Baby Sleep Major Myths Busted

So you're a proud new mother, you're no doubt overjoyed with your little bundle of joy. Your family and friends are all around to share this special moment with you, not to mention offer plenty of advice.

When you're a new parent, something you will, no doubt, receive lots of, is wanted and unwanted information. You will have to shift through all of it to find out if it applies to you, and what has absolutely no value.

Even though people mean well, old wives tales are not very helpful when you're trying to take care of your baby. So, here are five major baby sleeping myths.

1. Never Wake A Sleeping Baby

This is the most common myth you will hear as a new parent. Never wake a sleeping baby, as there may be severe consequences. What are these consequences? No one seems to know! There is no basis for this myth.

During the initial first few weeks, your baby will need to be fed every 3 hours at least. If your child is asleep, you will need to wake him/her to feed him/her.

There is no way to avoid this, as it's important for a baby to gain a healthy amount of weight. So, the next time someone warns you not to wake your sleeping baby, you can give them the facts.

2. Keeping A Newborn Up During The Day Will Help Him/Her To Sleep Better At Night

A newborn child will take some time to acclimatise to the days and nights. Sleep rhythm is a brain function that develops as a baby grows and is usually set by the 6th or 8th week.

If you keep your newborn baby up for a long time, it will cause overtiredness and lead to other problems. If children are too tired, they produce excessive cortisol. The cortisol, in turn, makes it difficult for them to fall asleep.

3. Some Children Require Less Sleep

While every child is different, a child's body will have different sleep and resting patterns. Babies need more sleep than you realise.

On an average, newborns need between 15 and 16 hours of sleep per day. If your child is healthy, emotionally stable and learns situations well, then he/she is getting enough sleep. If not, then your baby is not getting enough sleep.

4. Your Baby Should Sleep Through The Night

This is an unrealistic expectation for a newborn baby. Your child will start to sleep through the night around the 12-week mark. Before that, it's entirely natural for a baby to sleep every few hours, and sadly, it means that you will have to keep waking yourself up in the middle of the night.

5. Never Rock Your Baby To Sleep

Mothers have been rocking their babies to sleep for centuries. It would thus seem like there was nothing wrong with it. This has also been found to be an efficient movement for weaning a baby off breastfeeding. Most children also found comfort in a mother's rocking them to sleep.

There are always a lot of old wives tales regarding young babies. Has this list of 5 of the biggest myths about kids sleeping been an eye opener for you?