Major milestones in infant development and sleep
Once your baby is past the newborn stage, he or she begins to acquire new skills, especially between 6 and 12 months of age. While your little one's development is something very exciting and makes us feel very proud as parents, these new abilities can affect your baby's sleep. That's why we've prepared a guide with the main developmental milestones to help you deal with them.
Experience new emotions
One of the main developmental milestones is when your baby begins to experience and express different moods, such as joy, anger or sadness. In general, babies tend to express their emotions through different types of crying . Therefore, it is important that you know how to identify them, in order to know how to react correctly to these manifestations.
How does sleep affect this developmental milestone?
If you notice that your baby starts to cry when bedtime approaches, it is important to know the reason for his crying . It may be due to discomfort, over-tiredness or inconvenience.
To help your baby consider:
- Maintain physical contact and understand the signals your baby gives you. This will help you avoid your little one experiencing feelings of anger or sadness.
- Introducing a safe sleeping object can be a great help in providing comfort. This attachment object works very well as a companion when your baby begins to experience new emotions.
Learning to sit, crawl, stand and walk
It fills us with joy to see our little ones learn to sit up on their own, crawl or walk. This is very exciting, especially for your baby. That's why he'll want to practice his new skill all the time, even at bedtime .
So, to ensure that this developmental milestone doesn't interfere with your little one's sleep, it's important to give your little one plenty of practice time and space to learn while they're awake . This way, your little one is less likely to want to practice their new skills at bedtime.
Gift from dad or mom?
Babies usually get used to being cared for by certain people very quickly, and it can be difficult to change that. Your baby may start to show preference for one parent, someone in the family, or the person who cares for him or her.
This kind of favoritism can manifest itself when bedtime comes around. You will see that your little one refuses to have his sleep routine done by one of the parents and only wants to sleep with his mother, for example.
To help him, you can carry out the routine of sleeping next to the person who is not the preferred one. After a few days, leave one person alone and take turns so that your baby gets used to each one.
Learn to solve simple problems
If your baby is learning to solve simple problems, such as changing positions when he or she is uncomfortable, but has not yet fully mastered this new skill, he or she may experience a certain degree of frustration . Some children experience this feeling more intensely, which can be reflected in their sleep.
To help your baby, give him the opportunity to figure out simple problems on his own before you see signs of frustration. For example, lifting a lid, picking up something that fell, etc. This will go a long way toward helping him gain more independence and face the world with more confidence.
Remember that every baby is unique, so not all developmental milestones affect sleep during growth. If you see that your little one is experiencing difficulties at sleep time, you can request an express consultation and we will help you.
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