When to seek help for sleep problems
Sleep shouldn’t be a battle.
Baby sleep problems are very common – around 75% of parents report that they have difficulties with their baby’s sleep during the first year. For some these sleep difficulties quickly pass, but for others they persist into toddlerhood and sometimes right across childhood too. Given the importance of sleep for healthy child development and parent mental health, it’s important to seek help if sleep difficulties are severe and/or persistent.
When is it time to find help?
It can be hard to know if it’s time to find more intense support for your baby’s sleep. You might be waiting to see if things get better over the coming months. As a general rule, without intervention, settling difficulties tend to persist. Many parents spend months fixated on sleep, jumping from one approach to the next, hoping they’ll stumble on the right approach for their baby. Finding the right help early on can prevent months of fatigue and exhaustion.
It’s time to find extra support if:
Your baby wakes up a lot. While frequent night waking is normal during the first few months, as a general rule from 6 months of age, three or more wake ups per night is probably too many.
Your baby is difficult to settle, or cannot settle without a lot of help from you. Falling asleep is a skill that takes time and persistence to master. Lots of babies need help learning how to fall asleep in their cot, for example.
Your baby often wakes up at night after only 30-90 minutes of sleep.
You are exhausted. Your own lack of sleep is impacting your physical and emotional wellbeing. You don’t feel like yourself.
You’ve tried generic sleep advice and maybe even tried a downloadable program or app, but none of it worked. Your baby has unique sleep needs that don’t fit within advice aimed at the ‘typical’ baby.
Parenting your baby is hard work, and you’re struggling to enjoy your baby. Sleep deprivation can feel a lot like depression. Nothing takes the joy out of life quicker than disrupted sleep.
If one or more of the above sounds familiar, then it’s time to get help from someone who is highly trained in paediatric sleep.
Should I speak to my GP or health nurse?
Yes, this is a great place to start. But if you’ve tried this already and the advice you received didn’t help, then you’ll benefit from seeing someone who’s core practice is sleep.
Tricky cases and those with diagnosed sleep disorders, aren’t often helped by generic baby sleep advice. We see this s lot - parents who have tried numerous programs without success, come to us and we quickly identify a factor that has been overlooked. If nothing else has worked then it’s time to have someone do a deep dive in to your baby’s sleep - to work out what their unique sleep needs are, so so a plan can be tailored to their specific needs.
Why doesn’t generic sleep advice work for my baby?
Some babies have a more active temperament. They don’t want to miss a thing and would rather be awake and busy at all hours of the day or night. These babies are much much harder to settle for sleep, cry a lot, wake easily and rely heavily on their parents to help them feel calm and secure. Parenting these babies can be really hard, especially if you don’t have enough practical support from your partner or family.
Some babies have a lower need for sleep than average, or have difficulty building up enough sleep pressure to sleep long stretches, or may have some circadian rhythm disruption that is making sleep a nightmare. Until these issues are addressed, sleep doesn’t improve.
Looking after yourself is important
Months of disrupted sleep can make you feel awful, increase your risk of having an accident, and can impact your ability to enjoy your baby. Sleep is a pillar of good health. When your baby sleeps well they are better able to play and engage with the world around them. Better sleep is associated with a range of positive health outcomes for babies - and also for parents.
Sleep Practitioner