Help Your Baby “Sleep Through The Night”

Read about this common misconception about long stretches of sleep for infants, and why it’s so controversial.

Everything you need to know for traveling with a baby, whether you’re road tripping with your child or traveling with your baby in an airplane.

Teething can be so rough on both baby and parent. Have you ever stopped to think about just how much it must hurt? Keeping this in mind, of course your baby is going to be extra fussy and irritable when they’re teething. And of course sleep might suffer for a little while, especially if the teeth are coming in back to back or multiple at a time!

Have you noticed your baby “fighting” sleep? Suddenly naps are a battle, or the fussiness seems to have no end. Nap time and/or bedtime take forever and are full of tears. This is a really, really common experience, but of course, that doesn’t make it any less frustrating (or draining!) for everyone involved. In my experience this often happens for younger babies, especially between about 4-10 months old. There is SO much huge development happening, plus spikes in separation anxiety around 6 and 9 months. If you can’t pinpoint a reason for the fussiness, you might try just riding the wave and letting the phase pass. The big thing to always rule out first is pain, discomfort, or feeding issues.

While sleep location recommendations differ across cultures and countries, a baby seeking sensory proximity to its mother is universal. In North America, where an infant sleeps has become a topic of contention among parents, health care providers, and sleep experts. This contention may partly be due to different cultural practices of infant sleep coming to light in America.

I hear from parents who are going through various sleep regressions (or as I like to call them- PROgressions), and some babies experience them much more than others.

It’s not necessarily the screen time that’s terrible, but the fact that it takes the place of the real work of childhood, which is play and exploration.

Chances are you’ve heard of “colicky” babies or may even have a child who’s been diagnosed with “colic.” It’s important to understand though, that the term colic has been used as a catch-all term for when doctors don’t know why an otherwise healthy newborn is inconsolable for much of the day or night. Colic is a symptom. It is not an acceptable diagnosis.

When I taught Kindergarten, we referred to the afternoon period after lunch as “rest time.” My little cutie 4 and 5-year-olds would grab a blanky and pillow plus their little bin of books and find a cozy spot. I’d turn the lights down and play soft classical music. About 99% of them fell asleep even though they SWORE they weren’t sleeping but just “resting their eyes.”

Completely sleep deprived and desperate like many new Mamas, I finally caved and bought one of those pre-made sleep guides from a very popular “celebrity” sleep coach when he was around 3 and a half months old. It was geared towards newborns but I figured I needed to start from scratch. I got a generic e-book sent to my inbox ready for download. I opened it and read as it started outlining all the ways I had already failed.