Sleep is the holy grail for new parents. So no wonder many tired parents are looking for something to help their babies sleep.

A TikTok trend claims giving your baby a tablespoon or two of butter in the evening will help them sleep more at night.

As we’ll see, butter is just the latest food that promises to help babies sleep at night. But no single food can do this.

So if you’re a new parent and desperate for a good night’s sleep, here’s what to try instead.

Is my baby’s sleep normal?

Babies need help to fall asleep, through feeding, movement (like rocking) or touch (like a cuddle or massage).

Newborn babies also do not know night from day. Melatonin in breastmilk helps babies sleep more at night until they start to make this sleep-inducing hormone themselves. Bottlefed newborn babies do not have access to this melatonin. Regardless of how you feed your baby, it can take several months for them to develop a sleep pattern with longer stretches at night.

Babies also sleep lighter than older children and adults. Light sleep helps ensure they continue breathing, protecting them from SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). It also means they wake easily and often.

The idea that babies should sleep deeply, alone and for long stretches, goes against their physiology. So “sleeping like a baby” usually means waking quite a lot at night.

Yet, many parents have been asked whether their baby is sleeping through the night and is a “good baby”. The perception is that if a baby doesn’t sleep for long stretches at night, it must be “bad”.

This may lead parents to say their babies sleep longer than they really do, setting unrealistic expectations for other new parents.

Could feeding butter do any harm?

The social pressure around baby sleep can add stress and anxiety for new parents. So the Tiktok trend about feeding babies butter may seem tempting.

But giving babies any solid food before they are around six months old is not recommended. Babies’ digestive systems are not ready for solid food until they are around six months and feeding them before this can cause constipation or make them more likely to catch an illness. For this reason alone, you should not give your young baby butter.

From about six months old, babies should be offered nutritious, iron-rich solid foods. Butter doesn’t fit this bill because it is almost all saturated fat. If butter replaces more nutritious foods, babies may not get the vitamins and minerals they need.

Butter is the latest in a long line of beliefs about certain foods making babies sleep longer at night. It was once thought that adding cereal or crushed arrowroot biscuits in bottle of milk before bedtime would make them sleep longer. Research found this did not increase sleep at all.

Similarly, there is no evidence that giving babies butter before bed makes them sleep longer.

In fact, research shows the foods babies eat make no difference to night waking.

What else can I try?

Waking overnight doesn’t necessarily mean a baby is hungry. And stopping breastfeeds or bottle feeds overnight doesn’t necessarily reduce night waking.

Your baby could be too hot or cold, or need a nappy change. But some babies continue to wake at night even without an obvious problem.

The good news is, sleeping is a skill babies develop naturally as they grow.

Behavioural sleep interventions, known as “sleep training”, are not very effective in increasing overnight sleep. In one study, sleep training did not reduce the number of night wakes and only increased the length of the longest sleep by about 16 minutes. Sleep training is especially not recommended for babies under six months.

Look after yourself

If you’re missing out on sleep at night, try to have small naps during the day while your baby sleeps. Ask friends and family to do some chores to allow you to nap.

If your baby is crying and you find yourself getting overwhelmed it is OK to put your baby down somewhere safe (like a cot or baby mat) and take some time to settle yourself.

If your baby’s sleep pattern changes significantly or they haven’t slept at all for more than a day, or if your baby seems to have pain or a fever see your doctor, or family and child health nurse, as soon as possible.

Some helpful resources

If you think your baby is not sleeping well because of a breastfeeding problem, the Australian Breastfeeding Association has a national helpline. The association can also advise on co-sleeping.

The charity Little Sparklers provides peer support for parents, including someone to chat to, about baby sleep. It also has helpful resources.

UNICEF has resources about caring for your baby at night. And the UK-based Baby Sleep Info Source (Basis) provides evidence-based information about babies and sleep.

Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University; Naomi Hull, PhD candidate, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, and Nina Jane Chad, Research Fellow, University of Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Two Tasmanian women have been hospitalised with invasive meningococcal disease, bringing the number of cases nationally so far this year to 48. Health authorities are urging people to watch for symptoms and to check if they’re eligible for vaccination.

Invasive meningococcal disease is a rare but life-threatening illness caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis. Invasive means the infection spreads rapidly through the blood and into your organs.

Early emergency medical care is important for survival and to reduce the chance of long-term complications. Even in those who survive, up to 30% suffer permanent cognitive, physical or psychological disabilities.

Thankfully, vaccines are available to protect against it.

How do you catch it?

Around one in ten people carry the meningococcal bacteria in their nose or throats.

The bacteria does not easily pass from person to person by breathing the same air or sharing drinks or food – and the bacteria do not survive well outside the human body.

It is spread through close and prolonged contact of oral and respiratory secretions, such as saliva, from others who live in your household or through deep, intimate kissing.

There is no way to know if you carry the bacteria, as carriers don’t have symptoms.

Who is most at risk?

Meningococcal disease can affect anyone.

But infants under one, adolescents and young adults aged 15–25 years, and people without a spleen or who are immunosuppressed are at a higher risk of developing invasive disease.

Meningococcal disease notifications by age and sex

Although sensitive to common antibiotics such as penicillin, the meningococcal bacteria can cause severe infection and death in a matter of hours. The difficulty in picking up meningococcal disease early is that, early on, it can mimic common viral illnesses that people would recover from without any treatment.

Most people experience a sudden onset of fever, difficulty looking at light and/or a rash. The rash is non-blanching, meaning it doesn’t fade when you apply pressure to it. But early in the illness, it can start out as a blanching rash that fades with pressure.

Young infants may also become irritable, have difficulty waking up, or refuse to feed.

The bacteria usually causes a meningitis – inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord – or a bloodstream infection, called septicemia or sepsis. But sometimes it can cause an infection of the bone, lungs (pneumonia) or eyes (conjunctivitis).

Protection against different strains

There are 13 types of meningococcal bacteria that cause invasive disease, but types A, B, C, W and Y cause the most illness.

The rapid disease progression occurs because the bacteria has a sugar capsule which allows it to evade the immune system.

But each of the 13 types has its own unique capsule. So immunity to one strain does not offer immunity to other strains.

Currently, two types of vaccines are available: a vaccine that protects against meningococcal A, C, W and Y (MenACWY); and another vaccine that protects against meningococcal B.

The vaccines are manufactured differently and therefore have different mechanisms of protection.

The MenACWY vaccine uses parts of the sugar capsule within each of the bacteria and joins them to a protein. This is called a “conjugate vaccine” and allows for a better immune response, especially in young infants.

The MenB vaccine does not contain the sugar capsule but includes four other proteins from the surface of the meningococcal B bacteria.

Both vaccines are registered for all people aged six months and older, and are safe for immunocompromised people.

MenACWY vaccine

The MenACWY vaccine is funded under the National Immunisation Program, and given for free, to all infants aged 12 months. There is also a free catch-up program for teens in Year 10.

The MenACWY vaccine protects against disease and also decreases the bacteria load in the throat, reducing the likelihood of transmission to others.

MenB vaccine

The MenB vaccine recommended for all infants aged six weeks or more. But it’s only available for free to infants in South Australia and Queensland, through state-based programs, and to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants nationally, via the National Immunisation Program.

Parents of non-Indigenous infants in other states will pay around A$220–270 for two doses of the MenB vaccine.

The MenB vaccine is highly protective against invasive disease for the person who receives the vaccine. But it does not eradicate the bacteria from the throat, nor does it decrease spread of the bacteria to others.

Reducing meningococcal disease

Other people who are at high risk of meningococcal exposure are also recommended for vaccination: people without a functional spleen, those with certain immunocompromising conditions, certain travellers and some lab workers.

Since the rollout of the conjugate MenC vaccine in 2001 and the MenACWY in 2018, rates of invasive meningococcal disease have dropped dramatically, from 684 cases in 2002, to 136 cases in 2024. The most common strain to cause disease is now meningococcal B.

Meningococcal notifications by jurisdiction

Another reason for adults to get vaccinated

The MenB vaccine has also been shown to lower rates of another bacterial infection, gonorrhoea, by 33–47%. This is because the gonococcal bacteria is closely related and shares similar surface protein structures to meningococcal bacteria.

In Australia, rates of gonorrhea have doubled over the past ten years , with higher rates among young Aboriginal and Torres Islander people.

The Northern Territory began offering the vaccine to people aged 14 to 19 last year as part of a research trial.

Further research is underway in Australia to better understand the meningococcal bacteria, its capability to evade the immune system and the cross protection against gonorrhoea.

Archana Koirala, Paediatrician and Infectious Diseases Specialist; Clinical Researcher, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.