Busting baby sleep myths

When there is a baby in the house, it seems everything revolves around their sleep. You may have heard that setting a late bedtime will prevent a baby from waking up too early. It may seem logical but actually, keeping a baby up late will make them overtired causing them to get wired and make it harder for them to fall back to sleep if they wake up early. We have more do's and don'ts when it comes to your child's sleep.

When it comes to a newborn, sleep is important so here are some myths worth busting. First off, it's okay to let the dog sleep in the nursery. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends never leave a baby alone with a pet. The reason is about 600,000 children are bitten by dogs every year. Even a cat can cause harm to your infant. To play it safe, make the nursery a no-pet zone.

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Also, never wake a sleeping baby? In the first few weeks of infancy your baby needs to eat every two to three hours. In order to keep your baby at a healthy weight there may be times when you will have to nudge the baby awake to feed.

Another baby sleep myth is keeping the nursery completely quiet. Newborns actually find background noise, like the shushing sound of a fan, comforting and familiar. It reminds them of the constant noise they heard when they were in utero. Plus the added white noise can drown out the rest of the noise throughout the house that can wake the baby.