I happened upon an article where a woman (and husband) was against cry-it-out and specifically, The Ferber Method, but ended up doing it anyway, because it was what worked. In that article, Confessions of a Ferberizer, she said that, in the end, her son stopped wanting to be rocked or cuddle. She did not seem to regret doing cry-it-out, I don't think, but reading the article reminded me that many of us wonder whether doing cry-it-out will change our child's personality, so I thought I'd reflect
sleep
Baby, Sleep, Pillows
In this post, I'll talk about baby sleep pillows. When should you give a pillow to your baby? When can you give a pillow to your baby? What kind of pillow do you give your baby? What type of pillows can help with co-sleeping? What type of pillows can help with nursing? When can you give your baby a pillow to sleep on? The NICHHD recommends that you avoid pillows for babies under one year of age. They recommend never to place baby on a pillow to sleep or add pillows to the
Getting Your Baby to Nap
Last week I posted my newborn sleep tips. Today I'll talk about getting your baby to nap. I am specifically talking about babies older than newborns (i.e. 3+ months old). A nap is considered to be restorative if the baby is not moving (i.e. such as in a swing or car or stroller) and the nap is one hour or more. I specifically want to mention this because it widely varies what people believe to be a "normal" or "good" nap. Some think babies should sleep 3 hours each time and others seem to
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
Newborn Sleep Patterns Guide + Free e-Book
Newborn sleep patterns vary significantly in the early days, but many new parents want to know when they can put their baby on a schedule and what to expect. This guide will teach you about your newborn's sleep patterns and how they will change over time. Newborn Day / Night Confusion When your son or daughter was in mom's womb, mom's movements during the day lulled your newborn baby to sleep and when mom rested at night, you may have noticed he or she perked up. He or she may have started
Sleep Quick Tip – Which breast is next at 3am?
Today's sleep tip is brought to you by Parent Hacks, a useful site with all kinds of parent tips. When you are breastfeeding, it's easy to forget which breast is next in the middle of the night. Most of us know about the safety pin idea, but that could hurt in the middle of the night. Here are some other things you can do to remind yourself which breast is next: Lie baby down facing the direction she last nursed, so next feeding you can switch sides. Put a hair band around the wrist of
Sleep Problems and Depression, Even in Children
This isn't a post about just children and sleep, per se, but the ongoing emphasis that healthy sleep habits are important for all of us, adults and children. I was doing some reading and have found that new studies are finding that it was once thought that sleep problems were a symptom of depression, but they are now considering that sleep problems may precede depression. In other words, if you begin to have substantial sleep problems, The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) strongly
Sleep Training (From No Cry to Cry) Series – Part 1 – Bedtime Routines
Today I will start a series of posts outlining the variety of sleep training methods that I recommend. I will post them in order (as I interpret them) from no (or very little) crying to the most (potential) crying. There are many variations of these methods, so I am only going to highlight the main gist of each method. Every parent can add tweaks here and there to accommodate their unique style and situation. At the end of the series, I will tell my story of my first son and, eventually, my
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