Infants, toddlers, older children or adults – no matter what age, we all need sleep. Sufficient sleep helps us to learn, to concentrate, and to feel vital during the day. Sleep is also important for our growth, development and regeneration. Therefore, we spend around a third of our entire lives asleep.

Towards the end of pregnancy, your unborn baby experiences different phases of sleeping, dreaming and being awake. This sleep-wake rhythm that the baby knows from the womb continues after birth – at the beginning it does not matter whether it is day or night. It takes some time for your child to adjust to the day-night rhythm familiar to adults.

Your baby has certain self-soothing abilities from birth, e.g. in order to calm down or fall asleep. At the beginning, these skills are not yet well-developed, which is why your child is dependent on your support to fall asleep. Although the skills continue to develop in the first few months of life, they vary from child to child.  They also depend on your baby’s individual stage of development and personality. Your behavior as a parent might also affect these abilities “Mastering sleep problems Part I: Practical tips for dealing with your child“.

Every baby is different: some babies fall asleep easily on their own after just a few weeks, while your child may need more help to calm down. It takes time to learn that the night is our main sleeping time. Infants and toddlers (just like us adults) have very different sleep needs and habits.

Evidence-based facts about infant nighttime sleep:

• Babies are not born with the ability to sleep through the night. They have to learn it gradually.
• Repeated awakenings during the first 6-8 months of life are part of a normal development. As babies should roughly double their birth weight during the first six months of life, they must also be regularly fed at night.
• The longest sleep period usually follows after the longest wake phase. It may help babies to sleep better during the night if they have been awake for a longer period before falling asleep in the evening.
• A darkened sleeping environment is essential for the development of a healthy night’s sleep.