Help Your Baby “Sleep Through The Night”

The Other Senses Most people are familiar with the five senses: sight, taste, touch, smell, and hearing. These well-known senses help all of us, and our babies, process the physical environments we live in. However, most people are less familiar with our two internal senses: the vestibular system and proprioception. Both senses are important and […]

I’ve lived in San Francisco for about 8 years, and my husband was born and raised here. When we first started dating he loved showing me around the Bay Area, and now we love exploring this beautiful place with our kids! Here’s a list of our favorite things to do with babies and little kids […]

A split night is when your baby is up for a long time in the middle of the night and has a hard time falling back asleep. It usually has to do with a sleep imbalance during the day and can usually be easily fixed.

If sleeping next to our babies was inherently dangerous, many species, including humans, would have gone extinct long ago. Parents and babies have slept in close proximity since the beginning of time; only in fairly recent years have parents been encouraged to distance themselves from their babies during the night.

Given all of the persistent medical advice that was emerging in the mid 1900’s, parents came to see feeding as the enemy of sleep and were encouraged not to respond to any hunger cues given by their baby at any time the parent defined as nighttime. This ultimately led to a decline in a breastfeeding mothers’ milk supply, thus prompting the need for formula supplementation, and eventually exclusive formula use.

Have you ever thought about where it all began? The pressure to sleep train, and all of the guidance that you receive from your pediatrician to avoid night feedings and other “sleep crutches?” This two-part blog post looks at where it all began and provides some historical context for how and why sleep training became a highly sought-after technique in infant care. 

Around four months is when your baby’s sleep cycles change. However, this can happen anytime between months 2-6. First, a basic explanation of sleep architecture. Why does the 4 month regression happen at all?

How many of you thought you had to swaddle your baby? I was definitely under the impression that swaddling was standard practice for babies. I assumed it’s just something you do and that all babies love it. Of course, I learned early on in my parenting journey that those types of sweeping generalizations are not realistic or helpful.

There’s nothing wrong with a pacifier in my opinion. It provides one of the best forms of sensory input and soothing mechanisms for a baby: sucking! Many lactation experts will say that it’s best to wait until breastfeeding has been well established until introducing a pacifier, which can be up to 3-6 weeks, so always follow the advice of the Lactation Consultant you’re working with.

Why are open-ended toys the key to independent play, and how do you choose the best toys for each age group? I’ll show you all my favorites and explain why less is more!