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Why Does my Baby fight sleep

If your baby fights sleep, it can be very stressful for both the parents and the child- after all, sleep is a key component in keeping us healthy and mentally sane! If your baby is fighting sleep regularly, you may wonder what you can do to help your little one get a full night’s sleep with less hassle. If your baby is crying in their sleep you may want to read the article/

MyBump2Baby bring you this article to help you get your baby to stop fighting sleep.

Reasons Babies Fight Sleep

Babies fight sleep for a variety of reasons, most of which can be rectified easily with a little practice and consistency.

 

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Your baby Is Overtired

As crazy as it sounds, if your baby is overtired, they may not be able to fall asleep.

This can be caused by trying to keep your baby awake for longer and missing your baby’s sleep window. It is important to allow a baby to fall asleep when they need to. If you try to keep them up for longer, in the hopes of having a full nights sleep, it can work against you and your overtired baby may keep you awake for longer.

It is important that you listen to your baby’s sleep cues. A common sign that a baby or toddler is tired is eye rubbing.

Your Baby Isn’t Tired

Between the ages of 1 and 2 years, babies usually need between 11 – 14 hours of sleep (which is quite a drop compared to the 12 – 16 hours of sleep they needed when they were babies!) If your older baby isn’t sleeping at nighttime anymore, then you may need to reduce their daytime naps. Toddlers should only have between 1 – 2 short naps throughout the day.

Separation Anxiety

Your baby could be going through separation anxiety.

Separation anxiety, or the clingy stage, usually starts at around 8 – 10 months. Separation anxiety may make night times particularly difficult, as your little one may scream the house down if you leave them in the cot on their own.

Your Baby is Overstimulated

Your baby can become overstimulated when there is too much noise, light, or if there are loud noises. When your baby is overstimulated, they can have trouble falling asleep. It is best to keep things quiet at bedtime, to help your baby with falling asleep.

For young babies, white noise can help them relax, as it reminds them of the womb.

Teething

At around 6 months of age, most babies will have cut their first tooth. The pain caused by teething may keep your little one awake.

Sleep Regression

Sleep regression is a time that many parents dread- and can often lead to parents feeling exhausted due to lack of sleep. This disturbance in your baby’s sleep routine can happen at around 4 months, 6 months, between 8 – 10 months and at around 12 months.

Sleep Tips to stop your baby fighting sleep

Regular Bedtime Routine

Establishing a consistent bedtime routine is essential in getting your little one to rest easy. If your baby’s sleep schedule is irregular, or if they are put to bed at a different time every night, it can make them more tired throughout the day and make your baby fight sleep.

An easy bedtime routine is to give your baby a bottle, bath, bedtime story and bed. Young babies are good at figuring out “what comes next”, so keeping a consistent bedtime routine will tell them that its bedtime.

Exposing your baby to daylight and plenty of noise during the day, and closing all of the curtains, turning off lights and ensuring it is quiet during the night can help your baby begin to recognise the difference between daytime and nighttime, or, more specifically, awake time and sleep time.

Establish a Nap Time Routine

As your baby gets older you may need to introduce a nap schedule/nap routine to ensure that your little one does not get overtired from all the play or have too much sleep in the day. It is best to schedule your baby’s nap time further away from bed time, so that they are not too awake

Adjust your babies feeding and nap times

Sometimes it is just worth fiddling around with your babies feeding and sleeping time to get an idea of what works best.

Ensure there is a different atmosphere in the daytime compared to the nighttime.

It is important that when it is daytime everything is noisy and the TV is on, you hoover and talk as much as possible even if your baby is napping then at night time things should begin to calm down for your baby, perhaps turn the volume down a little on the TV and talk a little quieter this will keep you baby calm and get him or her to settle down a little easier.

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Give your little one enough space

Give enough space to your baby so that they don’t become to needy and also to allow them to self soothe and be comfortable on their own.

Sleep Training

Before you consider sleep training, you need to ensure that your little one is following a consistent and regular schedule (including being put to bed at the same time every night). At around 2 months of age, it is recommended to try and put your baby in their cot or Moses basket when they’re drowsy but awake- this will get them used to not being around you all of the time. Once you are putting your baby to sleep at a regular time and have established a consistent bedtime routine (e.g. bottle, bath, story, bed), you can begin sleep training.

For sleep training techniques, click the link: https://www.todaysparent.com/baby/baby-sleep/most-popular-sleep-training-methods-explained/