Of all the ‘problems’ I am asked for help with the most it is the following:
“how do I get my baby to sleep in his cot?”
“I want my baby to sleep in her crib, but she won’t, how do I make her like it?”
I’ll let you into a secret.
Babies HATE cots and cribs.
Night terrors are a parasomnia, an unusual behavioural and physiological phenomenon that occurs during sleep. They effect between 1-6% of children. Unlike nightmares, night terrors happen in a stage of deep sleep called NREM (non-REM), a stage of sleep categorised by the absence of dreams.
Are friends, relatives and professionals telling you that you should sleep train your baby? Warning you of dire consequences if you don’t? Are you considering sleep training because you are exhausted and desperate for a little more sleep? Here are ten reasons why you shouldn’t do it! 1. Sleep Training Misunderstands Normal Baby Sleep Those whoContinue reading “Ten Reasons to Not Sleep Train Your Baby”
When my children were small, I had four children under four years of age. My first and second were both 15 months apart, my third followed 14 months later and my last 2 years after number three. Adding a new baby into the mix of a toddler is exhausting, especially if the firstborn is stillContinue reading “Two Under Two? No Problem! The Real Difficulties of Welcoming a Second Child”
The following infographic provides a realistic look at baby, toddler and preschooler sleep. Including average night waking, need for night feeds, sleep regression and average amount and timings of naps.
Did you know that millions of parents around the world are making one very simple, but huge, mistake that is potentially inhibiting their child’s sleep (no matter their age) and contributing to difficult bedtimes and frequent night waking. This mistake is perpetuated by thousands of nursery product manufacturers around the world. In fact when youContinue reading “One simple way to improve your baby or child’s sleep today!”
If you follow attachment or gentle parenting principles, you should never willingly let your child cry, right? Wrong. If you follow attachment or gentle parenting principles, you should never willingly make your child cry, right? Wrong. You can very much be an attachment or gentle parent and both allow your child to cry and (shock horror)Continue reading “Why it’s OK to let your baby or child cry (sometimes).”
One of the top criticisms I get of my disdain for ‘experts’ who insist that babies should learn to ‘self soothe’ in order to sleep through the night is those who comment “but my baby DOES self settle and I’ve never done any sort of sleep training” (those who ‘self settle’ after sleep training areContinue reading “The Self Soothing Babies who are not Actually Soothing Themselves at all”
There are so many parenting myths in circulation in society. I’m sure you’ve come across many yourself. Many of them are obviously myths and therefore easy to ignore. Others however seem far more ingrained and sound more plausible. Their plausibility and popularity cause a great deal of misunderstanding, and often stress, for vulnerable new parents.
Breastfeeding is an amazing tool to help settle children at night. As a mother of four I have found that by far the easiest way to get my children to sleep at night was by breastfeeding them (well into the toddler years). Similarly when my children woke at night breastfeeding was by far the quickest and easiestContinue reading “How to gently night wean a breastfed baby or toddler”
Sarah Ockwell-Smith 
You must be logged in to post a comment.