I Wonder Why This Number Is Rising So...
Politics0 min ago
Posted a question last week reference my 2 yr old not sleeping through! Went out on thursday before she went bed so babysitter stuck to my routine! AND SHE SLEPT THROUGH! It must be just me what else can i try. The sticker chart is not too good as they don't interest her and the doctor suggests a child sleeping pill which i don't really like the idea of that any more suggestions???? Thanks 4 your help!
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.hello. I'm a health visitor. I'm going to copy and paste the information sheet that I give to parents who have a child with a sleeping difficulty. Theres a lot ...so read on..!
SLEEPING DIFFICULTIES IN BABIES/CHILDREN
� Babies and children who don�t sleep well can be the cause of great unhappiness to their parents. Sleep deprivation, as any well practiced torturer will tell you, is a sure method of breaking your spirit, determination and ability to think clearly.
� In order to understand your childs sleep problem, you have to have a degree of understanding about sleep
� Sleep is not one consistent state of unconsciousness, it is a cycle of deep, light and dream sleep, broken up with regular brief periods of partial wakening. Sleep studies back this up, showing a different electrical brainwave pattern for each stage. First we drift off to sleep, then hit the deepest part of sleep, we dream for a while, the come to a lighter state of sleep, before coming back to being briefly awake, when we stretch, pick our pillow up off the floor where it has fallen, turn over, and drift back off to sleep, for a re-run of the cycle. We hardly remember that we have even been awake at all, but when we are experiencing these periods of being partially awake, our brains are actually assessing our environment, and checking that we are safe, and that things are as they should be. This is a physical remnant of our caveman ancestors, who even during sleep would have to regularly check that they were safe from the saber toothed tiger that lurked around for its dinner.
� The electrical tracings of sleep indicate that the average new-born has a sleep cycle of just under 1 hour, a toddler about an hour, whilst we adults go about 1 and a half hours, between partial awakenings.
� This process can take some nights to work, and it is often when you are thinking that you cannot take another night of this, that you will put your child to bed, and expect to listen to an hour of crying again, when amazingly, after 20 seconds of fussing, your child will just ���.. go to sleep! They are learning a new bedtime routine. They are learning how to go to sleep on their own without your assistance. Therefore, when they wake in the night, they now have the skill to get themselves back off to sleep, and do not need to wake you.
� Bear in mind�Childrens routines are easily disrupted, by illness, visiting relatives, a new baby, etc. If they slip out of their good bedtime routine, then start back at the beginning of the sleep training programme. It will probably only take them 1 or 2 nights to get them back to sleeping well again.
� Be strong! I recommend that as parents, you psychologically prepare yourselves over a few days, and discuss how you might practically deal with the controlled crying, and how you might help and support each other during the sleep training programme. It can be difficult. It will be tiring. You may feel like giving up. It might be worth considering doing the programme when you�re both on a week off, which would allow you to get some sleep in the day if you�ve had a particularly bad night.
� One word of reassurance. Sleep training works! It WILL work for you. But it will not work just by thinking about it. You have to DO IT. You may have a couple of nightmarish nights, but this surely has to be worth it if following this, your child starts to sleep through the night. Imagine��� 8 hours, unbroken sleep. NICE!
Really hope this helps. Its cracked EVERY single child its been used upon in my experience. Let me know how you get on.... and best wishes.
Jo