Baby sleep: The five myths that cause unnecessary stress for parents

From the idea that most infants sleep 12 hours to the suggestion that daytime naps can improve nighttime slumbers, we expose the biggest misconceptions that are troubling parents.

Few aspects of child development are as rife with misinformation as infant sleep – a space that's largely been taken over by companies and books aimed at selling sleep programmes, coaching and advice. From the idea that babies should "sleep through" by six months of age to the belief that motion naps aren't restorative, here are five common myths about infant sleep – and what the scientific research actually says.

1. No, most babies don't 'sleep through the night'

While an infant or toddler "sleeping through" might be the holy grail for parents, it is relatively uncommon, as large studies of young children frequently show. One study of more than 55,000 babies in Norway, for example, found that nearly seven in 10 six-month-olds woke at least once per night, while more than one in four 18-month-olds did.

A 2020 study of 5,700 children in Finland, meanwhile, found that, on average, babies that were three, six, or eight months old woke more than twice per night; 12-month-olds woke 1.8 times per night; and 18- and 24-month-olds woke around once per night.

"Our data confirmed that one to three awakenings per night is common in early childhood. Almost all children woke up one-to-three times at night, while a minority slept through the night (16.5% at three and 22.3% at eight months)," the researchers wrote.

How frequently babies are waking, however, varies greatly. The Finnish researchers, for example, reported that at least one eight-month-old in the study woke up 21.5 times per night.

These studies were based on parental report, meaning that babies might have woken even more frequently – their parents just weren't aware. When more objective measures of sleep are used, such as using video recordings to analyse children's sleep patterns, they indicate that infants wake even more often. One small but authoritative 2001 study using this method found that the average number of wakings (defined as a wake that lasted longer than two minutes) was three wakes for 3-month-olds, 3.5 wakes for six-month-olds, 4.7 wakes for 9-month-olds and 2.6 wakes for 12-month-olds.

But there is good news: as babies approach the end of their first year, their wakes decrease on their own. The Finnish study, for example, found that while nearly eight in 10 eight-month-olds woke at night, just one-quarter of two-year-olds did. 

2. But night wakes aren't always 'normal', either

Sometimes, you hear that children will continue to wake at night until they're taught not to. But this not only dismisses the fact that typically developing infants consolidate their sleep over time on their own (see above); it also can overlook any underlying health conditions that can impact sleep.

Iron deficiency, which affects some 15% of toddlers in the US, for example, can cause frequent night wakes, restlessness, and difficulty falling asleep in infants. (Read more about iron deficiency – and when supplements are the answer). Many other conditions have been linked to unsettled sleep or frequent wakes in babies and small children, including food allergies, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and ear........

© BBC