May 2011 Moms

If your LO DOES NOT STTN, this is for you...

I made peace a long time with the fact that DS doesn't sttn yet. Someone her posted a few weeks ago a blog entry about how babies are not supposed to sttn and although I had resigned myself the post was comforting. I recently made a search on the physiology of babies' sleep and came across  Dr. James McKenna. He is my new hero. You may have heard of him but I had not and so I wanted to share a excerpt from this website where you can find the entire document. If your LO isn't sttn don't despair, your LO is only a very healthy and normal baby!

 In my writings and based on my scientific research and that of others I contradict popular notions including what many well intentioned pediatricians believe i.e. the notion that continuous, uninterrupted infant sleep is good or normal or healthy for human infants. I reject this proposition entirely. Indeed, I believe our obsession with infants ?sleeping through the night? at young ages?and the whole icon associated with the ?sleep like a baby? ideal, i.e. without stirring or arousing, is a product of wishful thinking but more importantly a negative image with faulty and dangerous assumptions.

Indeed I think this ?sleep like a baby? mentality explains why so many of our infants supposedly have ?sleep problems to solve?. My contention is that most infants have no sleep problems to solve, but parents do because of an imposed cultural model of how infants should sleep, that never really had anything to do with how infants really sleep, at all.  
 
I have argued in refereed papers that not only have these culturally imposed infant sleep goals and beliefs effected parents deleteriously but they lead to the adoption of biologically inappropriate standards and expectations as to how infants are supposed to sleep. I argue that these models inappropriately prioritize infant sleep consolidation at the expense of what is really important for infants in the first year of life and that is breastfeeding, which requires babies to wake up frequently. Frequent breastfeeding and the engagement with the mother that accompanies it is essential for optimal brain growth and the development of the infants immune system. I argue that our obsession scientifically with the solitary sleeping infant as normal and optimal, the alleged gold standard on infant sleep research methods, is fundamentally flawed and tells us nothing about how the human infant sleeps or develops sleep. 

Re: If your LO DOES NOT STTN, this is for you...

  • I'm glad this gives you peace of mind.

    However, do not discount the importance of sleep as it pertains to the development of your child. Even as a small infant.

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  • imageLisa Frank:

    I'm glad this gives you peace of mind.

    However, do not discount the importance of sleep as it pertains to the development of your child. Even as a small infant.

    Yes, sleep in infants does not necessarily means a 12 hour uninterrupted stretch. As it pertains to their development it means that continuous waking during the night for babies is not only normal but exactly what occurs (and should occur). Mind you, this is for breastfed babies.

    This explains it better: "The lighter sleep, that all of these maternal-induced arousals promote, gives rise to what we consider to be ?safer sleep? for infants especially for the level of neurological immaturity through which all human infants must pass".

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  • imageSteph&Harry08:
    imageLisa Frank:

    I'm glad this gives you peace of mind.

    However, do not discount the importance of sleep as it pertains to the development of your child. Even as a small infant.

    Yes, sleep in infants does not necessarily means a 12 hour uninterrupted stretch. As it pertains to their development it means that continuous waking during the night for babies is not only normal but exactly what occurs (and should occur). Mind you, this is for breastfed babies.

    This explains it better: "The lighter sleep, that all of these maternal-induced arousals promote, gives rise to what we consider to be ?safer sleep? for infants especially for the level of neurological immaturity through which all human infants must pass".

    Okay, but what age are we talking about? A 3 month old? Or a 6 month old?

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  • imageLisa Frank:
    imageSteph&Harry08:
    imageLisa Frank:

    I'm glad this gives you peace of mind.

    However, do not discount the importance of sleep as it pertains to the development of your child. Even as a small infant.

    Yes, sleep in infants does not necessarily means a 12 hour uninterrupted stretch. As it pertains to their development it means that continuous waking during the night for babies is not only normal but exactly what occurs (and should occur). Mind you, this is for breastfed babies.

    This explains it better: "The lighter sleep, that all of these maternal-induced arousals promote, gives rise to what we consider to be ?safer sleep? for infants especially for the level of neurological immaturity through which all human infants must pass".

    Okay, but what age are we talking about? A 3 month old? Or a 6 month old?

    According to Dr. McKenna babies are not designed to sttn for their first 6 moths of life. This for those that are EBF until 6 mo of age as it is recommended to start solids at that point.

  • I actually don't mind nursing my son once or twice a night. It's when he won't even go to bed to begin with that drains me, lol.
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  • imageNothingLikeBarbie:
    I actually don't mind nursing my son once or twice a night. It's when he won't even go to bed to begin with that drains me, lol.

    Agreed, although with mine the witching hours are 4-6 am. If I can even put him down without him immediately waking up and crying he will wake up every half hour. Sometimes he just wants to smile at me, or squirm around on my chest. It's not even light outside kid, go back to sleep!  

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  • Thank you for posting! Every few weeks, I need a reminder like this :)
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  • Thank you for posting this! I am so glad there are parents and experts out there who aren't so gung ho on sleep training. LOs grow so fast, why push the need to STTN so soon? I enjoy the snuggle session I get in the middle of the night. I have learned to take it all in and enjoy it because they (LOs) grow way too fast!
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