If you don’t have a structured bedtime routine for your child, then you are making a mistake. Research has consistently shown that children with a bedtime routine fall asleep faster, experience fewer night wakings and sleep for longer. Both babies and toddlers benefit greatly from having a familiar set of activities that gently lead them step by step into a relaxed state. The same set of actions performed at the same time every night is comforting to a child and leads to a feeling of security that helps them sleep well.

If your child is a toddler, he or she will be continually testing the boundaries that you have set them and trying to assert their own will on every situation. If you are consistent in your routine then your toddler are far less likely to be battling you at every step. Read the rest of this entry

When you are completely exhausted and your baby or toddler has been driving you crazy all day, most of us will gladly try any non harmful tactic to help your little one fall asleep. Some of the things that many people try are:

• Pacifiers or dummies
• Walking, rocking or driving your baby to sleep
• Watching T.V. To sleep
• Nursing your baby to sleep whilst still on the breast
• Playing a specific tune or piece of music that your baby likes

In the short term, many of these techniques will work a treat but unfortunately they cause more problems in the long run. When your child becomes dependent upon a physical object or set of circumstances to fall asleep they will often wake up distressed if those circumstances are no longer available when they stir in the night.
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You may have heard of sleep training but are not sure exactly what it is and whether it is safe or appropriate for your little one. Sleep training is when you teach your child the skill of self-soothing so that he or she is able to fall asleep or fall back to sleep on their own. Before talking more about sleep training I’d like to point out that there are situations where sleep training is not appropriate. You should never sleep train your child if: Read the rest of this entry

When your child repeatedly wakes up during the night and consistently has problems going back to sleep, it can really tire you out. It can also be quite frustrating when you repeatedly hear stories from other people with young children whose babies are already “sleeping through the night”.

The first thing that I want to point out is that we all, both parents and children alike, wake up several times a night. We wake up in between sleep cycles however if we fall asleep again within a couple of minutes, there is very little chance that we will remember waking up at all. In fact, most infants experience 3-4 partial arousals every night. Read the rest of this entry

It is incredibly important to make sure that your baby or toddler is getting enough sleep over the course of the day. An overtired baby is likely to be fussy and hyperactive when awake and is less likely to sleep well at night.

0 – 3 Months
Your newborn will not have an established sleep pattern and may only be awake for 45 minutes at a time. Your baby will still be learning to differentiate night and day and it is highly unlikely he or she will be consolidating most of their sleep into the night time yet. After approximately 12 weeks, your baby will be starting to associate sleep with:

• Noise and Quiet
• Light and Dark
• Play time vs Quiet time

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