Parents shouldn’t worry about their baby’s inconsistent sleep patterns. Here’s why

New mother and father typically anticipate their child to begin sleeping by the evening across the time they attain six months of age. But in keeping with a brand new examine led by McGill Professor Marie-Helene Pennestri, mother and father ought to view sleep consolidation as a course of, as an alternative of a milestone to be achieved at a particular age. Tracking 44 infants over a interval of two weeks, she discovered that sleeping patterns differ tremendously – not just for completely different infants but in addition from evening to nighttime for a similar child.

In the examine revealed in Sleep Medicine, researchers requested moms to maintain a sleep diary about their six-month-old toddler for 2 weeks. On common, moms reported that their toddler slept 6 hours consecutively for about 5 nights out of a two-week interval, and eight consecutive hours for about three nights out of the identical interval. Half of the infants, nonetheless, by no means slept eight hours consecutively.

“Although previous research has shown that infants start sleeping through the night at different stages of development, little is known about individual sleep patterns night after night,” says Marie-Helene Pennestri, who’s an assistant professor within the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University and researcher on the Hospital en sante mentale Riviere-des-Prairies (CIUSSS-NIM).

Effects of breastfeeding and co-sleeping

The researchers additionally discovered that some parental practices had been associated to variability in sleep patterns. For instance, breastfeeding and co-sleeping had been related to extra variability in sleep patterns from evening to nighttime. While this discovering is in line with many research, the researchers observe that different elements may clarify this incidence. For occasion, moms who’re breastfeeding and co-sleeping usually tend to observe their toddler’s evening awakenings, despite the fact that these awakenings usually are not essentially problematic or disturbing.

“Parents are often exposed to a lot of contradictory information about infant sleep. They shouldn’t worry if their baby doesn’t sleep through the night at a specific age because sleep patterns differ a lot in infancy,” says Pennestri. She additionally notes that oldsters and clinicians ought to each remember that occasional sleeping by the evening doesn’t essentially point out a consolidation of this behaviour.

“One important piece of the puzzle is understanding parents’ perceptions and expectations of infant sleep. In future research, we hope to explore what ‘sleeping through the night’ really means to them,” says Pennestri.

(This story has been revealed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content. Only the headline has been modified.)

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