How Your Baby’s Developmental Changes Affect Sleep

The Bumpy Road to Sleep: How to weather your baby's developments changes and still get some sleep.

By Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack

The first year of a baby’s life is a time of tremendous change for everyone in the family. These 12 months can be both exciting and challenging, as babies learn how to communicate their needs and parents learn how to meet them.

You might think that your baby’s developmental changes (such as hitting motor milestones like rolling and crawling) have little to do with sleep. In fact, the two go together like bread and butter. Each time your baby reaches a new milestone, it’s a double-edged sword. On the one hand, she’s doing a victory dance. “This is amazing!” she thinks. “I can move my body in this cool new way, and it’s all I wanna do!”

On the other hand, she’s now able to move her body farther away from you, which is a mixed blessing in her eyes. She’s thrilled with her new independence and skills, but she really starts to feel her separateness from you. It’s a mad dance between separation and attachment, and she’ll fluctuate back and forth between the two seemingly from moment to moment.

Problem: Separation Anxiety

You’ll probably notice that you have some mixed feelings about your baby’s new independence, too. You may find yourself feeling overwhelmed with pride at your baby’s new abilities on the one hand … and sharing some strong tugs on your heartstrings as you realize that she’s starting to grow up and away from you.

Separation anxiety, whether for baby or for a parent (usually Mom), is nature’s way of preparing us for the inevitable increasing individuation – that’s a fancy, clinical term for “feelings of separateness” – in a parent-child relationship. The sooner you can get comfortable with it – and encourage your baby to do the same – the easier it’ll be the next time it comes up.