No-Cry Sleep

Is Baby’s Sleep Causing Your Stress – or Could it be Postpartum Depression?

Babies wake frequently at night. It’s how they are made. This creates a true challenge and struggle for the parents who must be up many times per night taking care of their baby. It’s challenging enough to tend to a wakeful baby, let alone do it when you yourself are desperately sleep deprived. It’s hard for any parent to deal with a baby’s sleeplessness, but it can be overwhelming if you are suffering from postpartum depression (PPD).

Do You have a Sleep Problem . . . or NOT?

Let’s take a look at your situation to make sure that you are seeing things clearly. I’ve found that during the early years of a child’s life everyone has opinions about how you should be raising your child, and other people’s opinions may sometimes cloud your perceptions of reality. So take a deep breath, clear out all the cobwebs that other people have placed in your path, and let’s first go over what’s not a sleep problem.

Is Your Child’s Behavior a Sign of Poor Sleep?

If your child is not regularly getting adequate daily sleep, they may be “chronically overtired” — and poor sleep will directly affect their daytime behavior, learning and growth.

Your child may not seem tired, because overtired children don’t always act tired — at least not in the ways we expect.

The Value of a Bedtime Routine

Consistency and routines create a feeling of security and reliability in your child’s life. It’s a very big world and children learn so much every day that they can easily become overwhelmed with the enormity of it all. When certain important key points are always the same, these things create anchors of security. Young children look for these anchors and thrive on their consistency. They enjoy routines and easily adapt to them, and even look for them.

We can take advantage of this natural desire that children have for routine by actually creating a very specific before bed routine that naturally and easily ends with sleep.

What You Need to Know About Sleep Setbacks

Solving your child’s sleep issues is an on-going process during the early years.  Very often, when things start to go well, and you are just beginning to enjoy improvements in your child’s sleep, suddenly, you’re going backwards! What’s happening with these sleep setbacks?

Co-Sleeping: Making it Safe

If you decide to have your child sleep with you, either for naps or at nighttime, and you’ve found how to make co-sleeping work with your family, it’s important to follow these safety guidelines to protect your baby. People have a lot of opinions and “what worked for me” stories — but do your homework and make safe choices.