Handling Physical Milestones and Sleep
Seeing your baby reach physical milestones is such an exciting moment, and is a sure sign that they are growing and thriving. These milestones are often what people ask about when they inquire about your baby; “are they crawling yet? Are they walking?” While your baby may be showing off their new skills, have you ever noticed that their sleep seems to get a bit…..wonky?
What are the physical milestones of baby development?
The main milestones of your baby’s physical development are:
Rolling (belly to back, and back to belly)
Sitting up without support
Crawling
Pulling to stand
Standing
Cruising along furniture
Walking
Do physical milestones affect baby’s sleep?
This study indicates that “emerging motor skills may involve periods of disrupted sleep”, as evidenced by the increased night wakings amongst babies who were learning to crawl. Babies are often moved from place to place all day, busy playing with siblings, eating, or going on stroller walks with mom or dad. This may not leave much time for practicing their emerging skills. When night time comes, they are placed in their crib without all the distractions of the day, and moving their little bodies may be the only thing they can think about doing.
From my personal experience, rolling was a huge disruptor to my little girl’s sleep! When she was ~3/4 months old, she began rolling from back to belly shortly after being placed in her bed. I would lay her down on her back, walk out, and not even 5 minutes later, she would be fussing because she found herself suddenly on her belly. There are several ways to address this, and let me save you from the troubles we went through for a couple of weeks!
How to handle physical milestones and sleep
Practice, practice, practice! Whatever skill they are learning, give them ample time to practice. During the day, get them down on the floor and allow them to practice whatever skill they’re working on. Help them to roll, crawl, or stand.
Remember to keep the crib free of blankets, pillows, or any other objects until they are at least 12 months old. This will help to prevent any entanglement or entrapment injury with their newfound mobility.
It is safe to let your baby sleep in any position they get themselves in or out of. No need to roll them to their back if they’ve rolled to their belly!
(For more info about safe sleep from the AAP)
Rolling and Sleep
You can let your baby practice rolling in their crib during their awake time, so that when they do it at night they won’t be totally caught off guard to find themselves in a new position. I would advise against rolling them back every time they roll to their belly! Moving them constantly especially at the end of the day can be really overstimulating for a young baby. If your baby gets really upset you can try to console them while they are on their belly. Alternatively, you can assist them by guiding them to their back, then assist every other time, then every third, and so on until they get the hang of it.
Crawling and Sleep
You may see your baby doing some rocking back and forth in their crib as they are learning to crawl (we call this the “cribby rock!” in our house). If they do bonk their head a little on the rails of the crib, it’s likely not going to be hard enough to even make them cry. If they do cry, I usually just pause for a few minutes to see if they settle back down on their own.
(If you suspect they may be actually injured, by all means go check on that baby!!)
Standing and Sleep
When a baby learns the fun trick of how to pull to stand or stand up independently, they may want to do it over, and over…and OVER again! Your baby may discover they can pop up in the crib every time you lay them down. And if you keep going back to lay them back down, well, now it’s a REALLY fun game. Pro tip I learned from Ashley, is to set them in their crib already standing up and then let them get down on their own.
Some degree of sleep disruption may be unavoidable when your baby is learning new skills. However, with these tips I hope to help you limit the amount of sleep disruption you might experience!
If you’re still struggling through any of these developmental phases, you can check out my 1:1 packages here!
