Posts Tagged ‘newborn sleep tips’

November is March of Dimes Prematurity Awareness Month! Many babies (roughly 1,400 per day!) are born premature in the U.S. alone and unfortunately, the numbers are increasing rather than decreasing. Please take a moment to learn more about prematurity and what you can do in pregnancy to reduce your risks by reading When Babies Are Born Premature on the Babble Soft website this week. You can also read about premature development and your baby’s sleep here on this site. Please also consider forwarding the information to friends and family as you can save a life of two sharing the knowledge! Thank you for doing your part in this very important matter.

Across this site, I quote age a lot in terms of when a baby might sleep through the night or how long she might need to eat at night. But, premature development might change the way you approach your baby’s sleep.

According to HealthDay News and the magazine, Pediatrics, even babies born just 2 to 3 weeks early can be developmentally delayed. The risk is small for any ONE child, but as a group, even babies born at 34 to 35 weeks can be affected.

The earlier your baby is born, the more you need to make adjustments in terms of brain maturation. Premature development is complex, but most do catch up by the time they reach kindergarten and “85% of premature infants have catch-up growth and land on the regular growth chart by two years of age.” However, problems can show up early or later, so if you have any concerns at all, talk to your pediatrician. That’s what they are there for and always trust your instincts!

When it comes to sleep, premature development does not affect sleep any more than other areas, except that your premature baby will likely sleep like a newborn longer than if she was born full term. For example, you do need to keep in mind that when your baby turns 4 months old, you might not see the same changes that other parents have and instead, you might see them when your baby’s adjusted age reaches 4 months old. It depends on the baby and it depends on their unique premature development.

To find your baby’s adjusted age, take the # of weeks early and subtract from their actual age. For example, if your baby is 24 weeks old (6 months old), but born 8 weeks early, her adjusted age is 16 weeks old, or 4 months.

Since the age that a baby can sleep through the night is a developmental milestone, you can imagine that the length of time a parent of a premature baby has to feed at night is longer than other parents (by the adjusted age). Since even waking once per night to feed for months on-end is downright exhausting, I feel for parents that need to do it even longer than I did (about a year with both boys).

Premature development is probably one of the biggest things that worries parents. After all, there is already a lot to worry about being a parent. It’s also common for parents to compare their children to others, when they were rolling over, crawling, walking, etc. and I’m sure it’s harder for the parent of a premature infant to resist that temptation. If I compare my sons to each other, if I didn’t believe so much in the fact that each child is unique, with their own time table and their own temperament, I might worry about my younger son. After all, although he sat up early, he didn’t crawl until past 11 months (!) and now at 14 months he is only now just taking some steps to walk. His brother, on the other hand, crawled late too but walked 3 weeks later around 11 months. They are just different.

While reading my website about baby sleep, please use your premature baby’s adjusted age, as sleep is a lot to do with brain development. You may also want to track your premature baby’s development, immunizations, sleep, etc. by using an online tool. You can share your baby log with other caregivers and see the big picture when it comes to your baby’s premature development. You may also be interested in my newborn sleep tips.

Share your premature baby’s development story. How did it affect his sleep?

Infants have a strong sucking reflex and therefore many people choose to give their baby a pacifier. Some parents warn against it, encouraging you to have them “attach” to you rather than an inanimate object while other parents warn that if you don’t give him a pacifier, you will become his “pacifier”. Who’s right? No one! It will be up to you and what works for you and your baby and what works for others might not work for YOU.

When to introduce a pacifier

If you are formula feeding, you can use a pacifier from day 1.

If you are breastfeeding, it is a good idea to establish breastfeeding first before introducing another type of nipple. Some babies will have no problem going back and forth, but since you don’t know if yours will or not, it’s a good idea to wait so as not to cause nipple confusion and establish your milk supply, first. This is usually recommended no earlier than 3 weeks and anywhere from 4-8 weeks. If you just need to do it earlier (especially if you will be returning to work), that’s ok! Just do your best and if you start to have trouble, learn how to get baby back to breast.

Pacifier and Teeth

Is a pacifier bad for your baby’s teeth? In short, no. Only when your baby sucks her thumb or uses a pacifier past the age of two is there a risk of altering their bite. It is unrealistic to expect many babies not to want to suck during those first 2 years.

When a pacifier becomes a problem

There is a time when a pacifier can become a problem and that’s when it interrupts their sleep. Some parents are weary having to replace a pacifier 8-10 times per night. In this case, the pacifier has become a poor sleep association that you may want to consider breaking. Some babies will be able to find their own pacifier at night (particularly if you throw 3 or 4 or 8 into the crib), but usually that isn’t until around 6 months. Some may technically be able to, but simply won’t do it. Others will learn sooner. So, if you really want to hang on to the pacifier, you may be able to just wait it out.

When you’re a “pacifier”

Some parents feel they become their baby’s “pacifier” because they are breastfeeding and baby wants to suckle A LOT (what “a lot” means will vary from parent to parent). This can happen. My eldest son did not want a pacifier and not from a lack of trying (mostly by others because I was not 100% on board with a pacifier anyway), so yes, he did suckle a lot and yes, did develop a sleep association (I did not mind until it was ALL night long!) that we later had to break. We continued to successfully breastfeed until 13 months. He did take to sucking on a light receiving blanket as his “lovey” for several months (he stopped using it on his own), but I was fortunate because I never had to break a pacifier or thumb-sucking habit. So, when my second son came along, I actually decided not to give him a pacifier and it was rough for the first couple months, but then got a lot better and so far, no thumb-sucking, yet, either. I am hoping not to have to break either habit, again, but we’ll see.

Pacifiers day and night

If your baby has trouble sleeping with a pacifier at night, but not during the day (or vice versa), you can limit it to one or the other as a baby’s sleep is handled by different parts of the brain for each.

All in all, I’d say a pacifier can be a good solution (if you agree with the use of one), until it becomes a problem. Once it hurts more than it helps, it may just be time to get rid of it. For help breaking sleep associations or help with other child sleep problems, you may be interested in Help Your Child Sleep, a Step-By-Step Guide or my one-on-one baby sleep consultations.

Do you use a pacifier? Did you have a problem with it?