A recent research revealed that a baby's inconsistent sleep pattern is pretty normal.
Parents, especially those new ones, most of the time expect their babies to start sleeping through the night when they reach a certain amount of age. Based on a new study, parents should not be worried about their baby's inconsistent sleep pattern, and instead, view such mere sleep as a process and not a milestone that needs to be achieved at such a certain age.
The research
The study tracked 44 infants for about two weeks, in which experts found out that each baby's sleep pattern varied greatly, as well as it varied not only for different babies, but as well as night to night for the same baby.
Based on the study that was published in Sleep Medicine, experts asked mothers to keep a sleep diary about their six months old infants for two weeks.
On average, mothers said that their baby slept for 6 hours straight for about five nights out of the two weeks, and 8 hours straight for about three nights out of the same period. For half of the infants that were tracked, on the other hand, the babies never slept 8 hours straight.
A baby's sleep pattern
Marie-Helene Pennestri, the author of the study, said that although past studies showed that babies start sleeping through the night at different stages of their growth, there is little that they know about every baby's sleep pattern night after night.
Aside from the baby's sleep pattern or their inconsistent sleep pattern, experts also found out that there are some things that parents do that can be linked to the baby's sleep pattern. One case that can be linked to such inconsistent sleep patterns is breastfeeding. Another case is when parents sleep next to their babies. Keep in mind that babies should sleep alone, according to the ABC of Safe Sleep.You can read more information about it in this article.
Although the said case was not in every study, the experts noted that other factors could explain such inconsistent sleep patterns in babies. Mothers who breastfeed their baby and those who sleep next to their infant are more likely to observe. Also, they tend to look out when their children wake up in the middle of the night.
Factors affecting a baby's sleep pattern
Pennetri said that parents are most of the time exposed to many things and factors that can affect their baby's sleep pattern, and it tends to refute one another. But the author said that they should not worry if their baby has inconsistent sleep patterns at a certain age because sleep patterns differ a lot at such an age.
The expert also noted that parents and fellow experts should both be aware that when babies wake up in the middle of the night or that when they are sleeping through the night, it does not mean a link to such action.
For Pennetri, one supreme and a significant piece of the puzzle is knowing the parents' view and the things that they expect of infant sleep. She also said that in future research, they hope to explore more about what sleeping through the night means to them.
