Making Parenting Easier
Stephanie Modell, author of The Baby Sleep Guide, has given us her 5 top baby sleep tips. Based in West Sussex (but offering her services far and wide!), Stephanie is a well-known and trusted sleep consultant and maternity nanny, offering families support and reassurance. Offering sleep consultancy as well as night nanny services, Stephanie has recently written a book titled The Baby Sleep Guide, a handbook packed with practical advice that enables parents to establish positive sleep habits from the very first days.
1. Teach your young baby the difference between night and day.
During the day, give more verbal and physical interaction, go out for walks to provide light and fresh air and don’t minimise normal daytime sounds when he’s napping. At night, keep the lights low or off, keep night feeds quiet and minimise interaction, keep his room warm and cosy but not too hot.
2. Establish a regular bed time.
Have a consistent bath and bedtime routine creating cues for sleep. Keep it short and calm, keeping the lights low and this will prepare your baby for sleep and help his natural levels of the sleep hormone, melatonin rise.
3. Establish a routine which does not involve feeding just before napping.
This will avoid your baby developing a feed-to-sleep association. A positive sleep/awake pattern to follow is: nap, feed, play/interaction, nap. This has the added advantage that your baby will be feeding when he has the most energy so is more likely to take a bigger more satisfying amount which will encourage him to go longer between feeds.
4. Pause.
Avoid rushing in each time your baby stirs. Babies rouse between sleep cycles and often have a grizzle, groan or babble, before going back to sleep. Give them a chance to re-settle themselves before rushing in, or you may inadvertently wake them.
5. Lay your baby down to sleep, drowsy but awake.
In the long term, this is key to helping your baby sleep through the night. If your baby can get herself to sleep independently at the start of the night, she is more likely to self settle during the night in-between her many sleep cycles.
For more information on Stephanie and her professional services go to www.stephaniemodell.co.uk
In her new book Stephanie expertly guides you on how babies sleep, their natural sleep cycles and rhythms. She also talks about something that we’re big believers in – gettign babies to self settle and soothe – and it’s written in an easy to digest format that removes the complexity out of sleep. Invaluable for mums and dads, it’s available on Amazon and at all major book stores.
To see our tips on safe baby sleep including FAQs as well as information on Love To Swaddle UP go to www.cheekyrascals.co.uk/brands/love-to-dream.html/sleep-tips
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