Don't get up if your baby cries at night

Parents should resist the urge to rush to the cotside when their baby cries at night, say experts. Instead, they say children should be left to soothe themselves back to sleep. Researchers asked more than 1,200 parents about their children’s sleeping habits and found that by the age of six months there were two distinct groups. While two-thirds slept through the night, a third woke up at least once a night. 

The majority who failed to sleep through were boys, more likely to be breastfed and had mothers who were more likely to be depressed and have greater maternal sensitivity. According to the study, published in the journal Developmental Psychology, babies move through a sleep cycle every one-and-a-half to two hours, where they briefly wake before nodding off again. 

Professor Marsha Weinraub, from Temple University, Philadelphia, who led the study, said: ‘When mothers tune in to these night time awakenings... then he or she may not be learning how to self-soothe, something that is critical for regular sleep.’ She said the research supported the idea that infants should be put to bed at a regular time and are best left to fall back to sleep of their own accord. 

 She said: 'The best advice is to put infants to bed at a regular time every night, allow them to fall asleep on their own and resist the urge to respond right away to awakenings.' Her new research, published in the journal Developmental Psychology, looked at the sleeping habits of more than 1,200 babies.

 Professor Weinraub said: 'By six months of age, most babies sleep through the night, awakening their mothers only about once per week. However, not all children follow this pattern of development.' During the study, the patterns of night time sleep awakenings of infants aged six to 36 months were measured. The findings revealed two groups: sleepers and transitional sleepers.

'If you measure them while they are sleeping, all babies — like all adults — move through a sleep cycle every 1.5 to 2 hours, where they wake up and then return to sleep,' she said. 'Some of them do cry and call out when they awaken, and that is called "not sleeping through the night".' 

Her team asked parents of more than 1,200 infants to report on their child's awakenings at 6, 15, 24 and 36 months. They found that by six months of age, 66 per cent of babies - the sleepers - did not awaken, or awoke just once per week, following a flat trajectory as they grew. But a full 33 percent woke up seven nights per week at six months, dropping to two nights by 15 months and to one night per week by 24 months. Of the babies that awoke, the majority were boys.

 The transitional sleepers tended to score higher on tests that assess a difficult temperament that identified traits such as irritability and distractibility. And, these babies were more likely to be breastfed. Mothers of these babies were more likely to be depressed and have greater maternal sensitivity.

 'Families who are seeing sleep problems persist past 18 months should seek advice,' Professor Weinraub added. Furthermore, it is important for babies to learn how to fall asleep on their own. She added that the link between mothers feeling depressed and their babies waking is another area that would benefit from further research.