Sleep deprivation is part of becoming a parent. Newborns have irregular sleep cycles that are shorter and lighter than adults. They cannot differentiate between day and night, and reaching slumber land is a skill that has to be learned.
Rocking may seem the most natural way to soothe a tired baby to sleep but, according to experts, rest-filled nights only come once a baby masters the skill of self-soothing.
Deborah Taylor, an infant and young child sleep consultant in Hong Kong, says one of the most common problems she encounters is that a baby can only settle with the aid of a prop such as rocking, leading to a habit of reliance and sleep loss on the part of parents and child.
Several schools of thought proffer advice on self-soothing, including paediatrician Richard Ferber's method of leaving a baby to cry for specified lengths of time and the attachment parenting technique by Dr William Sears, which encourages co-sleeping.
Each has generated controversy, but a loyal band of parents advocates the effectiveness of one or other method, and there is an entire range of in-between theories too.
'My own feeling is that helping a baby learn to sleep and settle well works best if it is introduced gently and consistently from fairly early on,' Taylor says. Introduced around six weeks old, a nurturing, intuitive solution is likely to become a baby's new normal pattern that can be maintained throughout childhood. 'The aim is to enable babies to become good sleepers early on, which has a very positive impact on growth, development and learning independence.'
