Do you ever wonder why your baby is always fighting sleep?
Like you know they are tired but they refuse to give in to sleep.
FOMO is REAL! We often blame FOMO but it’s likely less about FOMO and more about the following 3 things…
Here are the 3 reasons why your baby might seem to “hate sleep”.
I promise, no human hates sleep. We are hardwired to sleep because it’s necessary for keeping us alive and our brains and bodies functioning. So there is NO such thing as a bad sleeper, it’s fully about understanding the factors at play and what is causing our bodies to have trouble settling down in preparation for sleep. It all starts outside the body first and knowing these three triggers can help us influence sleep.
Reason 1: Baby has been awake TOO long. Their body reacts to this by alerting the sympathetic nervous system telling it to prepare to not eat (drama queen) and we go into a fight or flight response flooding our system with stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) that give us a “second wind”.
When babies are overtired, this can make them seem awake, wired, hyper, fussy, sensitive and this really means, we’ve missed our window. They can also get really overstimulated in this state and it makes settling them to sleep harder.
Reason 2: Baby hasn’t been awake long enough. Yes, this is the opposite. If your little one is undertired they won’t have enough drive to sleep and this will make bedtime harder. Not only will sleep be shorter but your baby will have a hard time going back to sleep at each wake-up because there is little sleep pressure pushing them back to sleep.
We need the RIGHT amount of tired and that can only be done by finding YOUR baby’s sweet spot wake windows and getting the RIGHT amount of day sleep.
Reason 3: Can your baby only fall asleep in one way? Are you trying to get them to fall asleep in a different way but it takes FOREVER and by the time you give up your baby is overtired, you’re exhausted and everyone is feeling defeated?
Well, you are not alone. Changing associations is not as simple as just implementing one sleep training technique that you pulled from the internet or letting your baby cry it out. A baby should not be crying for hours on end. Not only do you have to carry it out well (like 100%) but you have to understand what is happening, how to set baby up for success ahead of time, and what to look for.
Has someone walked you through exactly how to implement it? Is your little one READY and not fighting against their own little bodies? Is it developmentally appropriate? Does it suit their temperament? and is this the ONLY approach you are using or are you changing it up constantly?
There are so many factors to consider here. This is why I see 100% success and follow through when I work with clients. It’s not because I’m magic (I wishh) but it’s because we do it properly! We look at ALL factors and this will ensure a fast and easy process.
So please reach out and let’s go through all of these TOGETHER, because although your child might seem to fight sleep. Great sleep is the best thing you can achieve for your entire family and sleep is for everyone!
Lil. xx
