Analysis Of Baby's Sleep

As a mom of a 2.8 years child who doesn 't sleep through the night, the chapter about baby 's sleep was especially compelling to me.

When I first read that French kids start "doing their nigths" from as early as 6 months old, I was stunned. How is it even possible? And the talk is not only about some random child who started his all night sleep at a very young age. The author describes it a very common experience, which is nothing to wonder about.

It is quite fascinating how the author 's method of getting her daughter to sleep resembles my own methods. Since my daughter rarely fall asleep during nursing, I had to rock her in my arms until she would doze off. Then follows the ritual of keeping her in my arms for 15 minutes or so (because

I needed to know, what are these Fench parents doing different and whether I can change my parenting technique to achieve that long awaited night rest.

There is one thing, that worths to be mentioned about France. The country is often critisized about its approach to breasfeeding and its very low rates in comparison to other European countries. A woman who keeps nursing her baby past his 1 year of age is a rare event. Many experts believe that bottlefed babies begin to sleep better at much younger age than breastefeed babies. So, at first I thought that it is the reason behind a good sleep.

But as I continued reading the chapter, the author pointed out that type of feeding doens 't make a crucial difference in a baby 's sleep pattern. Bottlefeeding is not the reason why French babies sleep good.

It fueled my interest even more. Tell me that secret, I need to know it

In a former Soviet Union, doctors advised against breastfeeding during the night. Therefore, my mom didn 't give me milk at night but successfully kept nursing during the day.

If all French parents don 't feed their babies at night, would it mean they are starving their children and all kids are underweight? I highly doubt that. Instead, the mothers try to tank up their babies as much as possible during the day so that a baby wasn 't hungry at night. Makes sense? It does to me.

What also intrigued me in this educational overview of French parenting is that all kids follow the same feeding schedule as adults. They have breakfast, lunch, dinner and afternoon snack. And French see it as a common sence. They start to incorporate a 4 meal day rule at a very young age, as early as 4 months old, gradually easing babies into a shcedule.

What surprises me even more is that French children are capable to wait long stretches between feeds without whining or crying.

Feels like these French have perfect babies, who sleep and eat well. But how did they achieve such an unquestioning obidience? It turns out, the secret lies in that same old