Category: Sleep Prop

The Truth About Teething and Sleep: What You Need to Know!

12/10/2024

The Truth About Teething and Sleep: What You Need to Know!

As a Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant, I often hear, “My baby is teething, and that’s why they’re not sleeping.” It’s easy to see why teething gets blamed for many sleepless nights. After all, the sight of swollen gums and the sound of a fussy baby can make us believe that teething is the culprit. But is it really? Let’s take a closer look at the facts surrounding teething and sleep and why waiting for teething to be over is not the best strategy when it comes to sleep training.

Does Teething Really Hurt?
Yes, teething can cause discomfort. As those little teeth push through the gums, some babies experience swollen, tender gums, which may lead to irritability. However, the pain from teething is often short-lived and comes in spurts rather than lasting for weeks or months at a time. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, teething typically causes minor discomfort but not enough to disrupt a baby’s life long-term or interfere with their ability to sleep consistently.

Can Teething Keep Babies Awake at Night?
While a baby cutting a tooth may have the occasional rough night, teething is not the reason why babies wake up multiple times a night for weeks or months. Teething might lead to a cranky night or two, but if your baby has been waking frequently over a long period, something else is likely going on, such as sleep associations or a lack of proper sleep routines.

Sleep training and helping your baby establish good sleep habits will ensure that minor disruptions—like teething—won’t lead to months of sleepless nights. The National Sleep Foundation supports this, explaining that babies who have learned to self-soothe will generally go back to sleep, even when dealing with temporary discomfort like teething.

How Long Does Teething Last?
Teething is a gradual process that starts around six months of age and can continue until the age of two or even three. That means if you wait for all teething to be over before committing to a solid sleep training routine, you could be waiting for years! Other factors like developmental milestones or growth spurts may also occur during this time, so it’s important not to let teething be the excuse for delaying sleep training.

Teething is Not a Good Excuse to Avoid Sleep Training
It’s easy to fall into the habit of blaming teething for ongoing sleep issues, but the truth is, teething is not the reason your baby is waking up multiple times every night for weeks or months. The real key to long-term sleep success is consistency. If you wait until your baby’s teething is finished, you’ll likely be waiting for over two years—during which time poor sleep habits can become even more ingrained.

A Few Tips for When Baby Is Cutting a Tooth
Yes, the teething process can lead to a rough night or two, but here’s the good news: if you’ve already established good sleep habits, your baby will get back on track quickly. Here are some tips to help manage teething while staying consistent with sleep routines:

Use Safe Teething Remedies: You can soothe your baby’s gums with a cold teething ring or gently rub their gums with a clean finger. Avoid over-the-counter medications unless advised by your pediatrician.
Stick to the Routine: Even if your baby has a fussy night due to teething, maintain your regular bedtime routine. Babies thrive on consistency, and continuing with your sleep training methods will help them get back on track faster.
Offer Comfort, Not Crutches: If your baby seems uncomfortable during teething, offer comfort in the form of a soothing voice, gentle patting, or holding—but avoid introducing new sleep crutches like feeding or rocking to sleep. These can disrupt their ability to self-soothe.
Keep Perspective: A bad night here, and there might be blamed on teething, but as long as you stay consistent with your routines, your baby will likely return to their normal sleep patterns in just a few nights.

Final Thoughts
In short, teething may cause some temporary disruptions, but it is not the root cause of ongoing sleep issues. By sticking to healthy sleep habits and routines, your baby will be able to navigate teething with only minimal disruption to their sleep. So don’t let teething become the excuse to avoid sleep training—your baby (and you!) deserve the rest.

Sources:

American Academy of Pediatrics
National Sleep Foundation

Author

Erin Neri - Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant and Owner of To The Moon and Back Sleep Consulting since 2016.

Proud mother of 2 young school aged boys who did not come into the world preprogrammed with independent sleep skills. 28+ years of training & experience working with children and families including her BA in Applied Psychology, Infant Mental Health Training, Early Childhood Education & Experience. Completed Integrative Feeding Specialist Certification in Oct. 2022.

Comments

What To Do When A Drowsy Baby Won’t Sleep

2/16/2023

Comments

Almost every sleep book on the market talks about the word “drowsy.” If we’re working with newborns, for example, many books state that the goal is to put your newborn down drowsy but awake. And in most cases, that works just fine, but sometimes it doesn’t.

I’m here today to talk about when it doesn’t.

If we’ve moved beyond the newborn phase, let’s say with a baby aged four months and up, drowsiness can actually become a loose prop association.

Let’s think about it this way: sleep is a journey, and if you are at point A, which would be wide awake, and are trying to get to point B, which is asleep, how you make the journey becomes essential.

If you read the Sleep Sense program, you’ll know it’s the journey we must fix for our child to start sleeping well. The goal is to have the child learn to make that journey all on their own — or independently, we like to say — so that when they have a naturally occurring wake-up during the night, they can make the journey back to sleep easily and on their own.

In some cases, if we help our baby into the journey by getting them drowsy with either rocking or feeding, then when they have a naturally occurring wake-up sometime in the night or during a nap, they won’t be able to get back to sleep from point A to point B. So they will want you to return to the room and help them get started on the journey.

This becomes problematic for both baby and parent because for your baby to return to sleep, you will need to assist them at least part of the way, which becomes frustrating on both sides. That’s why the goal is to teach the baby how to fall asleep from point A. Unfortunately, the only way to do this is to be very cautious in your bedtime or nap time routine so your baby is not entering the drowsy phase.

So what does drowsiness look like?

Drowsiness can be tricky to read because, in some cases, what you would consider drowsiness could be the first sleep stage. So here are some things you want to keep an eye on.

Zoning out, or what we often call “the seven-mile stare.” If you notice your baby looking off into space, this can signify drowsiness. The best way to avoid it is to talk to your baby, tickle your baby, or remove your baby from the nipple or the bottle before resuming feeding again.
Heavy blinking. Make sure your baby’s eyes look alert and are not blinking heavily. This can be a sign of drowsiness. The best way to avoid this is to talk to your baby, sing, or give them a little tickle to keep them alert.
Closing the eyes for several minutes at a time while having the bedtime feed. Again, you want to ensure your baby’s eyes stay alert and open through the entire feed.

The goal is to make sure the baby remains alert and wide awake through the entire bedtime routine and goes into the crib, ready to start the sleep journey from point A.

You might notice that your baby does a little bit more protesting suddenly. This is a good sign that your baby was actually relying on you to help them to sleep in some way, and they are struggling slightly with the process of going from start to finish all on their own. But don’t worry — the good news is that within a couple of nights, the baby will be able to make the journey independently and start sleeping through the night.

If you’d like to chat more about your baby’s sleep challenges, I’m more than happy to offer a complimentary 20-minute evaluation call to see if we can get to the bottom of your struggles; I can explain how I can help! You can book your Free chat below.

Book Free Sleep Evaluation

Author

Erin Neri - Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant and Owner of To The Moon and Back Sleep Consulting since 2016.

Proud mother of 2 young school aged boys who did not come into the world preprogrammed with independent sleep skills. 27+ years of training & experience working with children and families including her BA in Applied Psychology, Infant Mental Health Training, Early Childhood Education & Experience. Completed Integrative Feeding Specialist Certification in Oct. 2022.

Comments