Mental Health & Sleep Support

My Child Won’t Sleep…What Am I Doing Wrong?

Your child’s sleep—and thinking about your child’s sleep—can cause terrible anxiety and there is an increased need for understanding how expectations can impact experience. 

Sleep advice is often behaviour based and there is a big emphasis on what you do as a parent and what your child does in response. This can be internalized, and often self-blame can appear. Parents can feel that their child’s sleep is based on their actions and behaviour. Parenthood is a vulnerable experience and messages can be perceived that they have to be done in a particular way or you’re not a good parent.

Adjusting to parenthood is one of the greatest transitions you’ll ever go through in life. The change in routine and fragmented sleep inevitably leads to sleep deprivation, which has a profound impact on the mind and body. Sleep deprivation is one of the strongest independent risk factors for mental health issues in the postpartum period. It can contribute to postpartum depression (PPD) and postpartum anxiety (PPA).

Sleep support can be in the form of a sleep consultant or speaking to a counsellor specialising in the perinatal period. A perinatal counsellor can help you with strategies to reduce overall anxiety around sleep, shift your mindset to a more positive space or provide more formal cognitive approaches to address PPD and/or PPA. 

If you’re struggling with anxiety or blaming yourself for a child that just won’t sleep, please reach out and ask for help. Talking to others about your challenges can help you navigate the steep learning curve of motherhood and allow you to really enjoy life with your new baby.