Hot answers tagged sleep
23
Establish a routine
Yes, it's a Supernanny favourite, but we've found that a consistent routine (even printed out and stuck to the wall in vibrant colours) helps children to understand the wake-play-eat-play-bedtime-sleep cycle.
The biggest challenge to introducing a routine is when the children rail against it. This requires a lot of patience and ...
18
Yes you can wait.
Unless you can't be interrupted (like when you're driving), you should change the diaper "reasonably fast," meaning within ten minutes or so during the daytime. That's a very rough guideline though. Here are some considerations:
It varies how well children handle nighttime diaper changes.
If you can change during the night, do it. ...
16
You might try a little "cry it out".
At about nine months, we figured it was time for baby to learn how to sleep through the night. So rather than rushing in to comfort baby immediately, we'd wait 5 minutes after our baby began crying, then go in and comfort baby and let baby know Mom and Dad are there, then leave. Next time it happens, wait 10 minutes, ...
16
The short answer to "is there any scientific evidence in favor of co-sleeping?" appears to be "yes".
TLDR version: There are studies, particularly by Professor James McKenna, that show that there are strong correlations between co-sleeping and improved breast feeding. These same studies suggest that co-sleeping mothers get at least as much sleep as mothers ...
16
You didn't specify how you put him to bed, so here are a few suggestions. I think the infant will feel abandoned if you just put him down without a word, and then simply remove your hands, and then leave the room. I don't imply that you do, but it's a contrast. Have you tried to:
Make soothing sounds ("sssshhhhh...") before, while, and after you put him ...
16
My Indian parents had my sister and myself in a makeshift hammock-like swing called jhoola, that hung from the ceiling. The problem, of course, is safety. However, the benefits are that it provides a womb-like experience (very snuggly, adapts to baby's shape) and baby can be rocked in its bed.
I always understood the existence of cribs as a safety reason ...
15
A quick search will yield many articles and studies that show infants benefit from touch. With co-sleeping, infants are touched while falling asleep and often all through the night. Among other things, touch helps to increase the parent-child bond.
Parents get much better sleep because they don't usually have to get up and fully wake if the baby wakes ...
15
This is definitely primarily about you and your wife communicating, and (hopefully) compromising.
However, since you asked about what a "normal" evening is like, I'll speak to that first.
I'll start by saying I don't think there is a "normal". Evening routing depends on so many factors, I can't imagine that you could single out any one and say that it is ...
15
There are several potential advantages:
Literacy: Being functionally literate is practically a requirement for modern life, and the greater your comfort with the written word, the easier it is to acquire knowledge. Reading to your child encourages them to think of books as "normal" things, and starts this process early.
Entertainment: One of the key things ...
14
I find that my 4-week-old will calm down differently for me vs my wife. My theory is that my wife smells like milk, so if he's hungry, nothing but mom will do. Other times, he can get agitated if mom is holding him but not feeding him - but he has no expectation of food from me, so he'll be calm for me.
His older brother, now two years old, used to calm ...
14
Move her into her own room.
At 8 months of age, our daughter was in our room and still breastfeeding. She would wake up 2-3 times a night, from what we could tell was hunger. (She'd eat and then go back to sleep.) We are fairly quiet sleepers and don't really move around our bed so much, so it wasn't like we were making noises which would wake her up.
I ...
13
Our daughter used exactly the same tactic (altough it was only in early morning)
Do not give in on letting her into your bed. I think this is a thing to be consequent about. You will have to be strict and clear: calling you out of bed to go to potty is ok, doing this to get into your bed is not. Under no circumstances she should be allowed to use this as a ...
13
I'm not a doctor too, just an engineer, but:
60 dB can not damage your hearing. 85 dB for 8 hours a day is a safe limit for adults, and 60 dB is very very far from that.
If you use the white noise for couple of tens of minutes, it is hard to believe it will cause any stress or psychological damage. I think any continuous noise is bad, if it is too loud ...
13
The love of a parent is infinite, but the time is not. In my humble opinion, you should be thankful for every moment where he does not crave your undivided attention. If you're lucky, he will learn that it's okay to be awake and still remain calm and quiet - I wish my kids knew that.
As long as you have plenty of activities with him during the day, don't ...
12
Our kids were "night trained" by the time they were about 4. If you can figure out when they are having their accidents, it makes it easier to help them. Here are my recommendations:
First, get a plastic sheet; there are going to be accidents.
Second, don't use pull-ups. Help her feel like a big girl so the accidents matter.
Then, make the last drink at ...
12
It's counter-productive to put a standard age on this - it's hugely dependent on your child and to a certain extent your home environment.
My son slept through from 4 months or so, a good friends child still doesn't sleep reliably at 6 years old.
However, reducing the number of naps during the day would probably help. It he's not tired, he's not going to ...
12
We just went through this with our 13 month old. He went from waking up at 6am to waking up at 4:45am, just like your son. This occurred over a period of about 2 weeks, with him waking up progressively earlier and earlier each morning (by about 10-20 minutes each time).
After consulting a pediatrician, the solution we used was the same as what we used to ...
12
This is definitely a parental issue in that you and your wife are definitely NOT on the same page about this. Just based upon your comment that you are a stay-at-home/work-at-home dad, I can only make the guess that your wife probably works outside the home (I might be wrong...).
If this is the case, I'm wagering your wife is suffering from some mommy ...
11
Duct Tape (aka Duck Tape). We actually had to do that a couple times. Of course be sure you check on your son frequently, because he may have an aversion to having the stinky diaper on - he may be developing a diaper rash. Also be sure the tape doesn't get on his skin as it will probably irritate his skin.
Our son got through it after a while and we didn't ...
11
I think that's good advice. Try to ignore light fussing. Wait and see if it develops into something more.
We were told the same by the midwife, and at least for us it was good. Most of the time, our son stopped fussing again on his own. If he didn't, we'd sometimes tuck him in a little and that would be enough. Sometimes it was the beginning of some real ...
10
I am neither a scientist nor a doctor, but I believe they spent 9 months listening to white noise (well, 4 months, at least) in the womb. And given that most of us have fallen asleep as infants with some form of noise (music box, radio, mom's lullabyes, mobile, etc). I doubt that short of dangerous DB levels there'd be any sort of harm from white noise.
(I ...
10
A lot of parents hate giving up that extra hour in the evenings, but the best way to get your son to wake up an hour later is to put him to bed an hour later. 15 month-olds just plain don't need as much sleep as 5 month-olds. The great and terrible thing about parenting is that as soon as you get one part down, it changes.
Other than that, we generally ...
10
When I was baby, my the official recommendation was to sleep babies on their stomach. I don't know the scientific/medical reason for that decade (1980's).
According to research, sleeping babies on their back greatly reduces SIDS probability, and that is the main reason for recommending sleeping on back.
According to this article,
Since "Back to Sleep" ...
10
Is it possible that she is afraid? This is the age when children usually start to be afraid of things, and especially of darkness. Ours did too, although it was not so problematic as your case. So try to discover the underlying reason.
If it is fear, first of all, if her room is too dark, you should install a night light. This helps to gradually make her ...
10
With a newborn, you can certainly wait. Ten minutes, as Torben sais, is a good measure. Note that this doesn't mean you should always wait that long.
From my own experience, this changes once you start introducing solid foods, which is usually around six months of age. Solid faeces are much more prone to irritate the skin, so changing the diaper quickly ...
10
My wife and I never worried a whole lot about whether our daughter actually SLEPT after bedtime.
Our rule was that after bedtime, she had to be quiet, leave us alone, and stay in her room. We enforced that rule just like any other, and allowed nature to manage her sleeping. We modeled the same behavior ... after bedtime the lights were lowered and the house ...
9
That is a really difficult question mate.
I will try to give you an answer never the less.
Easy answer is that it really depends on your child. :) Yeah i guess you never thought of that, right?
Generally speaking... For a kid, there is no real difference between putting him into a bed, or something else. He will never the less cry because he isn't ...
9
This is the first I've heard of the mattress-on-the-floor method, but I have to say, my first reaction is: there is no such thing as a safe room. Once mobile, a baby is able to get herself into dangerous situations using almost nothing. Crawl under the mattress, anyone? Or better yet, crawl over to the door, so it will hit the baby when the parents try to ...
9
Hate to be that person, but.. Get up every few hours. If it's an option, make sure your partner is getting up with the child, doing the changing, burping, etc so you can focus on feeding and sleeping.
The fact that your child is snacking all night isn't worrying in itself - they'll do that, if the food is available. But if you worry about him spitting up ...
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