Today I want to talk a little bit about getting your baby to sleep somewhere other than their cot. I get emails from parents a lot of times saying, My baby sleeps so well on The Sleep Sense Program. She takes great naps in her cot, but she really wont sleep anywhere else. Read more
Cereal in a bottle will help baby to sleep better!
I hear that all the time. I know its an old wives tale. Your grandmother probably told you, Oh, put cereal in a bottle with breast milk or the formula, and this baby will sleep all night. The truth is that is not true.
You want to be very careful and cautious about when you introduce solids to your baby. Theres a lot of evidence that suggests starting solids too early can lead to some allergies in the future. Read more
Is there ever a time when your baby is sleeping too much?
I know that might sound crazy especially if you have had months or even years of broken sleep and half an hour naps might seem like a fantasy.
The baby might actually sleep too much. The truth of the matter is that 9 times out of 10, there is no such thing as too much daytime sleep. Some babies have different needs than other babies. Some will have a nice two-hour nap, some will do three, some will do fine on an hour. So, I want to relax a little bit around it that there is no magic amount of time that each baby needs. Read more
Soothing Back to Sleep…
This question comes from Kim who writes:
Why does my 13 month old wake up between the hours of 2:00am and 4:00am and just needs to be patted right back to sleep? I don’t take him out of his cot but it takes a toll on me to stand over him and pat his back until he falls asleep again.
Well Kim, You want to think about how Jacob falls asleep at bedtime. If you find that part of your bedtime routine includes putting him in his cot, and then standing above him patting his back, in a way he’s falling asleep on his own but in another way he’s not. Read more
This weeks question comes from Trina and she writes:
I have boy twins who share a room but not the same cot. They are six months old and they wake up two to four times a night. I just do not know what to do. I feel like I cannot let them cry because one is going to wake up the other one. Read more
Is your baby not sleeping?
This weeks question comes from Angel. She writes:
“Help! My baby’s one year old and does not sleep. He has a one hour nap in the morning, but then doesn’t have another one all day. He plays all day and into the evening, and doesn’t usually go to sleep until midnight. Then wakes up about two-ish — sometimes he’ll settle and sometimes he doesn’t. If he does, he’s up for the day at five a.m. and thats it! So in 24 hours, he sleeps five hours. Is there something wrong with him… or is something wrong with me?” Read more
Extra Sleep…yippee
This year, on Sunday 25th October at 2am the clocks going back one hour. For us, this means that we get an extra hour of sleep but essentially, this changing of the clocks does affect us in some way and ultimately it can add to our lack of sleep. Read more
Benefits of Swaddling Your Baby
I get asked often,
Is a swaddle a prop?
Is it useful?
Where do you stand on a swaddle?
Swaddling a newborn can be an excellent tool. It mimics the feeling of confinement that they experienced in the womb. It can be very comforting to a lot of newborns. I used a swaddle on both of my children. Basically, they taught me how in the hospital. Now, there’s a little bit more concern around, “Is the baby getting overheated from a swaddle?” Read more
Encouraging a newborn to sleep longer
Fiona has been working with me for the benefit of her one month old. She has a routine in place. She’s been putting him in the cot awake, a little bit drowsy, but mostly awake, she says. Lots of nights, he is going a four or five hour stretch, but then every night or two, he’ll only do an hour and a half.
She’s wondering how can she encourage him to sleep four or five hours every night, instead of occasionally. Well, first of all, good for you for getting this started early. Read more
Most of us consider snoring just a normal part of life. Maybe we have a partner who snores, or a Granddad who falls asleep in his easy chair and snores so loud it’s hard on carry on a conversation in the room. We think of it as a common condition, and while it might be irritating trying to sleep beside a snorer, it usually isn’t anything to worry about. Read more