ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author describes how she help parents speculate on what the sleeping problem represents in their own child’s emotional life and the relationship between them and their child. Quite often, babies have become used to falling asleep only at the breast. They have thus no opportunity to be alone in their cot, half-awake, half-asleep, savouring the memory of a feed and digesting the emotional experience along with the actual physical nourishment. Major factor underlying sleeping problems seems to be resentment by the mother about some important aspect of her situation. This resentment can be retrospective. Conversely, some very active children, who are also often very intelligent, seem unable to let go and settle into sleep. Looking at sleeping problems makes aware of the complexity of the emotions involved in being a parent. Sleeping difficulties punctuate uncertainties at every stage.
