As a new parent, you might agree with the fact that one of your biggest responsibilities is ensuring that your child is sleeping properly. Almost every parent has gone through confusion and stress when they find that their baby is having trouble here.
You may be wondering, “Why isn’t my baby sleeping?” “Why is my baby waking up in the middle of the night?” and several other such questions.
Going to the internet for help can also be tricky as almost every source seems to have differing opinions on how to deal with improper sleep schedules. It can thus be helpful to have the guidance of an expert sleep consultant who can advise you on how to help your baby with his or her sleep routine.
Signs that Your Baby is Having Trouble Sleep
You might be thinking, isn’t it obvious? If a baby stays awake at night, then that’s the main sign that something is wrong, correct?
Well, that is true, but there are also several ways that trouble with a sleep routine can manifest itself. Let’s look at some examples.
Difficulty Falling Asleep
One of the most common signs that you need to look out for is if your baby takes a long time to fall asleep. You might find that you need to spend a lot of time rocking them, holding them, or feeding them before they fall asleep. While a lot of babies will show this tendency at one point or another, frequent instances like this are a sign of something more persistent.
Constant Short Naps
If you notice your baby taking frequent naps during the day, especially under 45 minutes, then it may be a sign that he or she is missing out on valuable, restorative sleep during the night. This can be particularly confusing as many parents are unsure if they should wake their baby up to ensure feeding happens at the right time or not.
According to Medical News Today, older babies can be left to themselves, but babies younger than 4 weeks need to be fed every 4-5 hours.
Emotional and Behavioral Issues
When your baby isn’t getting enough sleep or has an improper sleep routine, you may also notice they show a lack of interest in people, exhibit clingy behavior and have other negative emotions. This can often be a sign of sleep deprivation, and it is important to address the issue as soon as possible.
What is a Sleep Consultant and What do they Do?
A sleep consultant is a professional who works with families and individuals to help them improve sleep habits as well as help a person discover any related issues that are affecting sleep.
A sleep consultant in the context of helping your baby with their sleep habits will assess and identify underlying sleep issues and offer you a recommended course of action to improve your baby’s sleep.
A baby sleep consultant can provide sleep training so that you know how to orchestrate and change things in your child’s environment to ensure their proper sleep habits. Kath, the founder of Sleep Easy, is a professional sleep consultant who has helped countless parents. She explains that sleep is particularly crucial for the ongoing development of a young child’s brain and body.
Her expertise was able to help Louise and Jack, two exhausted parents who were finding it almost impossible to deal with their 12-month-old child from waking up at night.
After making contact with Kath and implementing her personalized strategy, the issue was resolved within a period of two quick weeks, and their child went back to a healthy sleep cycle.
Benefits of Hiring a Sleep Consultant
Hiring a sleep consultant can provide you with a lot of peace of mind. Being unable to understand why your child is staying awake and experiencing difficulties with sleep is scary and frustrating.
Parenting is already a stressful job, and sometimes, there are difficult aspects like sleep, where extra help, guidance, and advice can go a long way in making life easier.
Here are some more examples of a sleep consultant can help you
- Provide you with a personalized and customizable sleep plan for your baby after careful assessment of their individual needs.
- Address sleep regression, which is a tendency for babies to go back to bad sleeping habits after a period of normality.
- Advise you on the steps needed to reduce the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), which usually occurs during sleep.
- Help teach your baby self-soothing techniques such as holding a soft blanket to their face or humming and rocking themselves.
Conclusion
Your baby’s sleep habits can tell a lot about the environment that he or she is growing up in. Remember that the more your sleep consultant knows about your baby’s habits and behaviors, the better they can help advise you.
Try to observe and document your baby’s sleep patterns as well as other activities, such as their activity levels and food habits.
With a little bit of patience and carefully following the guidelines of your child’s sleep consultant, it is possible to solve most sleep-related issues that your infant goes through.
