# Expert: Mums Don’t Need To Stress Out About Their Restless Babies

- Link: https://stayathomemum.com.au/family/baby/expert-mums-dont-need-to-stress-out-about-their-restless-babies/
- Published: 2017-11-02T11:46:49+11:00
- Author: Clare Whitfield

## _An expert has warned that new mothers boasting about their soundly sleeping babies as a sign of good mothering is causing unnecessary stress’for mums of restless babies._

 While some new mothers are proud about their babies sleeping through at night and
using it as a badge of honour, other new mothers are feeling’bad when their babies
are having a hard time sleeping at night, thus causing ‘mummy wars’ in mothers’ 
groups. [⌊Mother with two children and a newborn baby in a nursery⌉ ](https://i0.wp.com/stayathomemum.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/sleeping.jpg?quality=89&ssl=1)
Mum-of-three Kate Parker, – from Bridgewater, said that babies’ sleep pattern is
always an issue among mothers’ groups. “Sleep is certainly a major topic of conversation
among mothers’ groups, and there is so much information out there it can be confusing”–
I asked my paediatrician about it, and I’d encourage other mums to make sure their
advice is from experts,” she said. Clinical paediatric sleep psychologist Professor
Sarah Blunden, director of the Paediatric Sleep Clinic has revealed in her research,–
to be presented at the annual Australian Sleep Association conference in New Zealand
this week, that many new mothers of restless babies see their babies’ night wakings
as a problem that need fixing when in fact, rather than a normal infant sleep pattern.
In a study with the Adelaide campus of the Central Queensland University, Prof Blunden
measured the sleep pattern of babies aged 6-12 months of 15 families by asking the
parents about’their child’s sleep patterns. [⌊Mother comforting her crying baby soothing with gentle touch⌉ ](https://i0.wp.com/stayathomemum.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/sleeping2.jpg?quality=89&ssl=1)“
Interestingly, our results showed parents very often believe their baby has a severe
sleep problem when they’re actually behaving just as an infant should,” Prof Blunden
said. “They tend to overblow the problem of night wakings and sleep duration, presumably
not realising the behaviour is absolutely normal.” Prof Blunden said that these 
parents resort to expensive sleep interventions to improve their babies’ sleep when
merely educating them will help ease the anxiety. “Parents may think their child
should sleep from 7pm to 7am but that is not correct or based on evidence. If parents
then have a baby that wakes a lot they may think something is wrong or they are 
terrible parents, Babies are different, and some do wake up,” she said. – “If someone
is not very confident in the first place it can be really hard on them, so educating
parents with evidence-based information is imperative.” Source: – [News.com.au](http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/babies/new-mothers-boasting-about-sleeping-babies-causing-needless-concern-for-those-who-babies-are-restless/news-story/77197bafaaf55d300fd9d584d4b3c6e0)

![author avatar](https://i0.wp.com/stayathomemum.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/
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 Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

 Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical
home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney,
she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school 
age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience
in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

 [See Full Bio](https://stayathomemum.com.au/author/clare_whitfield/) [  ](https://stayathomemum.com.au/author/clare_whitfield/)