5 Reasons Why Your Baby Is Not Sleeping Well

It’s very likely that when your child is 6 months old, he or she can sleep through the night. However, sometimes you might realize they’re not sleeping well.

And although the reasons can vary greatly, it’s good to know that each one has a solution, and sometimes a very simple one. It only requires patience and love, two qualities that parents must cultivate in large quantities.

5 reasons why your baby is not sleeping well

He does not know how to sleep alone

Learning to sleep alone is a task that babies achieve gradually. Sometimes they fall asleep fast, but for some reason they wake up and don’t know what to do to get back to sleep.

This is a very common problem that sometimes affects adults too. If we are honest, we can admit that most of us wake up at night because the phases of sleep are cyclical. Therefore, every time a cycle concludes we wake up, but we immediately fall asleep again unless something keeps us awake.

Babies do the same, and when one of their sleep cycles is over, they can be awakened by noise, heat, wetting their diaper or feeling hungry. Most of these needs will be expressed by crying. Crying is also used to express that they are frightened to be alone in the crib.

Whatever his need is, try to attend to it soon and to get him to sleep again in your arms. You will see how the sleep routine is slowly stabilized.

He learned to fall asleep outside the crib

There are also children who can only sleep out of their crib. That sometimes happens because they learned to associate rest time with, for example, being on the living room couch or in bed with mom and dad, where they fall asleep without realizing it. The problem comes when they wake up when you take them to their crib or bed.

This bad habit can be transformed by helping the baby to associate his crib with the pleasant time of rest. Treat the crib as a nice and comfortable place for him and try to lay him in it before he falls asleep anywhere else in the house. It is very likely that at first he will cry, but try to be patient.

Tell him tenderly that this is where he should sleep and that he can feel safe there because you will always be taking care of him. Another good tip is to try to use the cradle only for sleep and not for other activities like games. That way, it will be easier to associate the crib with sleep.

Playing at Bedtime

If your baby is over 7 months old and wants to play when he should be ready to sleep, then he is not tired enough.

If this is an occasional situation, then take a walk in the evening, since the stimuli from another environment can be relaxing. However, if this is a frequent problem, in addition to taking him out for a walk to get him to sleep, you need to check his schedule, as it is possible that he is getting up very late and you are taking him to bed very early.

The baby feels lonely

Separation anxiety manifests when the baby is very afraid of not seeing his parents nearby. This appears when the baby is 7 or 8 months old. Do not worry; this anxiety passes once they learn that although you are out of sight, you are still near.

So for now, as a good mother, attend to him as soon as he cries and try to calm his anguish with affection and words. Even if she is very small, she will understand and feel better.

There are parents who give the baby a teddy bear or cloth to comfort him with their scent. The child learns to associate this object with his parents and feels safe with it alone in his room. For this trick to work, you need to play with it for a few minutes.

He asks you for things from his crib

There are many babies who, once they start to talk, ask for things when they are in their crib. This is very common in children who are about a year-and-a-half old, and if this happens with your baby, there is a strategy that you can use:

Bring him to bed once all his needs are covered, and when he starts asking you for things, remind him that he has already eaten, had a drink of water, and had all his other needs taken care of. Talk to him only once. It is very important that you be firm and try to modify those habits that sabotage his sleep routine little by little. Have patience, Mom, your baby will learn to sleep alone soon!