After having your newborn, the temptation to have your little one sleep in the bed with you can be strong. It’s best, however, that you allow your baby to sleep alone. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to sleep in a room separate from yours but more so in their own bed.
There are a number of reasons why it’s important for your baby to learn to sleep alone. Co-sleeping is the choice of many parents and while it may work for some there are drawbacks to having your little one in the bed with you.
Reasons Your Baby Should Sleep Alone
For a better sleeping experience for both you and your baby, it’s important to have them learn to sleep alone from the beginning. Once they get comfortable sleeping with you, it can be a hard habit to break.
Thankfully babies’ cribs and mattresses are more comfortable and suit all the baby’s needs. One mattress you and your baby may love is the innovative Newton crib mattress. It offers more features than your normal crib mattresses.
Once you’ve provided a baby with a comfortable and safe sleeping environment, it will be much easier to have them sleep on their own. Other reasons your baby should learn to sleep alone include:
1. Your Baby May Develop Sleep Dependency
Babies can easily develop sleep dependency on their parents after sleeping in the same bed with them for long periods of time. Babies get used to the different forms of touch, comfort, and other things given when they are in the beds with their parents. This makes it harder for them to fall asleep without their parents and makes the adjustment into their own beds harder. It’s best for babies to sleep in their cribs from the beginning to avoid this dependency.
2. Your Infant May Start Displaying Anxious Behaviors
Babies also learn to start displaying anxious behaviors to get their parents to respond and allow them to stay in the bed with them or sleep with them. This is another form of dependency. These anxious behaviors can develop into more serious behavioral traits.
3. Your Sleep Will Suffer
Parent’s sleep will suffer after a time. As babies grow, they start to move much more. It can become uncomfortable sleeping in a packed bed. In an effort to make sure that the baby isn’t being hurt, parents will put themselves in uncomfortable positions. After spending nights like this, parents can experience extreme fatigue. It’s best to allow babies to sleep in their own beds so they have the freedom to move without disturbing your much-needed rest.
4. There May Be Tension On Your Relationship
It is easy to make everything about the baby. However, it’s important to make time for your partner. The closeness and intimacy shared by sleeping next to your loved one are important. Allowing the baby to sleep in the bed for long periods can begin to put a strain on the relationship. This becomes more pronounced with the lack of rested sleep.
5. Increased Risk of SIDS and Suffocation
As a safety measure, it is best for babies to sleep alone in their own crib. Many accidental sudden deaths have occurred when parents accidentally roll on their babies. There are also cases of babies suffocating because of objects and other things in the bed. In an effort to avoid this, allow your baby to sleep alone. This way you can be sure that they are in a safe space throughout the night.
6. Your Family’s Sleep Schedule Will Be Affected
It is hard to regulate a sleep schedule for the entire household. The baby may sleep much earlier than you are ready to. However, you will be forced to sleep early to monitor the baby when they are sleeping in an adult bed. Having them sleep alone means that they can sleep peacefully, interrupting no one’s sleeping schedule.
For new parents, it can be a tough change to allow their baby to sleep alone but there are a lot of long-term benefits for both you and your baby. It’s important that babies learn and become comfortable sleeping in their own space. It is much better for the overall rest the entire family gets. It’s also a lot safer. If necessary you can adopt a half and half system. Meaning some nights the baby sleeps in bed with you and other nights they sleep on their own. This should only be done to fulfill the child’s need, however. Make sure that you are doing it for them and not to fill your inability to allow them room to grow from the baby, you know.
