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Sleepy-time Stress

Reviewing Sleep Strategies

By Laurie Dove

When my daughter was born seven years ago, we were inseparable. I stayed awake at night just to admire her perfect nose and wonder at the perfect "O" of her Cheerio mouth. After waiting so long to see her, I couldn't bear to let her out of my sight. Today, I'm still trying to get her out of my bed.

My 2-year-old son, on the other hand, snuggles into his crib at a reasonable hour each night and slumbers until morning, the result of my desperation to get a good night's sleep. Weary from getting up every two hours of the night, I let my 9-month-old son cry a bit before rescuing him. Within a few days, he was sleeping all night.

Now that I regularly have a full night's sleep and the energy to ponder such things, I wonder which of my children will someday feel the effects of different sleep styles. Either I used the right method with my daughter and the wrong method with my son or vice versa.

For many parents, deciding how to handle a little night owl can be a big dilemma. The information about persuading babies to sleep through the night can be confusing and more than a little scary. There are more questions than answers: What are the long-term effects of letting my baby "cry it out"? Will she lose her trust in me? If I don't help Baby learn to fall asleep on her own, am I setting her up for a lifetime of sleep troubles?

According to James Maas, a professor of psychology at Cornell University who studies sleep patterns, the key to helping a baby develop nighttime habits starts in the morning. Nighttime wakefulness often is caused by what happens during the day. Too much or too little daytime stimulation, for example, can impact sleeping habits.

"Good sleeping patterns must be established early on; sleep should be treated as a necessity, not a luxury," Maas says. "Infants must get the required amount of sleep, usually nine hours, on a regular bedtime schedule."

Want to see more?

• The Crying Game: Soothing Your Newborn
• Crying Baby, Sleepless Nights: Why Your Baby is Crying and What You Can Do About It
• The First Year: Birth to 3 Months
• Talk about it!