Irregular sleep is often not a problem for your child. Nevertheless, sleeping can become a dominant family issue.  If your child doesn’t sleep and cries instead, you won’t be able to sleep either. You are not alone with this problem: more than 20 percent of parents report sleeping problems in the first few years of their child’s life.

If you have trouble sleeping, you as a parent may also be exhausted, unfocused, irritable or particularly sensitive during the day. If you regularly don’t get enough sleep, you may suddenly feel overwhelmed by seemingly small everyday issues because you lack the necessary energy. Sometimes you may even have less positive emotions towards your child than before.

During the first few months of life, your child goes through major adjustment processes in which he or she learns the sleep-wake rhythm and many other things that are completely new. Only from the age of 8 months, you may start to talk about persistent sleeping problems. Previously these difficulties are usually seen as temporary developmental and adjustment difficulties. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less strenuous for you!

Thus, you should seek professional help during the first months of your baby’s life if you are worried about sleeping patterns or if you feel very burdened.

Children who find it difficult to fall asleep and to stay asleep often have problems in other areas as well: they often cry a lot and sometimes they also show feeding difficulties. Experts often refer to these as “regulatory problems”.

This means that the child has difficulties calming down and regulating his or her behavior in various areas in an age-appropriate manner.”

Characteristics of persistent sleep onset problems (after 6 months):

• Your child may regularly only achieve falling asleep with a lot of help (e.g., carrying around for a long time) or demands contact with you again and again while falling asleep.
• Your child regularly needs more than 30 minutes to fall asleep.
• Your child shows the above-mentioned behaviors for at least 1 month on most evenings of the week.
• The difficulties of falling asleep are burdening for your child and his or her development, for you as a parent or for the relationship between you and your child.

Remember: You don’t have to solve your child’s sleeping problems on your own! In the Emergency & Help section you can find a list of suitable contact points for professional help in your area.

Characteristics of problems maintaining sleep

• Your baby wakes up several times or for a longer period almost every night.
• Your child regularly has difficulties falling back to sleep after waking up and needs your help.
• Your child shows the above-mentioned behaviors for at least 1 month on most nights of the week.
• The difficulties maintaining sleep are burdening for your child and his or her development, for you as a parent or for the relationship between you and your child.

Remember: You don’t have to solve your child’s sleeping problems on your own! In the Emergency & Help section you can find a list of suitable contact points for professional help in your area.