So you thought you’d made it: your baby has just mastered the art of sleeping through the night and whoosh! Everything has gone wrong because she has developed a new motor skill.
Here’s a list of motor development milestones: how they can affect sleep and what you can do to help your baby bounce back. A recent study pointed to a link between the onset of nocturnal awakenings and motor development milestones: infants found it harder to fall asleep and began waking more frequently at night two weeks before take your first steps. It’s also important to remember that babies often wake up at night and like to practice their new skills, as it’s much more exciting than going to sleep. In fact, they like to cry a little or call you to join them. for their date night.
or 4 – 6 months
Roll over with back forward, but cannot go backwards.
Once a baby starts to roll over, the above scenario will have you up a few times during the night to help your baby roll backwards onto your back. If you haven’t seen them roll from their tummy to their back, chances are they haven’t mastered that skill yet, so you may need to help out at first. However, once she has seen them do it, she must refrain from getting too involved, otherwise they will call on you to come and do it for them every time. Once a baby has the ability to roll over, the neck muscles are stronger and the chance of SIDS decreases. Many parents worry about their baby and this tragic phenomenon, but there is no need to worry, your baby is developing normally and gaining even more strength for his next amazing step.
or 6 – 9 months
Sitting – Crawling and standing
Sitting: Once a baby has grown on its head, it is no longer as heavy and finally has the ability to sit up. Once in bed, you may be able to go from flat on your back to rolling over to a quick push-up and up in 5 seconds. For co-sleeping parents, this can be especially challenging once the little one is awake and sitting up, they think it’s so much fun picking their eye and touching their nose, while practicing the weird vowel or lovely squeal at the same time. OH! You should deal with this by putting him back to bed and saying a code word or shhh in a quiet collective mansion, limit eye contact and don’t do anything that makes him think it’s morning time. They may sit back down a few more times, but go back to lying down.
Crawling – This is the one you’ve been waiting for – your little sugar plum starts to crawl and then of course when it happens you realize you had a lot more control when they were just sitting. Whether your baby is crawling on all fours, using their hands, bottom in the air and legs walking, or sitting on their bottom and moving backwards, this is another little sleep key that works! for you!
Babies love to practice these kinds of things at night when they wake up during their light sleep phase. You put them to bed in one place and the next time you see them they’re squashed in the corner with a blanket entwined around their pretzel-like limbs.
Crawling can also lead to separation anxiety as your little one begins to realize that it’s not an attachment to you but their own separate self. This type of anxiety has a distinctive crying that parents often describe as screaming or hysterical and can cause quite a bit of sleep regression.
Standing up in the crib is extremely frustrating for parents, especially when it happens in the middle of sleep training. Just a few nights ago, you could put your baby to bed and he would fall asleep; now you lay him down, and before he turns you over, two small hands grip the rails of the cradle and the top of a head dotted with wisps of fine hair. she is struggling to peek above. This scenario always makes me laugh even though it’s frustrating. I think it’s one of the cutest things when your little one tries to stretch to see you. However, if you’ve already left the room and then decide to stand up, you may leave your child feeling stranded – COME BACK – they cry – only to be met with a gummy smile and wet cheeks. For most monkeys that have reached this stage, they can get up but not down, the most worrying part being the possibility of them falling over and hitting their heads. If this milestone occurs before sleep training, wait while you teach your baby how to go back down. This can be done by placing your hands over theirs on the crib slats and lowering them and saying a code word as well. If you are in the middle of sleep training you should stay close and continue to help them down, just be careful not to make a game of it, but also practice teaching them how to go back to bed during the day. If they are already sleep trained you may have some regression so it will go back in at night for a short time, stay in night mode and don’t make too much of a fuss. The phase will pass and the next on the list is to walk!
or 9 – 12 months plus
Walking – another bump in the night for you. During these milestones, your little one will not be held back, as they will want to explore every avenue possible. Yes, they will wake up at night and practice climbing the crib, walking up and down. Be careful. and refrain from having anything in the crib that is hard that could be a possible hazard and if you need to put some crib bumpers or safety proof then go ahead.
Provide plenty of opportunities throughout the day for your little one to explore and use her energy—at this age, she barely stops to catch her breath. Babies at this age rarely like to be confined to their strollers or strapped into car seats. Although your little one is bursting with energy and waiting to burn it off, she still needs an adequate amount of sleep, so don’t be fooled into thinking naps aren’t important just because your toddler shows no signs of slowing down. At this age they still need between 11 – 12 hours of night sleep and 2 – 3 hours during the day made up of two naps.
