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When you reflect on Sleep Experts, who were the people that started it? Will they ever be equaled? Where your newborn sleeps is just as important as how they fall asleep. The safest place is a flat, empty cot or portable cot in your bedroom. Side-car-style baby sleepers that pull right up to the side of the parents’ bed are also a safe option when used as instructed. Try to settle your baby to sleep in their bassinet rather than on you. Babies are more likely to wake when being placed down in their bassinet so if you can put them down first, then settle them to sleep, they are less likely to wake. Newborn babies are not born with the ability to tell the difference between day and night. This is often the reason some seem to sleep all day and are awake most of the night. To help your baby establish a healthy circadian rhythm, start by making sure your baby gets plenty of daylight and stimulation during the day. While young infants need several naps during the daytime, you can experiment to find a napping schedule that makes your baby tired enough to get to sleep at night without being overtired. If your well-meaning neighbor says to keep your tired baby awake during the day to boost her sleep at night, don’t do it! This strategy may work for adults, but it usually backfires with babies, leading to bigger struggles falling into sleep … and staying there. Just because your baby reaches six months you don’t have to move them to their cot right away. If everyone is sleeping well there really is no rush. If you have space you might just want to move their cot into your room to start with but if you’re already cramped in your bedroom and your baby isn’t yet falling asleep for longer stretches at night a move might be just the ticket for all of you. It is important to realize that a waking baby is often a good sign. When babies are very young they need to wake up to feed during the night in order to stay hydrated and grow strong. What’s more, there are a number of reasons why one baby may wake up more often during the night than another. Nobody can do this alone, so ask for help. Speak to your Health Visitor or GP and let them know how things are going. Sleep deprivation is one of the toughest tests for new parents, so ask for support. Regular dummy use is the best way to use a dummy. This means offering your baby a dummy each time you put them down for a sleep, day or night. You and your baby will also find it easier to have a regular sleep routine. If the dummy falls out of your baby’s mouth during sleep, there is no need to put it back in. A travel cot is an ideal place for a baby to sleep when away from home. The mattress on a travel cot may seem thin but this is perfect for your baby to sleep on. Extra padding for the mattress isn’t needed as it makes the surface to soft which can cause a risk to the baby if it moves. It can also get too hot. As babies can’t regulate their own temperature this can lead to over heating. Babies need a firm flat sleep surface. A sleep expert will be with you every step of the way, guiding you on how best to find a solution to your sleep concerns, whether its How To Become A Sleep Consultant or one of an untold number of other things. ==Set Predictable And Consistent Nap Routines== Having short periods of time in the cot while your baby is awake will help your baby to become more familiar with the space and can help them to settle better in their bassinet when it is time to sleep. Particularly if your little one is suffering with a cold or stuffed nose, they are likely to wake more often than they would usually as they can’t settle into a good sleep with a blocked nose. According to the NHS controlled crying is a technique designed to reinforce a message from you to your little one that it is time to go to sleep. However, it is important to note that controlled crying is NOT recommended for babies under the age of 8 months and in fact, many parents don’t like to use the controlled crying method at all. Keep working at a style of nighttime parenting that fits the temperament of your baby and your own lifestyle. If it’s working, stick with it. If it’s not, be open to trying other nighttime parenting styles. If your baby hates being put down to sleep, you don't have to force her to do it. But you should try to transition to cot sleep - even if it's slowly. If you're looking for a compassionate, effective and evidence-based approach to sleep or just advice on one thing like Sleep Regression then a baby sleep specialist will be able to help you. Determine what your baby’s nighttime temperament is. Is your baby a born self-soother who awakens, whimpers, squirms, and then resettles by herself? Or is your baby, if not promptly attended to, one whose cries escalate and becomes angry and difficult to resettle? If you can get to your baby quickly before she completely awakens, you may be able to resettle her back to sleep with a firm laying on of hands. It’s not uncommon for babies to revert to an erratic sleep schedule once in a while. These sleep regressions are a normal (and often temporary) part of healthy infancy and can happen due to teething, illness, growth spurts, changing naptimes, or when they are learning new skills such as how to talk or walk. If your baby isn’t rolling then consider swaddling them to help recreate the feeling of snugness from the womb. Swaddling also helps inhibit the startle reflex meaning they are less likely to startle awake. As the months pass, white noise becomes one of the most important sleep cues. It is key for helping your infant fall asleep after you wean the swaddling. And it will help her stay asleep despite outside noises and lights and discomforts like teething and tummy grumbling. Your baby’s circadian rhythm develops between 6 weeks-3 months old. This is your baby’s “body clock” and it’s what causes him to sleep more at night and less during the day. Much of this development is pre-programmed, but there are certainly things you can do now to encourage your baby to consolidate his night sleep. Especially if your 1-2 month old is awake for hours in the night. Whether its something specific like Sleep Training or really anything baby sleep related, a baby sleep consultant can guide you to find a sleep solution as individual as your baby is. ==Common Baby Sleep Advice== When your toddler seems to struggle to fall asleep for a nap, this is a clear sign they are not as tired for a nap as they used to be. As they grow, they are more able to stay awake longer and this period of staying awake for longer can happen pretty quick. Your newborn baby could sleep anything between 9 to 20 hours in a 24-hour period. For the first 8 to 12 weeks, your infant can’t tell the difference between day and night. Parents who turn their backs on cuddly toys are missing a huge opportunity. These cuddly friends actually help infants build confidence and security. And they’re available anytime - day or night. So a cuddly toy is a very, very good habit - and it’s especially comforting during times of stress (like an illness or a parent’s absence) and for babies with cautious, sensitive temperaments. Breastfed infants usually need to eat more frequently than bottle-fed infants, about every 2 hours versus every 3 hours. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine advises parents not to worry if their newborn’s sleep pattern doesn’t match the projections, as these amounts can vary before the first 4 months. Schedule, routine, pattern; call it what you will, but the greatest tip I can give you is to make sure your child is not being kept up longer than she can handle; especially at bedtime. Your child is likely already overtired from the multiple night wakings, so respecting her need to sleep and have an earlier bedtime will be important to see success. There are multiple approaches to 4 Month Sleep Regression and a sleep expert will help you choose one that is right for you and your family. As your baby grows, they’ll need fewer night feeds and will be able to sleep for longer. Some babies will sleep for eight hours or longer at night, but not all. By four months, they may be spending around twice as long sleeping at night as they do during the day. REM/NREM sleep in older babies, children, and adults, more minutes are spent in deep sleep stages early in the night, and more minutes are spent in very active/light sleep stages as night turns into morning. This is why so many families find that the first part of their child’s sleep is relatively uneventful, with few or no wakings, but over the course of the night, they seem to sleep less soundly and struggle to fall back asleep, even with assistance. Remember that waking up during the night is completely normal for young babies, and you shouldn’t feel pressure to try and get your baby to sleep for longer. In order to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), safer sleep should be the priority instead of longer sleep. This may be difficult for exhausted parents, but it is vitally important that safer sleep is followed for all sleeps, day and night. You may be tempted to take your baby for a drive or a walk around the block to lull them to sleep. It does work, but be warned, if you do this regularly your baby will come to expect it and it could become a hard habit to break. Try bringing their bedtime a bit earlier, and make sure they have a 30-minute wind-down period (not in a room where the TV is on) before bedtime. Sleep consultants support hundreds of families every year, assisting with things such as Ferber Method using gentle, tailored methods. ==Don't Worry If Naps Are Short== Don’t feel bad if you need to take a temporary break from sleeping in the same bed with your partner. Opt for separate beds if you and your sleep partner are having bed-sharing issues. Sufficient sleep contributes to healthy and happy relationships, and sleeping in separate beds is a healthy option. As your baby gets older, she’ll begin to sleep for longer stretches until eventually her sleep schedule will be in line with yours. Hang in there: You will sleep through the night again, and perhaps sooner than you think. Babies may be too short to compete in the Olympics, but they definitely hold the world’s record for championship sleeping. With an average of sixteen hours a day (and, rarely, up to twenty!), babies rack up more snoozing than at any other time in life. In most cases, a great sleep routine and powerful cues like cuddly toys and white noise do the trick. But don’t feel guilty if they don’t! Your spirited or sensitive child may push the envelope for years to come, and you’ll often need to take extra steps to keep her on track. In this case, that might mean pick up/put down or longer-and-longer. Older babies and toddlers sometimes get into a habit of waking for feeds in the night that they don’t really need. To break the pattern you can try reducing the number and length of daytime naps they have. This will mean they’re more tired and will need to sleep for longer at night-time. Having a baby is a steep learning curve and aspects such as Sleep Consultant Training Course come along and shake things up just when you're not expecting them. Split nights can happen during developmental leaps. Your little one’s brain is working overtime and sleep can go on the back burner. If you have noticed that your baby has learned some new skills recently, be sure to provide plenty of opportunity for them to practice their new learnings during the day and hopefully then they will be ready to rest at night. It is true that having a new baby will be a bit of a shock to the system. But every baby is different - some babies are very sleepy when they are born whereas others are not. Babies who are born a bit early may sleep a bit more than full-term babies. Let your baby’s natural response guide you – if they need more sleep, allow them that. If they’re stirring more in the night, consider shortening their naps. Be patient and don’t rush the process. Check out further info regarding Sleep Experts on this NHS page. 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