Getting the baby to sleep can be an arduous task and new research has revealed that 70 per cent of parents resort to rocking their little one to sleep in order to get some shut-eye themselves.
Rock-a-bye-baby is the sleep technique preferred by parents and beats pushing the buggy around the house and driving the car around town to get the baby to sleep.
However, the result of the survey is not music to the ears of the professionals.
Jo Tantum, author of the book Baby Secrets said: “Rocking a new baby to sleep is beneficial for bonding and breastfeeding, but as your baby gets older it leads to the baby needing that same sleep prop every time they want a nap in the day, or in order to sleep at night.
“If they wake up in the night, they will need that rocking again then, and since the parent is the one who has provided it, it usually leads to sleep deprivation and exhaustion in Mum and Dad, not to mention a bad back as your baby gets older and heavier.”
Rocking your baby to sleep is not recommended by experts
The study, which was conducted by www.babyhuddle.com, revealed that most parents underestimate the amount of sleep a new born baby needs, which is about 15 to 18 hours per day.
“Keeping a new baby awake for two hours is just too long as they are tired after just one hour of being awake. Often if a baby cries the mother assumes they are hungry and so they put their baby on the breast for feeding, and this inevitably leads to rocking.
“But if they learn to distinguish the baby’s ‘tired signs’, and allow her to settle themselves in the cot calmly before they become overtired, without them crying or getting upset they are teaching good sleep habits that will continue through toddlerhood and beyond,” Jo added.
