Five child sleep myths that might surprise you

The only thing worse than your child not getting enough sleep is being misinformed about why it’s happening!

As parents, we are given a substantial amount of information around the do’s and don’ts when it comes to our baby’s sleep habits, and it might actually be costing us a full night of zzzzs.

That’s why we are addressing these five sleep myths that you’ve likely heard and have maybe even tried in your desperation to get more sleep.

Sleep Myth #1 - In order to get your baby to stop waking so early for the day, they have to go to sleep later

In theory, this would make sense, but unfortunately our sleep clocks do not work this way. If your child is waking up very early in the morning, it is typically because your baby is going to bed too late or is missing out on important day sleep.

Once your child is fourth months of age or older, their internal sleep clock starts to sync to a twenty four hour cycle, and a consistent bedtime becomes more important (and also more realistic). Chances are, if you put your child to sleep later than they are used to, they will still wake up early, leading to less overall nighttime sleep.

In many cases, you may want to put your child to sleep earlier to avoid an overtired baby and to help her get more total sleep at night.

Sleep Myth #2- Your child won’t sleep at night because he napped during the day

While there are some exceptions to this rule, generally, sleep promotes sleep. This means that a good day of naps (usually) leads to a restful night of sleep. You likely have found that if your child didn’t sleep well during the day, his nighttime sleep followed this same pattern. This is because your child needs both daytime and nighttime sleep to work together in order to feel fully rested.

As I mentioned, there is an exception, which is making sure the last nap of the day doesn’t interfere with bedtime and that your child isn’t getting too much day sleep. Depending on your child’s age, you may need to cap the last nap so that the awake time before bedtime is adequate for your child’s age. You can find out how much sleep your child should be getting per day here but keep in mind all children different and have various levels of sleep needs and it is certainly possible that your child sleeps more than what is recommended during the day which could lead to night wakings or early risings.

Sleep Myth #3- Sleeping through the night means your baby won’t wake up at all

It might be surprising to learn that NOBODY fully sleeps through the night. Not you, not your child, not even your husband! Let me explain… Because all of us are cycling in and out of sleep throughout the night, we will wake up at some point in between cycles.

The difference is, as adults, we may not even realize we wake up, or we might wake up and then fall right back asleep once we realize there are still plenty of resting hours left before morning!

The key with your child is helping her to manage those wake-ups in the same way we do. We should expect wake-ups because they are completely normal and you don’t necessarily have control over them. But what you can control is how you respond to those wake-ups which will vary based on your child’s needs and unique characteristics.

Sleep Myth #4- You should never wake a sleeping baby

This is the most common sleep myth that I love to de-bunk! People always tend to offer up this wrong sleep advice whether it is welcomed or not. While a sleeping baby is a wonderful thing, there are actually many instances in which you would need to wake him from his peaceful slumber.

The first situation is if your child is “crashing” for one of his naps. What I define as crashing is when it is obvious your child is completely overtired, either from a rough night of sleep or missed naps. You can typically tell if this is the case if your child sleeps 3 hours or longer for any one nap.

Essentially, he is trying to make up for lost sleep in one shot, and allowing him to sleep too long will only throw off his cycles further. I recommend waking your child at the 2.5-hour mark for any nap (or sooner for the last nap), but if he is only on one nap per day, you can stretch to 3 hours.

Another situation where you may want to wake your babe is if the last nap of the day starts to interfere with bedtime. As mentioned above, you want to make sure the awake time from the last nap to bedtime is appropriate based on age, so that your child is actually tired when put down for nighttime sleep.

Lastly, if your child is waking up multiple times throughout the night, leading to broken sleep, you may need to wake her if she is sleeping in too long in the morning. This is a common issue and what ends up happening is your child becomes confused with daytime and nighttime sleep and gets used to sleeping in, as opposed to getting adequate sleep at night.

Most children should be awake for the day between 7-9am and no later unless they are an itty bitty newborn.

To see more of the reasons to wake your sleep baby, read this.

Sleep Myth #5- My child just doesn’t seem to need sleep

So this one makes me cringe and I usually hear it from parents who seem to have tried everything to get their baby to sleep. While it might seem like your child is superhuman and can function on little to no sleep, it does not mean she doesn’t need it.

Every single person on this planet needs sleep and regardless of how they appear to be doing, I guarantee you it is affecting them negatively if they are not getting enough of it. Sleep is as vital to our bodies as food and water, and without it we invite in a whole host of issues, even if unseen. While it IS possible your child needs less sleep, if they are falling way below the recommended totals this is definitely something that needs to be addressed as there are many reasons this could be happening.

For guidance, feel free to contact us or try our newborn sleep course or 4-12 month sleep course.

You might also be interested in these related articles:
Five signs your child is ready to drop a nap
How to follow your baby's awake windows for better sleep
What you need to know about sleep regressions