Sleep Associations
©1993-1995 Beth Weiss, Posted to misc.kids Usenet newsgroup,
I wrote this about the idea of sleep associations. This is a
combination of several different posts on the subject.
Current sleep research indicates that everyone wakes up several times
in the night. This is perfectly normal, and most adults then go right back
to sleep, and aren't really even aware that they've done so.
Richard Ferber (Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems) discusses sleep
associations in depth in the first couple of chapters in his book. I
highly recommend reading it, even if your child doesn't have any sleep
problems--it's really interesting.
A child can develop all sorts of sleep associations: being rocked, nursing,
having his/her back rubbed. Since everyone wakes up in the middle of the
night, babies try to do is recreate that sleep association so they can
fall back asleep.
The explanation of sleep associations in the book were very valuable to me.
For our family, it worked best to rechannel some sleep associations. In
particular, my son replaced his unacceptable sleep associations (breastfeeding
about 4 times per night) with an acceptable sleep association--his crib,
blankies, and stuffed wolf.. I learned that I could go back to sleep
without getting up to use the toilet.
Some sleep associations aren't a problem, but if the child is cranky because
he or she doesn't get enough uninterrupted sleep, or if the parents are too
cranky from their interrupted sleep to function appropriately, then it is
a problem, and something needs to be to solve it.
I think it is bad for a baby to be dependent on its parents for its ability
to fall asleep. If a child can only fall asleep when Mom or Dad is rocking
it and wakes the second the parents try to put the baby in the crib, and
screams, then the child has a sleep association (rocking) that can cause real
problems--because the child often needs it repeated multiple times during the
night, and possibly before each nap. Parents might spend 4 hours a day
doing nothing but helping their child to go to sleep.
Most of us parents are pretty short on time--and don't have enough to do what
needs to keep our homes running. We can't afford that type of time
sink--and that kind of stress. I know that helping my child resolve his
sleep associations really made our house run more smoothly!
        
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