The Sleep Sense Program by Dana Obleman

Although it is the one thing that they need, new parents are often faced with a baby fighting sleep. Sometimes it seems that babies are deliberately trying to avoid sleep. It can be a frustrating dilemma for exhausted parents. Understanding Sleep Fighters

While it seems than infants are fighting sleep, there are actually other issues going on. Generally, “fighting sleep” is a label that is given to infants and children that have a hard time going to sleep. There are many causes for this problem. The most common is that the child/infant is actually overtired by the time the parent puts the child down. If a baby is very cranky or very hyper, these are common signs of overtiredness. If you are attempting to train your baby to put himself to sleep, be sure that to lay him in his crib before he reaches this state. Another possibility of why your baby will not sleep is defined in his sleep pattern. Babies that are rocked to sleep, but wake when placed in their beds are not really fighting sleep. Infants stay in a light sleep for at least the first 10 minutes that they are asleep, and then fall into a deeper sleep. If the infant is placed in his bed before falling into the deeper sleep, he will wake crying. This can be interpreted as fighting sleep by his parents. If a baby is placed into his crib while sleepy, but not asleep, he will learn to fall asleep himself. This learned trait will also help him to put himself back to sleep when he wakes up during the night.

The third reason why a baby will not sleep is due to separation anxiety. This phenomenon appears around eight months old. If the child is not put to bed until he is really tired and is consistently reminded that you did not leave, he will eventually overcome this anxiety and be able to put himself to sleep.

Once you understand why you have a baby fighting sleep, it is possible to take care of these situations and stop sleep fighting all together. The separation anxiety can be eliminated by performing a gradual separation technique at bedtime. Place the infant in his bed and leave the room. After he has cried for a few minutes, return to his room and show him that you are still there. Do this a few more times without taking him out of his bed. Eventually he will understand that you did not leave but are just in another room.

This technique takes a few trials, but is usually successful. Making sure your child is really sleepy before putting him to bed will help him to fall asleep faster. When you develop a consistent bedtime routine, your child will realize that bedtime is near and begin to prepare himself to fall asleep. Make sure the routine is relaxing, such as a warm bath, brushing teeth, reading a book and then prayers. This helps children see that bedtime is inevitable and they begin to calm themselves down enough to sleep.

In order to stop a baby fighting sleep, the parents and baby need to be trained in the correct way for a baby to be put to sleep.