WHY ISN'T MY BABY SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT?
We've all been there... it's 3am and your little one is up for the second time since they went down for bedtime. You're sleep deprived and you decide to take it to Google: "Why isn't my baby sleeping through the night?" In order to really understand why our babies aren't sleeping through the night, we should dig into a couple things...
What is "sleeping through the night"?
What causes overnight wakings?
What is "sleeping through the night":
Sleeping through the night is technically 8 hours of consolidated sleep. However, we are striving for closer to 11-12 hours of overnight sleep, but it can take some time to get there. It's also important to factor in that your little one may require an overnight feeding during those 11-12 hours.
Another thing we want to consider is that we all naturally wake up through the night. Have you ever looked at your baby monitor to discover that your little one is in a completely different location than when you looked at it last? That's because we all wake up throughout the night and put ourselves back to sleep. Teaching a baby the skills needed to put themselves back to sleep is how we get to that 11-12 hours. So your baby likely WILL wake in the middle of the night a couple times, but you won’t know those wakings are happening because they are skilled enough to seamlessly get themself back to sleep.
What causes overnight wakings:
Not placing your baby down awake: If your baby falls asleep in your arms and then wakes overnight and you're not there, it can be startling to them. They will also naturally look for the same assistance that got them to sleep at bedtime. Teaching independently sleep at bedtime will translate over through the rest of the night.
Sleep Crutches: Some examples are: Feeding to sleep, rocking to sleep, holding to sleep, constantly reinserting a pacifier overnight.
Developmental Milestones & Regressions: Children go through several regressions over the first 3 years of life. While it may be a sleep regression, it's also a developmental PROgression. Your little one is learning so many new things, which can be frustrating and exciting for them!
Timing: Making sure we put our babies down at the right time is crucial. If they go down too late, they may be overtired heading into the night and have more frequent wakings. If they do not have enough sleep pressure going into the night, they will let off steam throughout the night.
Consistency : Choose a method you can be consistent with when your little one wakes up overnight. If we are using a sleep crutch from above, they may rely on this every time they wake overnight.
Environment: The ideal room is room pitch black with continuous white noise. If any sort of light peaks in overnight, it may send a signal to your little one's brain saying it's time to wake up!
One note: If your little one is younger than 16-weeks adjusted, it's still very normal to not be "sleeping through the night." Once our baby's sleep cycles have matured we can be confident that they will grasp the skills needed to sleep through the night.
As always, reach out to us if you are struggling with getting your little one to sleep through the night. We offer complimentary 15-minute discovery calls to find out more about your little one and talk about how we might be able to help!
Written By: Rachel Donovan, MyBaby Sleepology