Most new parents (and many old ones too) make the mistake of being too quick to rush into their baby’s room to soothe their baby at the first hint of any sound their baby makes when sleeping.  This is human nature - as a parent, your brain is hardwired to pay attention when your baby cries or fusses.  This is a fundamental instinct that has served to protect babies (and the continuation of the human species) for generations of human beings.

 

It’s normal to want to soothe your baby.  So when they cry or make a sound, it’s far too easy to jump to attention, burst into their room, and inadvertently wind up waking them even more when perhaps they would go back to sleep if left alone for a minute or two.  But, there comes a time when this level of attentiveness actually goes against helping your baby learn to sleep because it interrupts their opportunity to learn to put themselves back to sleep.  It’s quite common for babies to cry for upwards of a minute and then settle down back to sleep when they are changing positions or going in or out of a sleep cycle, but if you don’t give them a minute or two to stop crying on their own, you’ll never know if they can put themselves back to sleep on their own.

 

I’m not taking a stand for letting your baby “cry it out.”  That’s a debate that I don’t want to touch with a 10-foot pole.  However, I am saying that sometimes it’s best to turn the baby monitor down a notch or two, so you don’t hear every little noise your baby makes in their sleep.  That way you won’t be tempted to rush in too quickly before your baby has a fair chance to settle themselves.

 

This whole idea is really just a balancing act between being hyper-attentive to your baby’s normal sleep noises, and not being attentive enough.  As a parent, your instincts are probably right most of the time.  Follow your instincts - after all, you know your child best - and you will probably find the right balance more often than not.

 

Andrew Dolbin-MacNab

Pediasleep LLC

 

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     About the Author:

 

Andrew Dolbin-MacNab is a father, sound-engineer, and the founding member of Pediasleep LLC, a leader in the production of white noise and other soothing sounds to aid the healthy sleep of infants, cosleepers, and parents. Having successfully survived his daughter's early sleep problems with the help of white noise, he is also an expert on infant sleep problems and their solutions. Pediasleep can be found online at http://www.Pediasleep.com.