Having an understanding of sleep cycles can transform the perception of sleep and enable both practitioners and parents to completely turn around children’s sleep after fundamental sleep-cycle related issues have been addressed. While signs of tiredness and awake intervals should never be viewed out of context, they can for many babies and children form part of the answer to the sleep situation. Understanding sleep cycles can also point towards a more accurate diagnosis of the sleep problem.

Most infants usually have no sleep pathology, but because of the context in which people are trying to parent, some people find themselves at the end of their ability to cope. Some parents have researched sleep and parenting extensively, and know that they will raise their child in a particular way.

Others have few expectations. Either way, sometimes sleep deprivation is something that parents cope well with, and sometimes it is intolerable. If parents are struggling to cope, the fact that their baby is behaving normally may be slightly irrelevant. After all, if you can’t cope, you can’t cope.

Many gentle sleep-coaching techniques take time and effort to undertake, and parents can feel overwhelmed and daunted by the prospect of getting even less sleep to address nighttime behaviour. Fundamentally, whatever the parent is doing currently is likely to be the easiest, quickest, and most reliable way of getting their child to sleep, so by definition, doing anything else will be harder, less reliable, and take longer, which can be an unappealing prospect.

Sleep is of paramount importance in life and experiencing a lack of sleep can cause you and your child to develop health problems, and increase accidents and injuries, mood and behaviour problems, memory and concentration difficulties, learning and performance problems, and a slower reaction time.

Therefore, it is important to implement a proper sleeping routine right from the beginning. At Amwaj Polyclinic, we will help you with practical tips that will help your child improve their sleep and make sure you get some well-deserved rest as well.