Having a Baby

The issue of babies sleeping is perhaps one of the most controversial topics there is when it comes to raising your baby. Let’s face it, sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture. I think this is an area which most of us want to get right, for our own sanities and to ensure we have a happy baby.

When it comes to babies and sleeping even the closest of friends can disagree on how they can combine these two words. Baby sleep problems can cause havoc in a home as the whole family is often affected.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to imagine that all the answers to a good night’s sleep have been written in a step by step manual to follow? Well as you can imagine many authors believe they have done just that. Approaches to babies sleep vary. Some approaches would be considered gentle, while others would be considered the firmer approaches to getting babies to sleep.

When I was facing sleep problems with my son I really wanted to find a ‘gentle way’ to help him sleep. I have to say I read many different books. I started with following many of the ideas in Dr. Sears books which advocates co-sleeping. I was however pretty upset to find that I couldn’t sleep with my baby. I found I only ever went into a very light sleep when he was in the bed with me and while he slept well, I unfortunately did not. Actually I found he slept much better when we moved him into his own room, but I didn’t do this until he was 10 months so I didn’t learn this one for a long time.

Then after the problems continued I decided it was time to read up on some of the firmer approaches to babies and sleeping.

For some parents the thought of putting their baby on a routine and leaving them to cry to teach them to sleep is utterly horrendous. For others this is a totally necessary thing to do when it comes to getting baby to sleep.

The authors of the baby books advocating a firmer approach to babies sleeping believe that some form of routine is needed and most believe that it may be necessary to leave your baby to cry for a certain amount of time to help them learn to go to sleep on their own. Many authors also believe it is important to start out as you intend to continue, by using these approaches with newborns.

For me personally a firmer approach did help us to resolve our baby’s sleep problems in the end, and the effort was well worth the reward. It is very important to find an approach that is a good fit for you and your family and this will be different for us all.