Will I Ever Sleep Again?

hile you were pregnant, you probably heard (more than once) that when your baby arrives, you’ll never sleep again.

While there is some truth to the first four months of a baby’s life being pretty exhausting for everyone, sleep is absolutely something that’s possible (and necessary) to strive for once your baby gets past this first stage.

It’s hard to imagine when you’re pregnant what sleep deprivation truly feels like. For new parents, once you’ve figured out how to feed and diaper your baby, sleep quickly becomes an obsession. Why? Because you need it so badly!

If you have a child who is not sleeping well, you may see signs of chronic overtiredness:

• Cranky or fussy behavior
• Dark circles under his eyes
• Or lots of crying throughout the day as he tries to hold it together even though he’s exhausted

A baby who isn’t sleeping well is not getting good sleep “nutrition”. To properly develop physically, emotionally and cognitively, children need to get the proper amount of sleep.

See The Cradle's article The 6 Sleep Stealers.

For parents, proper sleep after the baby’s birth is equally critical. If you aren’t rested, it’s difficult to get up in the morning to face the day with energy and patience - and it’s doubly tough to stay connected in your relationship with your spouse. Allowing yourself or your marriage to get worn down is one of the worst things you can allow to happen in your family, so it’s important to protect everyone from sleep deprivation.

When Can We Start to Work on Sleep Issues?
You may wonder when it is possible to encourage your baby to sleep well. As you search through the vast amount of information out there on sleep, you’ll find many different points of view. Some experts feel that it is appropriate to begin to work on sleep from the early weeks of life, while others encourage parents to wait until 6 or 8 months until they begin. At our pediatric sleep practice, Sleepy Planet, our feeling is that a baby should be at least 4 months old and weigh at least 14 pounds before beginning a sleep program.

et’s take a closer look at the beginning of your baby's life and examine when it’s possible to begin to make some changes. Thankfully, there are some important things you can begin to do in the early days that will help set the stage for better sleep when it becomes appropriate.

Birth through 3 Months
This age is a real transition time for your baby, often called “the fourth trimester”, because your baby is adapting from having all of her needs met in the womb to figuring out how to regulate those needs in the world with your help.