Real World Advantages Of Sleep Consultants Articulated In Simple Terminology Decisions, decisions! Our lives are packed with them, from the minute and ordinary, like what to wear, to the life-changing, such as what Sleep Consultants to invest in. Leave a little time between your baby’s feed and bedtime. If you feed your baby to sleep, feeding and going to sleep will become linked in your baby’s mind. When they wake in the night, they’ll want a feed to help them go back to sleep. Don’t get complacent: Manage your expectations even if you’ve had a few good weeks of your baby sleeping for longer periods, don’t assume this will last, unfortunately, it often doesn’t and there will be periods of disruption from time to time. It’s important to make sure you create the right environment to help you get as much rest as possible.Keep the room fairly dark – switching on the light wakes everyone up and is not usually needed when you are feeding and comforting your baby. With older babies feeding to sleep can continue to be effective at getting your baby to fall asleep. However feeding to sleep quickly becomes a firm habit, as baby learns to fall asleep by feeding. Over time this means they will want to be fed back to sleep every time they wake in the night, which is on average 4-6 times for babies over 5 months. You should always put the baby down in their crib or moses basket before they fall asleep to get them used to dozing off on their own. Putting your baby down while they're still awake teaches babies to self-soothe, meaning they’ll slowly learn how to put themselves to sleep. Figuring out the cause of that disrupted sleep—so you can then address it—is the key to you both getting some much needed shuteye. Babies aren’t too fussy about where they sleep. They snooze just as soundly in a plain cot as they do in the frilliest nursery. So you can paint fluffy clouds on the bedroom walls if you like, but remember that your key job is to make sure your little one sleeps safely. While you have an end goal of teaching your baby to self settle, it's worth noting that this doesn't mean using 'cry it out'.....there are lots of options for teaching babies to settle without feeding to sleep. Choose one that you as a family are comfortable with. Different techniques work for different families, depending on the age of the baby, how quickly you need it to work, what you are prepared to try etc. If your baby is being transported in a car, they should be carried in a properly designed and fitted car seat, facing backwards, and preferably be in sight of an adult. Be careful that your baby doesn’t get too hot and remove hats and outdoor coats when you get in the car. Newborns can feel more secure when swaddled – either with a sheet or light blanket or using a shop-bought product. It works wonders for some babies, so it’s worth a go. 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. Consistent Bedtimes And Rituals It’s important that babies sleep in a dark space—darkness triggers your child’s melatonin hormone, which is released every night and helps them feel sleepy. While some babies are fine in a room that’s just darkened with regular blinds or curtains, many sleep consultants recommend blackout blinds to completely darken the space, especially for naps and in the summer months, when it’s light out for several hours past a typical baby bedtime. Moving your young infant to a cot from a cosleeper is pretty easy. A couple of weeks before you make the switch, just start a routine of some fun, quiet play together in the crib each day (a little massage is perfect). For infants over six months, it also helps to place a small, silky blanket or cuddly teddy bear in the crib as a lovey (transitional object). And of course, continuing your white noise will create a reassuringly familiar bridge to smooth the transition. It is normal for babies to not sleep for long periods of time after they are born. Babies in pregnancy are often awake when their parents sleep as they are rocked to sleep when their parents are walking about in the day. So a newborn baby is often a little ‘back to front’ and it takes time for them to start to sleep when it is dark. Some babies do just fine getting placed in the cot. Other newborns might need help with the transition. In that case, start small. Use naptimes to get your baby used to their new sleep space and gradually add in additional naps or bed-time. As always follow the same nap-time and bedtime routine and always lay your baby on their back. Parents may think that elevating the crib mattress to relieve symptoms of reflux is safe, but it is not, nor are any types of sleep positioners or wedges in a crib. Furthermore, however safe the crib may be, any new parent can attest to the fact that all babies will end up sleeping in many other places. The gentle approach and caring manner of a baby sleep expert allows them to assist you in the most preferable way to deal with ferber method and to assist you and your family in any way possible.The chance of SIDS is particularly high for babies who are sometimes placed on their front or side. If your baby rolls onto their tummy, you should turn them onto their back again. Once your baby can roll from back to front and back again, on their own, they can be left to find their own position. If it’s possible, discourage your little one from dipping in out of catnaps when you’re out and about, as the nap they have is likely to be less relaxing than sleep that happens in the cot. On the whole, your little one will sleep better at home in their cot. Missing sleep can soon turn you into a drooling, dribbling mess, so try and share the burden with your partner. When your baby is old enough to sleep right through without a feed, your partner can really make up for lost time! You might even find your baby stops waking when they realise it doesn’t actually get them anything to drink. If your baby was born prematurely, her sleep numbers will differ from those of full-term infants. Preemies may sleep up to 22 hours a day, depending on how premature they are, and they’ll wake more frequently to feed. As for stringing together bigger chunks of nighttime sleep (six hours or more), preemies won’t get there as quickly. In fact, it may take until they're 10 or 12 months old to achieve this feat. If possible, try to establish a cycle where your baby wakes up and eats immediately (while staying as awake as humanly possible). Then baby would remain awake to complete the 60 minutes of wake time. Followed by sleep for some amount of time. Then, of course, waking and eating again. This is a great way to ensure your kiddo gets as many calories during the day as possible, and hopefully sleeps longer stretches at night. 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 gentle sleep training or one of an untold number of other things. Nursing Down If the room your baby sleeps in is too bright, they will be more interested in looking around than going to sleep. If your baby hasn’t had enough awake time before you tried to put them to sleep, they will likely wake soon after being put into their cot as they just aren’t tired enough to sleep for longer. Try and ensure that your baby takes their day naps in their cot too rather than in prams or car seats which are not ideal, regular nap zones. The more naps they have in their cot, the better bedtimes will be. The younger your child is, the more sleep they need. Schedule ample daytime naps as well, so that they are not overtired. 3-4 hours of nap time is more than enough for the baby. The rest of the time should be devoted to playing, interaction with the family, feeding, cleaning and other activities. To recognize their baby’s sleep cues (keeping in mind that a small percentage of babies seem to show no sleep cues at all), parents should start to closely observe baby thirty to forty minutes after they wake. Sleep consultants support hundreds of families every year, assisting with things such as 4 month sleep regression using gentle, tailored methods.If your baby is sleeping in your room (as per the Canadian Paediatric Society recommendation), you’ll want to be able to get yourself into bed without waking them up. Use a white noise machine, and do all your bedtime prep out of the bedroom, “so you’re just ninja-ing in.” If it’s possible, it might be a good idea to put baby's cot in your room so you can get them used to sleeping in the cot while still having the familiarity of your room it may help to get them used to the change more gradually. It can take several weeks, even months before your baby is sleeping through the night and being more awake during the day. In the meantime, there are a number of strategies you can employ to help your baby get into the habit of sleeping at night and being awake during the day. 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. It's a common misconception that hanging mobiles featuring soothing colours, music and even lights can help a new baby nod off to sleep when placed above their cot. However, mobiles and night projectors can actually have the opposite effect of over stimulating your baby so that your baby is no longer sleepy enough to fall asleep on his own. For sleep regression guidance it may be useful to enlist the services of a sleep consultant. A Warm Bed SIDS is the unexplained death of a baby younger than 1 year old. SIDS usually happens when a baby is sleeping. It’s sometimes called crib death because the baby often dies in his crib. Technology goes from on to off with the flip of a switch, but the brain is more like a dimmer switch, it takes a little while to shut down. In other words, it's difficult for an infant to go straight from, say, playing with an exciting, bright, loud toy to peaceful slumber. If your baby’s used to you being there when they go off to sleep you may find you need to be there a little while in the morning too to help get them back off. Unearth more info on the topic of Sleep Consultants on this NHS article. Related Articles: Background Insight On Sleep TrainersMore Findings With Regard To Baby Sleep SpecialistsSupplementary Insight About Sleep ConsultantsFurther Findings With Regard To Sleep SpecialistsMore Background Findings About Baby Sleep SpecialistsMore Background Findings On Sleep SpecialistsExtra Information With Regard To Sleep Experts