Sleep Associations and Your Baby

It is important to keep in mind that the manner in which a baby falls asleep is something he does not forget. If he wakes suddenly in the night in tears he will want to be coaxed back to sleep in exactly the same way. If you nurse your baby to sleep, or rock him to sleep then that is what he will expect when he is wide awake at 3am.

One suggestion that can work is to vary the methods in which you get your baby to go to sleep. One night you can sing him to sleep, while you might rock him to sleep another night. You can try putting on a tape recording of songs for babies or you might want to do a gentle dance around the room with him in your arms to help bring on slumber.

The Parent Soothing Method for Sleep

Some people are all for doing what they can to relax and calm their babies in order to prepare them for a night of rest. This is what was described above. As the parent you rock, sing or nurse your baby to sleep. You do whatever you can to facilitate comfort and a good night’s sleep for your little one.

This method is a good choice for a variety of reasons. It encourages the bond between parent and baby and builds trust. It teaches the baby to have a healthy attitude about going to sleep as sleep is portrayed in a positive manner. It also brings about fond memories in the baby’s developing brain about how the parent remained close as the baby passed from wakefulness to a state of sleep.

On the other hand, one of the disadvantages of the parent-soothing method is that the baby comes to rely on the parent to be there to help him fall asleep. In this way it takes much longer for him to learn how to fall asleep on his own. When he wakes up he will expect his parent(s) to be there to do the same thing to get him back to sleep. This can prove exhausting for parents if it happens all of the time.