A few days ago we explained what the children's dream is like and when, more or less, they start sleeping at night. The information you could read almost clashes with the theories of Dr. Estivill, so I wanted to emulate a writing that I think Dr. Estivill should do, to tell the truth to all mothers and fathers:
My book, "Fall asleep child," has been translated into several languages and more than 20 million copies have been sold worldwide.
The book is aimed at children with insomnia problems, those who can not sleep in a pathological way, but children with insomnia there are very few, so I had to explain the children's dream in a certain way so that 20 million people with completely healthy babies they will think that their children really slept badly (and those who continue to buy it).
I have decided to be sincere and really explain what children's dream is like and what we might consider normal:
• I know that in my book I say that at six months children have to sleep all night, however it is not entirely true. It is normal for children to wake up frequently during the first 2 or 3 years of life.
• Breastfed children usually wake up more often than those who drink artificial milk, although in my method I speak of all children interchangeably. Although it may seem somewhat negative, the truth is that it involves greater contact and attachment even at night and has part of the explanation in the baby's need to feel safe to sleep peacefully and to secure the food by performing night suction (when the levels of Mother's prolactin are higher). You can say that the baby eats at night and performs suction to ensure food the next day.
As breastfeeding provides suction (suction calms them) and provides them with instant food, without the need to wait for the preparation of a bottle (in addition to containing sleep-promoting substances), these children fall asleep before those fed with milk formula. In other words, they wake up more, but fall asleep earlier.
In fact, as breastfeeding is the natural diet of the human species, if being fed in this way causes children to wake up more, It is normal.
• It is normal for a child to wake up at night even up to 5 years. To be more concrete, almost adult sleep occurs around 5-6 years.
• An observational study (filming of sleeping babies) shows that 44% of babies sleep through the night at 2 months and 78% do so at 9 months.
Other similar studies indicate that at 4 months 50% of babies sleep from the pull and that at 9 months 96% do.
Thanks to this type of studies I have been able to affirm (despite not being quite true, seeing the figures) that 6-month-old babies should sleep through the night, however, by carefully reading the studies we see that in the first study they consider "sleep all night" like what “The child does not leave the cradle between 12 and 5 in the morning” and in the other studies they call to sleep from the pull sleeping six hours in a row.
Of course, if the child falls asleep at 9 PM, most children up to 9 months will be awake at 2-3 in the morning. This is normal, but by ignoring these assessments about the studies, I have succeeded in getting you my dear parents to believe that they are failing the statistics of my book, that your child has a problem and that you should continue reading to offer a solution.
The AEPED in its breastfeeding guide for professionals specifies that at 6 months it sleeps overnight (that is, between 0 am and 6:00 am) only 16% of babies, although I say in my book that it has to be done 100%. 50% of them wake up occasionally, 9% wake up almost every night and 5% wake up every night.
I repeat, understanding as night the period between 0 and 6 AM (this means that if we extended the period to a time between 9 PM and 8 AM the results would be, let's say it mildly, scandalous).
After knowing all these data, my dear reader, if you still feel the need to force your child to sleep at the time that is going well for you, even if it goes against the needs of the baby and its rhythms of brain maturation, you can try my method (which is not really mine, it is from the last century) that is based on ignoring the real needs of your baby to learn that at night your demands will not be satisfied.
It may take a few days or weeks, it is normal, as babies, like adults, insist on having what they need. In this case, what they are asking for is company and warmth to feel safe and a shoulder, chest or bottle that calms them as soon as possible so that, at their own pace, they learn to master their nighttime needs and end up sleeping more continuous way.
After that time your child will know that it is useless to ask for something that will never come. It is not that he has stopped needing it, it is that he has resigned himself.
• My method, if it causes crying and stress, increases the cerebral secretion of cortisol, the stress hormone. Experts say that babies with less stress suffer from children are those who in adulthood control and dominate their anxieties and stress levels better. Perhaps it is a fact that you want to take into account.
In addition cortisol prevents the conciliation of sleep, so many times a fish that bites its tail is generated.
• You probably have side effects: Many parents will wonder if my method has side effects. In addition to what has been said about cortisol, it has been shown, in the short term, the appearance in some babies of behavioral or sleep problems such as nightmares, appearance of fears and phobias, etc. (Milberg F, Gerold I).
The long-term consequences may be: anxiety disorders, depression, low self-esteem, learned helplessness, attachment disorders, etc.
The same AEPED has said about my method that “The techniques of behavioral therapy of sleep conditioning are hardly compatible with breastfeeding; they should be reserved for children with sleeping sickness, and their effectiveness and long-term psychological impact are not proven. ”
Luckily, long-term problems generate a problem when it comes to demonstrating causation, so it is very likely that nobody ever look for me to ask for explanations.
Greetings,
Eduard Estivill.
Well, this is the writing, document or statement that many of us are waiting for from Dr. Estivill. Who knows, maybe one day we will be surprised and sincere with all the fathers and mothers he has cheated. Maybe he will do it the day he decides he has already sold enough books, maybe not.
In a few days I will bring you a new entry with some ideas for the children to sleep a little better (or not).
