Baby Sleep Theories You Need To Know For Faster Results

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There are a lot of baby sleep theories and ideas that help explain why newborns sleep as they do.

Most new parents quickly realize babies sleep a whole lot without sleeping much at any given time. But some concepts help explain the whys behind the patterns.

Understanding the basic concepts can also help parents find solutions to sleeping problems if they arise.

The Basics Of Sleep Theories

For normal, healthy babies, the sleep theories are relatively simplistic. This isn't to say that baby sleep patterns will delight new parents who don't know what to expect.

Still there are some very common things parents of healthy babies can expect with patterns.

In most cases, the baby sleep assumptions say that newborns, in their first few weeks of life, will sleep more than 16 hours a day. This is broken up, however, into two to four-hour segments.

The reasons for the constant waking are fairly common. They include:

Hunger. This is the number one reason why newborns wake up so much, according to most baby sleep theories. The simple fact of the matter is babies cannot hold a lot of food in their stomachs at any given time. As their stomachs empty, they wake up to refill.

Comfort. Sometimes newborn babies wake up every two hours and they're not always hungry when they do. Some of the ideas that help explains this, support that these babies might simply be looking for a little comfort and contact. Babies thrive when they are cuddled, held and loved. This doesn't necessarily mean Mom and Dad have to oblige every time all the time, especially when a baby is getting older.

What To Look For When Baby Won't Sleep

A lot of times baby sleep patterns get jumbled because of problems.

These problems do not have to be huge to impact how baby sleeps. The thing is, these sleep theories try to explain why a baby who normally sleeps four hours straight suddenly wakes up every two hours or so. For more on this, read Baby Sleep Mistakes Parents Often Make.

The most common reasons why your baby struggles to sleep include:

Noise, general discomfort. According to many theories, babies spend a whole lot of time in the REM (rapid eye movement) pattern of sleep. This phase, characterized by rapid eye movements, is noted as being one of the easiest times to wake up a person.

Since this is a common state for sleeping babies, it is simply easier to wake them. This means noise, lights, uncomfortable surfaces or scratchy sheets can all cause problems for some babies. If nothing appears physically wrong with your baby and she wakes up all the time, inspect her sleeping environment closely.

Maybe the new sheets aren't to her liking? Perhaps the sun has changed positions during the day and is waking her when its rays come through the window? Is the new puppy barking too much?

Pain. When baby wakes up a whole lot, it is quite possible something is wrong. This is particularly the case if she wakes and is terribly upset. Check for fever, stomach issues, ear problems. Consulting a pediatrician about an unexplainable change in pattern that is accompanied by a lot of crying is also a very good idea.

Understanding the basic baby sleep theories can help parents better grasp why their bundles of joy do what they do.

The basic theories can even help parents devise their own ideas for what will help. If baby is difficult to please, medical attention might be required. Use your best judgment here

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