Baby Night Waking and Survival

Every new parent knows that the phrase “sleeping like a baby” is intended to be ironic. After all, babies don’t sleep well at all. They’re up every couple of hours, and it seems like at times they sleep so lightly that the slightest disturbance of the air currents in their room will wake them up.

It can be very frustrating when your baby constantly wakes up, or if she has trouble going to sleep. But one thing that you need to keep in mind during these very early days of your baby’s life is that there’s a reason why she doesn’t sleep as well as an adult.

It’s really all about survival.

You see, in those first few months of life, your baby’s needs are at their highest. During that time, your baby’s ability to communicate with you about those needs is at its lowest, however. If a baby were to sleep deeply most of the night, there are some basic needs that your baby has that would go unfulfilled.

Babies wake at night, in part, because they have these tiny little tummies that can only hold so much. On top of that, mother’s milk is digested pretty quickly. If your baby’s hunger didn’t wake him up when he’s alseep, he wouldn’t get enough to eat in those early, formative months.

The same goes for other needs that might wake baby, too. If she has a stuffy nose and can’t breathe very well, or if she is cold and needs to be warmed up, she would be in danger if she didn’t wake up and cry out for you.

Babies do what they do for a reason. They’re supposed to wake up, so that they can have their needs met. You might wish that your baby would sleep all night long, but if he did it’s likely that he would experience some ill effects from not getting enough to eat, or even have more serious problems and consequences.