The Importance of Baby Sleep

Your baby needs eight hours of sleep and naps in between. Sleep aids in the development of your baby’s muscles, limbs, and skeletal structure.

All living creatures need sleep. Sleeping gives people and all living creatures the time for the body to recuperate and regenerate. Lion's needs 16 to 18 hours of sleep, while primates, ten to twelve hours of sleep. Humans need on average six to eight hours sleep to rejuvenate. Human babies need a full eight hours of sleep and naps in between.

The body uses sleep as a way to regenerate cells and refresh the brain and overall aids in the development of our body, mind, and health. During our sleep, the human body can regenerate hair follicles, fingernails, toenails and even the outer covering of the skin. This happens because of the automatic pilot that is built into our bodies. People tend to think that the body only needs to recharge spent energy on the day's work but in truth the body works the regeneration cycle much faster when the brain does not control much action.

Babies therefore need their sleeping time to develop muscles, limbs, and skeletal structure. In order to achieve a good night's sleep for your baby, it is important that your baby have comfortable and inviting bedding. The secret to a good bed is one that feels just right. Beds that are to big may make your little one feel insecure. Your baby's bed should be cozy and offer security for them to get a good night sleep. Selecting the proper bedding should also be a concern. The bedding should be easy to touch and feel cozy. Bedding that is to stiff or even to fluffy decreases your baby's comfort level and therefore reduces his/her sleep time. We would want our babies to enjoy their beds and consider it a place of security.

Try to make your baby's sleeping experience a pleasant one. Bedding should be inviting to the eye. There are so many wonderful patterns and fabrics on the market today that choosing the right bedding should not be to difficult. Remember that your baby needs enough rest to stimulate his/her growth and development and when this is achieved, your baby can reach his full potential.

Babies and Sleep

Babies and sleep. It can seem that the two are mutually exclusive and recent Brisbane research has even suggested that many mothers who have been diagnosed as having post-natal depression are actually suffering extreme fatigue from waking to their babies at night.

This has puzzled me, knowing that almost all babies waken to feed during the night, and especially breastfed babies, because breastmilk is so easily and quickly digested. I have read research documenting the many times that mothers in other cultures feed their babies at night, apparently without distress or depression.

Night waking had been an issue for me with my first baby, and I had felt rather “sleep-deprived” in the early months. By the time my second was born, I had learned – mostly from experienced mothers – that most babies wake up, and I felt more relaxed about it.

I discovered that we all slept better in bed together, and that I felt less fatigued, even though Zoe breastfed 3 or 4 times nightly. I would wake as she stirred, and feed her before she cried; this saved my husband from being disturbed, and he was more available for the early morning shift.

Co-sleeping, or bed-sharing, also synchronised our cycles of deep and light sleep, so I was already in light sleep when Zoe awoke, and I didn’t have that panicked feeling at being woken from deep sleep. Even better, I didn’t have to get out of bed, and I often fell asleep after a few minutes with Zoe still on the breast.

My experiences are confirmed by the elegant research done by James McKenna, Professor of Anthropology at University of Notre Dame, Indiana, US and his colleagues, who invited 35 mother-baby pairs into a sleep research laboratory, and monitored overnight their sleep patterns as they slept together or in separate rooms. They found that, not only did co-sleeping pairs get into the same sleep cycles, but that babies who co-slept experienced more frequent “arousals”, triggered by the mother’s movements, and spent less time in deep sleep.

As a researcher in SIDS, Professor McKenna believes that these low-level arousals, which did not actually awaken either partner, give the baby practice in arousing itself. This may lessen a baby’s susceptibility to some forms of SIDS which are thought to be caused by failure to arouse from deep sleep to re-establish breathing patterns.

Professor McKenna speculates that millions of years of co-sleeping and night feeding have not developmentally prepared young babies to “sleep through” in a solitary bed, involving, as this does, long periods of deep sleep.

There are many other benefits of co-sleeping, such as keeping the baby warm, increased access to the breast (which ensures a good supply), less crying, and the practical observation that co-sleeping babies almost always sleep on their backs, which is a significant factor in reducing SIDS risk.

Videos taken during the study showed that co-sleeping mothers, even in deep sleep, seemed aware of their baby’s position, and moved when necessary to avoid over-laying. At no time in the study did co-sleeping mothers impede the breathing of their babies, who actually had higher average oxygen levels than solitary sleepers.

Although there is no direct evidence to prove Professor McKenna’s theories, some of the lowest rates of SIDS are found amongst cultures where co-sleeping is predominant.

Western studies indicate that co-sleeping does not increase SIDS risk unless co-sleeping parents smoke or use alcohol or drugs. Co-sleeping parents must ensure that their baby’s head does not become covered by bedding, that the baby cannot sink into an overly soft mattress (water beds are not recommended) and that the baby does not become entrapped or overheated.

Fathers, non-breastfeeding mothers and working parents may particularly appreciate the cosy intimacy that sleeping with a baby brings. I do not see co sleeping as a panacea for fatigue, but for many families, it is easier, more pleasurable and less tiring than our cultures usual sleeping arrangements.

This Blog is About Babies

I have created this blog for adding everything about babies. My intention is to collect every detail about baby care. I will try to give you the easy and useful information on the related topics. The information will be from the reliable sources. Most of the parents always think that their child is a "child" who don't know any thing and when he/she will be grown then he/she will learn. This is a bad thought. Psychologist say that "50% of the personality features are developed during the first 2 years of a child'. OHHHHHHh.

It is right that a baby cannot talk and walk during first 2 years, but he can think, observe, feel, adapt and accept the things from atmosphere. I will post the detailed articles on this topic later.

• How to take care for the food of your baby?
• How to take care of the dressing of your baby?
• How to take care of the health of your babies?
• What are the common and hidden diseases your baby may have?
• How the parents should deal with the babies?
• How to train your babies for talking?
• What should we avoid to do while we are with our children?
• How to make your baby intelligent?
• How to grow the IQ of your babies?
• How to create leadership qualities in your baby?
• and many more............

I will try to cover all these topics and many more as i will get time.

I hope that moms and dads will like this blog. I need your suggestions and comments.

Thanks.