Babies need naps. Let's be clear about that. Naps are not optional, naps are not "bonus" sleep sessions....naps are necessary for proper infant growth and development. That said - try telling that to your baby! Even the best nighttime sleeper can be a prizewinning "nap fighter". Knowing your child needs naps, and doing all in your power to ensure that she gets them, doesn't always mean that your child really WILL nap. So why does your baby fight naps, and what can you do about it? Read on
baby won t sleep
7 Tips to Hiring a Baby or Toddler Sleep Consultant / Expert
Maybe you'll hire me and my team as your sleep consultant, but maybe you won't. I know all too well that we will not be everyone's sleep consultant. Honestly, we prefer a good match over being everyone's sleep consultant. We aren't doctors and we aren't hard-core sleep trainers (i.e. cry it out is rarely my first recommendation and I believe babies may need to eat at night longer than most), just to name two things that might turn someone away from me and draw others closer. Finding a sleep
When Will Your Baby Sleep Through the Night?
Two of my neighbors and my best friend all had babies within just a couple of weeks of each other less than 8 weeks ago. All of them have commented on the sleep deprivation that goes along with having a newborn and one asked me when my babies started sleeping through the night. First, I always need to ask what that means to someone because, for some, they mean to have a baby sleep through the night, including feedings, and others mean sleep straight through 10-12 hours, with no feedings.
Are You Sleep Training a Tortoise or a Hare?
Sometimes it can feel like you're in a race. Your friends have babies sleeping through the night and you want one, too. The pressure mounts as your baby gets older while well-meaning friends and family ask the same question every time they see you: "Is she sleeping through the night yet?" If you don't answer "yes", you know will hear it again: "Just let her cry. Worked for me." Or, in my case, it was: "It's because you're breastfeeding." It might be tempting to say "yes", even if she
When Baby Won’t Nap
Naps can be challenging to get from your baby and sometimes it seems like he just won't nap. Part of the reason your baby won't nap is because day and night sleep are handled by two different parts of the brain. What your baby knows how to do at night doesn't necessarily mean he will do the same thing during the day. Depending on how perceptive he is, the sunlight can keep him up or just playing with the smallest piece of lint in the crib. There is a whole lot of fun to miss during the
10 Tips to Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep
When you bring your baby home no one tells you that "sleep like a baby" only lasts a short time. This article will give you 10 tips to help your newborn sleep better. Disclaimer: Before I get to the 10 tips to help your newborn sleep, I thought I should note that it can be dangerous for a new newborn baby (just a few weeks old) to sleep all night. They really do need to eat at least every 3 hours in those early days so they can grow well and thrive. It is also safest to place baby on his
Baby Sleep Needs by Age
I am working on a sleep training series where I will outline the various methods, from no-cry to cry, but I don't think it makes sense to write that until I have written out how much sleep we can expect our babies and toddlers to get. If our expectations are too high, we could be trying to sleep our children too often (yes I'm using "sleep" as a verb!) and it will become frustrating for everyone. If our expectations are too low, we might not sleep our children often enough, they may become