When it comes to getting an infant to sleep, there are many factors that parents have to balance. They have to balance the child’s personality and preferences with the recommendations of doctors and parenting guides-and these two things are seldom perfectly aligned. They have to balance the child’s sleep schedule with their own schedules. They have to figure out how to regulate the child’s naps so that he or she sleeps the proper amount during the night. And in addition to these issues, there may be other, unexpected factors that come into play. All in all, figuring out how to give your child healthy sleep is one of the biggest challenges of the first several months of parenting.
Read MoreFor new parents, sleep can seem like a rare and priceless asset. During the early months, babies can be very unpredictable in their sleeping habits, and they wake at all hours, sometimes for seemingly no reason. Many pants find that their infants settle down and sleep more predictably after the first couple of months, but then things get rough again a little later, usually between the ages of 6 and 10 months. No one is sure exactly why this happens, and research has not made it clear. However, it is likely that frequent wakeups at this age result from a variety of factors. Here are a few of the most common ones.
Read MoreIn child care, there are few issues more contentious than where a baby should sleep. It is the kind of thing that can arouse arguments between friends and drive wedges between spouses. Everyone seems to have strong feelings about it, and there are no sleeping conditions that all doctors categorically recommend for everyone. This makes it an extra thorny issue, but it does not have to be so complicated. Ultimately, the main goal is to sleep in a way that is most beneficial for both the baby and the parents. And while sleeping habits are a matter of personal choice, there are things that doctors do and do not recommend.
Read MoreIt can be an emotional mix of relief and anxiety when you put your newborn to bed. Relief for the well earned break you are about to enjoy and anxiety as you listen to every breath and look for every movement your baby makes. You need to know you are putting your baby to bed in the safest possible way. Remember that cot death or sudden infant death syndrome is very rare and you can reduce the risk even further by following the sleeping advice from the experts detailed below.
Parents are now very aware of the importance of laying their babies on their backs to sleep as lying them on their tummies can increase the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). In fact, cot deaths have decreased by 40% since the recommendation was put into effect in 1994.
If you are the parent of an infant, it is pretty much inevitable that you will have to deal with a fussy baby at least from time to time. For many parents, dealing with a fussy baby is a regular occurrence that quickly leads to frustration, loss of energy, and a lack of sleep.
Read MoreRe-positional therapy
This means regularly varying the position your baby settles and sleeps in. Babies tend to find the same position they find comfortable and you need to alter it to avoid the same pressure being applied to the same part of their head. During the day you can do the following to strengthen your baby’s neck muscles:
If you are a new parent, you have probably already realized that your baby needs to sleep a lot. Parents of infants tend to complain quite a bit that they are sleep deprived because they are up all night long with their babies. While this is certainly a normal pattern for parents of newborns, there are some steps you can take to help your child sleep for longer periods of time without waking up constantly.
Read More