Sleep is a biological need required to nourish our growing brains. Providing your baby's brain with sufficient sleep improves "brainpower". This helps her to develop concentration and improves alertness while also helping her to become physically relaxed and ready to learn. Your baby's brain is growing and developing very quickly. Just like these changes are occurring, your baby's sleep patterns and rhythms are adjusting as well.

 

Your baby's body tries to adapt to her biological needs and has systems in place that help regulate sleep and send her body cues or signals about what the body needs. For example, if sleep patterns are disrupted, her body sends signals that she needs more sleep (i.e., homeostatic control mechanism). She has a second system (the circadian timing system) that acts like her internal clock and sends signals to her brain that it is the right time for her body to sleep. These systems help your baby's body adjust to changes as her brain develops. However, your baby needs you to understand what her body needs (sleep) and help her sleep at the right times so she can be healthy, happy, and alert. 

 

Babies who "sleep at the right times" spend more of their awake time in a "quiet alert" state. This is when babies have open, alert eyes that are looking around at their environment. They are also quiet, calm, and relaxed. This relaxed state is a great time for learning. 

Gene's Research Tip!

A study on infant sleep machines in the journal Pediatrics, tested 14 devices at 3 different distances.  The devices are made to attach to a crib, about 1 foot away or to be placed distantly, up to about 6 feet away.  Now, recommended sound wave levels in baby intensive care units are less than 50 decibels.  At maximum volume, all of the machines were over this level, when tested at 1 foot and 3 feet from the testing device. At 6 feet, only 2 of the units were in the safe range when cranked up to maximum volume.  Read More

Written by Barbara Unell

With a grin on her face, my friend, Sara, once told me the following sarcastic comment that her mother, Martha, made after Sara's daughter was born:

"You will spend the first two years of your child's life teaching her to talk, and the rest of her life trying to get her to be quiet!"

 

Although many moms tell me that they wish that their children would be less talkative, as Martha did, I didn't have this attitude about my children's verbal skills. I loved listening to them learn how to use words to express themselves, from infancy on. Why? Doing so strengthened the bond between us and helped me understand my children as they were growing up. I continue to delight in our conversations, as my now adult children tell me daily all about their jobs, friends and feelings! Read More