If you have noticed that your baby is snoring or sleeping with their mouth open and their tongue down, it is very important that you investigate further as this can be an important indicator of a breathing issue impacting sleep. Your baby should never sleep with their mouth open unless they are sick. It is important to consult with your pediatric medical professional to adequately address any sleep or breathing disorders including sleep apnea.
7. Overtired
When a baby is not getting enough sleep, this not only can be the cause of frequent night wakes, but also can lead to false starts shortly after bedtime as well as early rises. This can become a bit of a vicious cycle and have parents exhausted.
If you are trying to break the cycle of overtired, you may need to provide the opportunity to repay some sleep debt by making time for supported or contact naps as well as using motion and feeding to get them back to sleep faster.
If you are wondering if your little one may be overtired, have a read of my blog post on sleep cycles and wake windows and consider making some adjustments to their daytime schedule.
8. They may be feeling the same stress as you around big changes in your family
Anytime there are big changes or highly emotional experiences within your family, your baby will likely pick up on these. Anything that happens during the day, will show up in sleep.
These changes may include moving to a new home, increased job stress for a parent or some sort of emotional loss amongst many other things. Babies cannot self-regulate and this means that they rely on us to co-regulate. If you notice that you are feeling more stressed, your baby seems stressed. When you are anxious, your baby may seem anxious.
We know that sleep is a vulnerable state so we need to understand that if we are not feeling good at bedtime, your baby will not be feeling good either. If they notice that their primary caregiver, the person they rely on fully to survive, is not okay. If you are not okay, they are not okay and who wants to sleep when the people that we love the most in the world are not okay?
Sometimes this means that we need to take some time to take care of ourselves as parents. We need to be able to be a calm presence for babies.
Self-care is essential. Remember, taking care of yourself is a part of taking care of your baby.
9. They may be going through a developmental milestone
Mastering new skills is a very common reason babies wake through the night. Learning to crawl, walk, talk or any other new milestone can be very exciting but also overwhelming for your child. While this sleep interruptor typically resolves itself within two weeks time, ensuring your child has lots of time to practice their new skills during the day can be very helpful in making sure they do not want to practise when you desperately want to be sleeping.
10. Your baby is sleeping like a baby
Truthfully, we need a perspective change. I am not exactly sure where the idea originated that sleeping like a baby should be equated to sleeping long stretches without any parental support, but it isn’t accurate. Parents are under so much societal pressure when it comes to infant sleep and we desperately need to normalise infant sleep.
Remember Mama, babies are meant to wake, you are doing an amazing job, and your baby is likely doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing.
References:
McKenna, J. J. (n.d.). Re-Thinking “Healthy” Infant Sleep. The Natural Child Project. Retrieved from https://www.naturalchild.org/articles/james_mckenna/rethinking.html
Nancy Mohrbacher. (2012, November 1). Do Older Babies Need Night Feedings? Retrieved from http://www.nancymohrbacher.com/articles/2012/10/31/do-older-babies-need-night-feedings.html
Sadler , S. (1994). Sleep: what is normal at 6 months? . Prof Care Mother Child, 4(6). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8680184?dopt=Abstract
Originally published here.
Lauren Heffernan, founder of Isla-Grace, is a certified sleep and well-being specialist and certified sleep educator. After giving birth to her first daughter, Grace, Lauren learned the many challenges of navigating motherhood. These included the multitude of books, information, and people with strong opinions on the right way to be a mother. She quickly learned that the best parent to her child was herself and that in trusting her instincts, she would never go wrong. With this belief, and after certification with the International Maternity and Parenting Institute’s Maternity and Child Sleep Consulting Program, Bebo Mia’s Infant Sleep Educator Program and Mohawk College’s Breastfeeding Program, Lauren launched Isla-Grace and co-created the Baby-Led Sleep Approach. She provides information and support to women at different stages of motherhood and walks each one through the personal journey to become a more confident mother.
