasize that putting your baby to sleep while she is still awake, is the most important step you can take in teaching your baby to fall asleep on her own. After you have put her down, she will likely cry for the first few nights, and you will likely feel very guilty. But the crying will diminish each night, and you will all start to get a good night's sleep. If the crying persists the first night, by all means go in and do what you normally do to calm her down. Then, start again. We've helped thousands of parents just like you with our baby sleep DVD, that shows you exactly how to end your baby's sleep problem. We welcome questions or concerns; so please feel free to contact us.
 Our video is the recipient of a prestigious Parents' Choice award, as well as a media award from the National Council on Family Relations.
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