Not sleeping through the night May 5, 2008
Posted by Megan in Myths: Sleep through the Night/Self Soothing.trackback
The wish for a child to sleep through the night is a strong one for new parents and one which many parents seem to want no matter what the cost.
But is sleeping through the night a natural thing or even a good thing?
In the article “dreams differed” we can see that it was not until the invention of the light bulb did humans really start to sleep through the night (well some of them anyway).
Up until that light bulb burning at all hours we humans used to lay down with the sun and get up with the sun, but we did not necessarily sleep all the night. Goodness just imagine sleeping nearly 12 hours from 7pm till 7am or in some cases in winter 5pm till 8am (in some countries even longer or shorter). As we can see in the article but also with peoples around the world who do not have electricity this is a time for storytelling, talking, hunting, love making, breastfeeding or catching up on sleep 
.
The question is has this big change in our environment, our way of life has it affected us as humans?
Yes we did have oil lamps and very good ones at that but with the invention of the light bulb in the late 1800’s we also had the invention of sleep training for babies coming into affect.
If people wake up in the middle of the night or the early hours of the morning they think something is wrong that they have insomnia or heavens above maybe as a child then never really learn how to self soothe or self settle. This can become a problem the more one thinks about it and worries about it the more one wakes up, rather than thinking its just a natural part of life and waking up in the night is normal. But as we have developed as a culture we have also separated our self off from room sharing so who is there to talk to what can a person do?
Many people who have been subjected to “cry it out” methods will later on in life have very late bed times is this to make sure that they are so tired that they will not wake up – fear of waking up in the night? Is this healthy? A fear of lack of sleep or a fear of not sleeping at the “right” times.
Has the pressure of sleeping through the night affected our adult life too?
i subjected my daughter to the “cry it out” method ( thankfully I have learned better) and she has a very late bed time. I did not do that to my other children and they go to sleep much earlier and much easier.
Hi,
I am worried about my baby not being able to soothe himself to self ever. He is 9 months and I brestfeed him to sleep and he wakes up 3 -4 times a night.. he used to sleep right through the night.. but he has trouble going in and out of diffrent sleep cycles.. Is it harming him to be in bed with me and feeding when he wakes?? Will he ever learn to sleep by himself?
Thanks. I would really appreciate some advice..