By Elizabeth Pantley, author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Newborns ~~~
Would you like to learn an easy tip that will absolutely help your newborn sleep longer stretches? If you don’t learn this, you could accidentally create excessive, unnecessary night-waking throughout babyhood. Here is the critically important fact that you must know:
Babies move around and make sounds in their sleep.
Surprisingly, many new parents don’t know this – even experienced parents can miss this critical key: the majority of newborns are not quiet, still sleepers. Babies roll, squirm, grunt, groan, coo, whimper and sometimes even outright cry out during sleep. These movements and noises don’t always signal awakening, and they don’t require any action on your part. Your baby is nearly or even totally asleep during these episodes. These are not the cries that mean, “I need you!” They are just normal sleeping activity and sounds.
Many new parents are awakened throughout the night by their newborns, and they immediately jump to action at every peep. While an admirable intention is at the heart of this, many times, their newborns are fully asleep, and their parent’s actions wake them up! In their desire to be loving parents and respond to Baby’s every need, they disrupt their baby’s sleep (and their own!) – and can teach their children to wake up more often! When you observe your baby and learn to tell if your little one is actually awake or still asleep you will avoid many unnecessary wake-ups during those early months. And you and your baby will get better sleep!
Elizabeth Pantley is a mother of four, grandmother, and author of the bestselling book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Newborns plus 8 other books in the No-Cry Solution Series, which helps Moms and Dads through all key stages of parenting. Visit her at nocrysolution.com