Book:Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
by Marc Weissbluth (a.k.a. The Sleep Nazi)
A lot of people SWEAR by this book and say that if you read one book about caring for baby, this should be it...
Well, it definitely has some extremely valuable information in it, but it is a beast of a book to get through. In fact, it will probably succeed in putting you to sleep as you read it. And by no means should you take everything this book (or any other book for that matter) preaches as gospel like some suggest because every baby is different. Basically, all the book sleep book writers seem to agree that there’s no such thing as children w/sleep problems...it’s the parents who have them...and cause them. Usually by not having baby nap as often as they should, and by keeping them up too late at night.
You really don’t need to worry about any of this early on though - sleep training doesn’t usually begin until baby is close to 4 months (tho, there’s a lot to know about good napping habits starting at 6 weeks). But for those first 6 – they’ll sleep anywhere and through anything. Also note – that you can’t spoil an infant up until 3 months of age. Don’t let them “cry it out”. During this time it is more important for them to know that you are there to take care of them. It also promotes their knowledge that they have the “power” to make things happen and apparently according to research they’ll cry less later and not without reason. Research has also shown that babies that get picked up within a few minutes of their crying in the first few months, may talk sooner later on.
As I mentioned before, the book is a little bit of a beast to get through primarily because it is not organized well. There is no straight-forward setp-by-step set of tips and instructions. So - I have put together some cliff notes for when baby is reaching 3-4 months old.
- Have baby sleep in her own space (i.e. in her crib in her room). Would you be able to sleep in the kitchen with you cooking? Have them sleep in their own crib as early as you can. We put the a Snuggle Nest inside our baby's crib so the crib wouldn't seem so spacious. A couple times we put the car seat directly in the crib, which I have heard a lot of other parents do.
- Motion sleep isn’t good/restorative sleep (i.e. stroller, car, swing). Think about the quality of sleep you get when you cat-nap in the car or on a plane. Obviously this is not always practical, but Dr. Weissbluth suggests that if baby falls asleep in the swing, you should stop the swing as soon as they fall asleep; if they fall asleep in the stroller, you need to stop the stroller; if in the car...well, you get the idea. Again, as I said, not very practical, but if you can get baby on a nap schedule, the easier it will be to plan your day around having them sleep in their cirb for naps and at night.
- Babies shouldn’t be up for longer than 2 hours at a time until closer to 8 months. This is probably the most important tip to pay heed to. Sleep begets more sleep. The longer baby sleeps, the more they will want to sleep and the easier they will fall asleep. In addition, studies have been done that show that most accidents requiring emergency room care occur when the child should have been asleep as their motor skills get shaky.
- A nap that is less than 45 minutes to an hour is not a restorative nap.
- Bed time should be between 6 and 8 in the evening. Regretfully, this means that working parents sometimes don't get to see baby before they go to bed. Unfortunate for sure, but the reward of having a well-behaved, well-rested child will make the whole family happier.
- After 3 months of age it is ok to let baby “cry it out”. Don’t run and pick up baby at the first instance of a whine. They may just be having a little dream and will fall back asleep on their own. Wait until you know they are for sure awake and “demanding” some attention. There is a different between crying and all out screaming though – but if nothing else is wrong with them, you have to just tell yourself that they’ll be fine. Crying actually has amnesiac qualities and helps you forget whatever is troubling you. For naps, don’t let them cry longer than an hour. But at night, you can let them go. However, if you follow the other advice – hopefully this will never happen anyway. It’s only when parents end up having to go back and train an older baby who has already developed bad habits that this happens.
I'll post some more notes from this book again soon to try and split up the brain dump and not be too overwhelming.
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