Security and Your Baby’s Sleep

Just as Linus needed his security blanket in the Charlie Brown cartoon, so is the case for so many babies. Baby Sleep is a very problematic concept when your baby is very young. It is not until a baby gets to be around nine months of age that he comes to understand that night time is indeed meant for sleeping.

During the earliest months of a baby’s life, he is not likely to sleep any more than six hours straight at one time. There are variations of this but as a general guideline this is the average for infants.  By the time your baby is a year old he is likely to sleep 10 to 12 hours on a nightly basis. In the meantime you need to find ways to make your baby feel secure in order to guarantee that you both get a good night’s sleep.

Attempting to regulate the sleep patterns of an infant is a good idea, but unfortunately it is more of a fantasy than a reality. Good sleep habits can be taught but in the early months your baby will sleep when he is tired and be wide awake when he is not.

One way to help your child feel secure when it is time to go to sleep is to provide him with what is known as a “transitional object”. This is an object that will provide an added boost of security to your baby. Common transitional objects include a soft cozy small blanket or a stuffed animal. This item will come to be very loved and cherished by your baby and will be calming and soothing when it is time for him to fall asleep. Many babies respond well to having a security object close by.

In order to make the blanket or teddy bear become an item he will love, keep it with you for a while in order for your scent to become a part of it. A sense of smell in a baby is very strong. Your baby will warm to the item that much more if every time he smells it is smells like his mother. When he wakes up scared in the night, having it near will help to restore his sense of safety and comfort.