Do you want your child to be smart and excel? Help him to

establish healthy nighttime sleep patterns as an infant! It

sounds lofty and unattainable, but I assure you, it is not.

Dr. Marc Weissbluth, author of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy

Child, references the intelligence research of Dr. Lewis M.

Terman. Dr. Terman’s research, completed in 1925, is

unchallenged even today, according to Dr. Weissbluth. Using the

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test, Terman looked at over 3,000

children. In every case of superior intelligence, there was one

singular link: all of them experienced healthy sleep at night.

Fatigue is the primary cause of fussiness, daytime

irritability, crankiness, discontentment, colic-like symptoms,

hypertension, poor focusing skills, and poor eating habits. In

fact, some researchers even believe there is a cause-and-effect

relationship with poor sleeping habits and the increasing rate

of Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity-Disorder (ADHD).

Now that we’ve established the importance of achieving good

nighttime sleep, let’s talk about some things that get in the

way of it:

 Intentionally nursing your baby to sleep: this

practice, although it can be comforting, provides an

unnecessary dependence on mommy to fall asleep and prevents

your baby from learning how to fall asleep on his own.

 Rocking your baby to sleep: it used to be just a

rocking chair, but now parents will put a bouncy seat on the

dryer or take their baby for a ride in the car to encourage

sleep. While these droning noises and motions do encourage

sleep, your baby will quickly wake up and be unable to fall

asleep again without the motion that encouraged him to drop off

in the first place.

 Shared sleep: sleeping with your baby puts him at

physical and emotional risk. According to the American Academy

of Pediatrics, bed-sharing might actually increase the risk of

SIDS. Additionally, there is the risk that your child might

develop long-term sleep disruption from co-sleeping.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School

have noted that the families with the most sleep-disorders in

their children are also those who practice co-sleeping.

So what’s the solution? Put your baby to bed while he’s still

awake. He will learn to calm himself and doze off (and fall in

to deeper sleep) in his bed, by himself. By all means, feed

your baby, rock him, and love him. But put him to sleep awake

and allow his body to fall in to natural sleep-patterns that

are the healthiest for him and his development.