The Truth Behind The Top 11 Baby Sleep Myths

Grandparents, friends and relatives, overflowing with good intentions, do not stop advising young parents all over the world on how to take care of their newborn. One of the most frequently discussed topics is baby sleep and the tricks that can help them sleep peacefully and without waking up at night. Have you ever been told that skipping your baby’s last nap will help them sleep better through the night? There are so many myths about baby sleep ! Unfortunately, you can’t always believe everything you hear or read, especially when these tips revolve around a little child’s sleep. In this article, #MommyVeronika will debunk the top 11 “myths” surrounding baby sleep for you.

MYTH 1: Babies are afraid of the dark.

Truth: Babies are not afraid of the dark. They have nothing to base this fear on as their imagination won’t develop until around the age of 2. It’s dark (and noisy) in the womb, and so, like other mammals, babies actually find darkness comforting, safe, and calming. If you have a young baby who is overstimulated or overtired, placing them in a pitch black room (with white noise) will be very soothing for them. Babies do not need night lights as any light will be stimulating to them and may prevent them from falling asleep or staying asleep for long periods of time.

MYTH 2: A baby needs to sleep in a bright room during the day to know it’s not night.

Truth: Your baby doesn’t know the difference between day and night. Putting them to sleep in a light or dark room will not change this either. If your baby is confused during the day and night, the best way to combat this is by adjusting its sleep pattern. This is done by creating a bedtime routine at the same time every evening, so waking up will be more or less at the same time. This goes also for all daily naps. The road to success with any baby is routine. As for darkness, babies find it extremely soothing and it will be much easier for them to sleep better in a dark room – both during the day and at night. This is especially true for babies over 8 weeks old, as the dark encourages the release of the sleep hormone melatonin, which is crucial for your baby to sleep well.

MYTH 3: Late nights = late mornings.

Truth: Hardly no! Children have a natural biological rhythm – an internal clock that tells the body when to wake up and when to sleep. Babies’ bodies tell them they want to go to sleep early and wake up early. As a result, later bedtimes usually end up with lost sleep, as your little one will just get up at the same time anyway. Follow your baby’s rhythm. If it wakes up between 6-7am every day, that’s normal and is good!

MYTH 4: You should never wake a sleeping baby.

Truth: You’ve probably heard this a thousand times before, but don’t completely believe it. In the first few weeks, your baby needs to feed every two to three hours, so there may be times when you need to wake them up to feed. Also, in some babies, too much sleep during the day prevents better quality and longer sleep at night. If this is your case, you should definitely wake your baby up from the nap. Some babies would happily sleep all day and then stay up all night, and you definitely don’t want this happening! Waking up your baby at the same time every morning and from each nap means you are able to regulate your baby’s daytime sleep, allowing them to sleep better at night.

MYTH 5: Teething disrupts baby sleep.

Truth: Despite all the drooling and excessive chewing of everything in sight, the baby is really only affected by teething for a day or two until the tooth actually breaks through the gum. Teething doesn’t have to disrupt their sleep for weeks or months! In fact, when your child is lying down, the blood pressure is lowered. Meaning that the pain in the gums will be less while lying than when it’s upright and awake during the day. If your baby really is teething, you can expect them to be also restless during the day, not just at night.

MYTH 6: If the baby wakes up at night, it means it’s hungry.

Truth: Babies wake up hungry at night, for sure, but not every baby and not every time. Until the baby begins to eat solid food, 1 or 2 awakenings during the night to feed are considered quite normal. There are many other factors that cause night waking in babies and toddlers, such as too much or too little daytime sleep, being too hot or cold, being sick or uncomfortable. If your baby wakes frequently during the night and needs to be fed each time to fall asleep, it is possible that they’ve developed a relationship between feeding and sleeping. In some cases, feeding your baby every time they wake up can lead to a ‘reverse cycle’. Namely, to take a larger amount of milk at night, which means that they will take less during the day. It should be the other way around. If your baby wakes more than twice a night, it’s worth considering other factors that may be contributing to the waking.

MYTH 7: Babies under 6 months are unable to sleep through the night.

Truth: A baby’s ability to sleep through the night depends on many factors – their weight, daily milk and food intake, sleep environment, whether they are swaddled or not (for younger babies), the temperature in their room, how much daytime sleep they get, whether they can settle down well to sleep (for babies over 4 months old), etc. However, if all these factors are provided, it is quite possible for even a 6-week-old baby to sleep through the night. It all depends on you, your baby and their environment.

MYTH 8: You need to teach your baby how to fall asleep on their own as soon as possible.

Truth: Babies under 12 weeks old are not capable of consciously putting themselves to sleep. Some babies can instinctively fall asleep if everything is laid out for them, but this is more the exception than the norm. Teaching your baby to fall asleep on their own becomes possible and more important at 3-4 months. Around that age is the time when your child will start waking up between sleep cycles. To prepare your baby for this change, you can help yourself by putting them to bed while still awake but sleepy so that they can fall asleep on their own.

MYTH 9: Babies just fall asleep when they are tired.

Truth: Some babies fall asleep when they’re tired, but that doesn’t mean they’ll sleep well. However, the majority of babies will just stay awake until they are really overtired, making it impossible for them to fall asleep easily. You need to help your baby learn how to sleep by making sure they have the right wake time and the right sleep conditions.

MYTH 10: Giving babies lots of solids for dinner will help them sleep at night.

Truth: The balance between milk and solids is really important. Giving your baby lots of solids for dinner is not the solution to night waking. In fact, it can even make your baby’s nighttime sleep worse. If a baby under 10 months has too much protein at dinner, it can cause them to wake up at night as their body struggles to digest it. It’s recommended to offer solid food at lunchtime first. Once this is established, you can start offering solid food for dinner too. Lunch is the baby’s most important meal of the day because the protein in it is being stored by the baby’s liver. This way, you will help them feel full at night.

MYTH 11: Babies need to sleep in a quiet room.

Truth: False, false, false! Babies, especially very young ones, actually sleep better when it’s noisy. It can be louder than a vacuum cleaner in the womb and that’s all your baby knows! Using white noise in their room for daytime and nighttime sleep will definitely help your baby sleep longer and better. It also helps block out any other sounds from the home or environment that might wake a sleeping baby. Not by chance, white noise is also extremely effective for adults who suffer from insomnia.

Extra tip from #MommyVeronika – “Wake Window”

This is the time from waking up to going back to sleep, during which the baby is awake and being fed, their diaper is changed, they play, etc. It is extremely useful to know how much time the baby needs to stay awake so that you don’t ”overwork” them. With enough arousal, it will expend its energy, fall asleep easily, and have a consolidated and prolonged sleep. Too much wake time creates fatigue, and not enough, leads to difficulty falling asleep and short naps. The border line between the two can be very thin, especially in highly sensitive babies. Remember that every child has its own wake window.  The best thing you can do is observe your own and learn their personal preferences and wake windows.