Although most sleep problems with babies and children are caused by behavioural factors, there are also a number medical conditions that can affect the quality and duration of your baby’s sleep.

The most common of these medical causes are:

Acid Reflux and Gastro Oesophageal Disease (GER)

This condition is when the contents of an infants babies stomach come up the food pipe and cause a variety of problems. The most obvious symptom is milk coming back up and being vomited or dribbling out. Unfortunately there are some potentially serious side effects such as resistance to feeding, iron defficiency anemia, irritiability, and failure to put on weight.

IF you suspect that your baby is suffering from this condition try to avoid acidic foods and keep him or her upright for the first 20 minutes after feeding. You can also let your newborn sleep at a slight incline as this can help reduce night wakings. Needless to say, if you suspect that this is a problem, please consult with your pediatrician.

Sleep Disordered Breathing

Some babies who habitually snore may suffer from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, in which the upper airways repeatedly collapse or partially collapse. This can force your baby to wake up. Other symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea include labored, irregular breathing and tossing and turning during the night.

If your baby is suffering from this condition, you should definately get your pediatrician to check it out as this condition can cause cognitive, health and developmental issues later in life. Moreover infants that suffer fromt his are more likely to be at risk from Sudden Infant Death syndrome (SIDS).

In addition to these conditions it may be worth considering if your child is suffering from an ear infection, urinary tract infection, fever or cow’s milk allergy.

I rececently had a question from someone whose daughter wasn’t napping and was getting really cranky. She was then falling asleep very early and generally suffering from tiredness. I thought I’d publish my reply as it may be useful to many of you who are going through the same experience:

Hi xxxxxxxxxxx,

It is quite normal for toddlers to go through phases of resisting napping.
These often accompany developmental milestones such as learning to walk.
The best thing that you can do is try and establish a naptime routine.

If she doesn’t have a night time routine, start with that. 10-15 minutes
before she goes to sleep go through a consistent set of soothing activities
that lead to sleep. When you have her associating her night time sleep
routine with going to sleep, you can try and implement a mini version of the
same routine for her naps.

If you go through the same set of activities at the same time every day then
the routine will act as a signal for sleep. Don’t worry about the timing at first.
Get the routine in place and then slowly move the nap time in 15 minute or 30 minute
increments.

I know it sounds simple but it really can work wonders. Give it a go and let me
know how you get on. Above all try and be consistent,

All the best,

Sarah

I received a letter today from a customer that has a toddler that wont sleep until really late. She has put a bedtime routine in place and she will now happily sit in her crib but instead of sleeping, she prefers to stay awake for an hour or two happily entertaining herself.

I thought I would share my brief reply with you all:

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If she is not displaying signs of tiredness during the day, then she is probably getting enough sleep over the course of 24hrs. In this case, you either need to get her up earlier or accept a later bedtime.

Try and provide her with mental and physical stimulation during the day but as long as she is happy going to bed and is not overtired then it really does not matter if she prefers to entertain herself for a while. I would
recommend that you start to withdraw your presence gradually now. Move the chair a little farther away each night. If she protests do it more gradually.

Try not to use a night light as she will be more likely to fall asleep quickly if it is dark. If she complains about being scared, remind her that you will be right there with her.

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It is worth mentioning that there may be many reasons that your toddler won’t sleep immediately. Lack of tiredness is only one reason. Many toddlers wont sleep if they have reached a developmental milestone, and its also possible that if you have recently been teaching your toddler to self-soothe, that he or she has not fully developed the skill of falling asleep quickly. Be consistent, keep bedtime quiet and appropriate for sleep and in time your toddler will learn this valuable skill.

A customer of mine has been having problems getting her toddler to go to bed without a serious bedtime battle. I thought I would anonymously share an excerpt of my reply to her e-mail.

…………

In the meanwhile, the first thing you must do is
associate a bedtime routine with her sleep time.
You can move the bedtime later. Get her to agree
to the exact routine and plan it out with her. Do
some drawings with a box for each stage and tick it
off together when you have done each stage.

Complete as much of the routine as possible in her
bedroom and do not let her go back downstairs once
you have started. If she does not want to go to her room,
try and make the first activity in the routine
something that she really enjoys doing. Be patient.
She will resist at first and it may take a few days
but if you are 100% consistent she will soon get the
idea. Do not negotiate with her and ignore any tactics
that she tries.

As far as signs of tiredness go, if she starts to
get hyperactive, you have let things go too late.
Start the routine when she is still calm.

Do not let her watch television in the evening. Studies
have shown that it will reduce the quality of sleep and
make it harder for her to fall asleep.

…………………….

Bedtime battles with toddlers are very common and I hope this brief post helps if you are in the same
position. You would also be wise to make sure that your toddler does not nap late in the afternoon
and that he or she gets plenty of mental and physical stimulation during the day. It will also help if you can manage to get your toddler to agree to co-operate. Sometimes giving your toddler some control like choosing their story or pajamas can make them feel more co-operative and less like doing battle.

In the first 12-16 weeks, your baby will have a very chaotic sleep pattern and will not have settled into a natural circadian sleep cycle. Instead of sleeping mostly at night your baby will sleep in mini cycles at seemingly random times. At somewhere between 2 and 8 weeks your baby will usually fall into a pattern of 4 hours sleep followed by about half an hour of alertness. You should not try and manipulate this natural sleep pattern as your interference at this early stage can actually delay the onset of a more stable sleep pattern. The only things that you should do is make sure that your baby is exposed to as much natural daylight as possible during the daytime and as little artificial light as possible at night.

At around 12 weeks maybe a little later, you should consider trying to teach your baby some heathy sleeping habits. The following are some of the things that you should consider implementing: Read the rest of this entry

I received an e-mail today from a mother whose baby is not napping for long enough and is consequently caught in a cycle of overtiredness and poor sleep quality. This is quite a common problem so I thought I’d share my reply:

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Thanks for your e-mail. I will certainly do my best to help. First of all let me say that short napping is quite a common problem and that it often accompanies developmental milestones. Your baby will undoubtedbly grow out of this phase but I know from first hand experience what you are going through. Read the rest of this entry

If your toddlers bedtime is 9pm or 10pm then you may be wondering if you need to do anything about it. Even if you do decide to make some changes, you may be looking for some advice on how to do it without World War 3 breaking out.

First let me point out that a well rested toddler will be alert and will be receptive to, and interactive with, his or her environment. In this state your child is much more likely to be calm, attentive, pleasant and socially at ease. On the flip side, children with sleep problems will be less alert, less attentive and will have much
poorer concentration. Read the rest of this entry

I was busy surfing the net this morning and I came accross a blog post reviewing some Teddies that have been specifically designed to help babies sleep.

There’s Lavender Lab which is a plush golden pooch, twilight turtle and a sheep. The ultra-soft Sheep fastens to the outside of the crib and emits the sounds of a mother’s heartbeat as well as glam-natural spring showers, whale songs and the ocean’s surf. I had a quick look at the website and they seem to be all the rage. They claim that Gwyneth Paltrow, Katie Holmes and Angelina Jolie all use them and they certainly have some expert pediatricians on their advisory board.

For those of you looking for a way to soothe your baby without relying on a pacifier or other unreliable sleep props, check out this unbiased review:

Rockinmama Review

I am certain that every parent has been through times when their baby won’t sleep. Perhaps you are a new parent and are wondering whether your babies sleep habits are normal? Let me start by giving you some average figures so you can determine if you really have a problem.

As a rough guide, a full-term infant (not premature) will sleep on average, for about 14-16 hours per day. At first, your newborn baby will have quite a chaotic sleep cycle and each sleep period can last between 30 minutes and 3 hours, with a complete sleep cycle about every 50-60 minutes.

This means that your newborn is invariably in light sleep and can wake up many times a night. Don’t worry though, this stage does not last forever and after about 6 weeks a more predictable pattern will start to establish itself. By age three to four months, your baby will start to sleep for shorter durations during the day and for longer durations at night. At this point about 75% of babies will be sleeping 14-15 hours in a 24 hour period with a 6-8 hour chunk at night.

If you feel your baby won’t sleep to the point where something is wrong, you may wish to consider some of the following points: Read the rest of this entry

If you’ve recently had a baby, you won’t need me to tell you how exhausting the first few months can be. This is an incredibly difficult and tiring time and tends to get worse until about 12 weeks have passed. At 12 weeks, your baby will start to establish his or her own circadian rhythms. In practical terms, this means that your baby will start to consolidate more of his or her sleep at night and will start to sleep for longer stretches at a time.

I can remember vividly how these first few months can feel. You can’t ever seem to shake off your tiredness and every time you start drifting off, your baby starts crying and requires your attention. You are probably wondering if you will ever get a decent night’s sleep and when (if ever) your baby will “sleep through the night”. Read the rest of this entry