11 bad sleeping habits of babies that parents should avoid

Sleep plays a very important role in the growth and development of young children. However, having bad sleep habits can make your baby restless, difficult to sleep and sometimes affect health.

Child rearing is never a simple task, you will go through many difficulties and challenges. These difficulties can even multiply if you maintain poor sleep habits. So which habit is considered bad? Please see the following shares of aFamilyToday Health to understand more about this.

1. Where did you sleep?

Taking care of your baby can make you feel tired, which can easily lead to you putting your baby to sleep anywhere in the house such as living room, parent bedroom, stroller, car, sofa ... This not only makes the baby not sleep well, but also disrupts the baby's connection with his bedroom.

Therefore, this is a bad habit when putting your baby to bed that you should avoid. You should try to put your baby to sleep in his bedroom even during daytime sleep.

2. Every day you put your baby to sleep at a different time

Many parents think that their baby is still small so they do not need to follow any schedule. However, the reality is quite the opposite. Just like adults, children need to have a suitable schedule. This will help the child's body feel sleepy at a certain time of day and the baby will not feel uncomfortable when "forced" to go to bed too early or feel too tired from sleeping too late. Your baby's sleep time can still vary flexibly, but it's best to avoid it.

3. Parents do not follow the set sleeping habits

Practicing good sleep habits is very important to the health and development of children. This not only helps your baby feel comfortable, but also helps your job go smoothly. Therefore, try to maintain daily bedtime habits so that going to bed every night is no longer a nightmare for both you and your baby.

You can maintain a number of bedtime habits for your baby such as taking a warm bath, changing clothes to sleep, singing lullabies, kissing your baby, reading stories to your baby ... If you do not maintain the above, baby This may cause discomfort and impair sleep quality .

4. Ignore any signs that your baby is sleepy

Young children differ from adults in both timing and sleeping habits. When your baby feels sleepy and tired, he or she will have some cues for you to know such as rubbing eyes, yawning, moaning or upset. If the mother skips this easy-to-sleep period, the baby's body will not secrete melatonin to calm down. Instead, your baby's adrenal glands secrete the stress hormone cortisol and keep the baby from relaxing.

5. Put your baby to bed early

Your baby is growing fast but is he old enough to sleep in a bed? According to experts, you should not put your baby to bed before the baby can climb out of the crib or the mother should let the baby sleep in the crib until the age of 2, when the baby is about to walk steadily. Because young children will love to crawl around and the bed will not have a barrier like a cot, it is very easy to fall.

6. Let your baby choose the time to sleep

Young children rarely wake up late because the biological clock will wake them up at the same time of day. This means that if you keep your baby up late, he will feel very tired the next morning.

If your baby gets up early in the morning, then at night, you should take advantage of the baby going to bed early. Most 6-month-old babies will sleep about 10 hours per night and 5 hours during the day; 12-month-old babies will sleep about 11 hours per night and 3 hours during the day. Therefore, you should build a reasonable bedtime schedule for your baby to ensure your baby gets enough sleep.

7. Create a space that is too quiet

Although it is essential to create a quiet space for your child's sleep, it is not good if the space is so quiet that there is "no sound".

In fact, many babies will sleep better if there are even sounds in the room such as fan sounds, soft music ... or if your baby is comfortable with a soft light, you can leave a night light for your baby.

8. Let the baby be too dependent on the mother

How will you comfort your baby to sleep? Most parents will give the baby a crib, lullaby, play soft music or gently massage the back of the baby. Although these are measures to help babies sleep easily, when the baby is 3 to 4 months old, this habit will make the baby completely dependent on his parents. Instead of doing so, put your baby in the crib when he shows signs of being sleepy but has not yet fully fallen asleep so he can learn to sleep on his own.

9. Breastfeed your baby while sleeping

Many mothers have a habit of breastfeeding and sleeping at the same time. However, this is not a good habit as it can make your baby more susceptible to tooth decay . Not only that, but breastfeeding and sleeping is also easy to create a habit of eating at night and increase fat accumulation, which can cause the risk of overweight later. Ask your pediatrician about stopping bottle-feeding from sleep and start doing this right away.

10. Let your baby experience minor discomforts

Parents have to observe carefully to find out the reason why the baby is crying, fussy and refusing to sleep. Children may feel uncomfortable for very small reasons such as clothes are too rough, frustrated, the mattress is not smooth or the baby does not like the way their parents hold ...

11. You sacrifice your sleep to care for your baby

This is probably the most common mistake that nearly every parent makes. Even though your baby needs a lot of care, it doesn't mean you have to spend all your time doing this. Instead, you can ask a loved one to help take care of your baby so that you can sleep and take more care of yourself.

Patience is the most important thing you need to remember when practicing good sleep habits. Remember healthy sleep habits will be the key to your baby's best growth and development.