What Are Sleep Consultants And Why Is This Matter Invaluable To You?

The theme of Sleep Consultants is complex. Let us strive to simplify it.

When it comes to children and sleep, tired parents want to know how to help their child sleep better. The problem is, where to begin? If you have a partner, ask them to help. If you’re formula feeding, encourage your partner to share the feeds. If you’re breastfeeding, ask your partner to take over the early morning changing and dressing so you can go back to sleep. Sleep is essential for good health, growth and brain development. Problematic sleep is one of the most common discussions in relation to new babies and lack of sleep for parents can be really challenging, but what is ‘normal’ and when do you need to ask for help and support? There are things you can do to help you both sleep better at night. Babies love routine, so try and be as consistent as you can at bedtime. This means your bedtime pattern should be the same every night and your wee one goes to sleep at the same time. A simple firm, flat, waterproof mattress with no loose bedding is the best advice. Use firmly tucked in sheets and blankets, or a lightweight baby sleeping bag. Place your baby in the feet-to-foot position and avoid using quilts, pillows or duvets. Cot bumpers are also best avoided. Avoid filling your baby's cot with soft toys - a clear cot is the safest option. 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.

Sleep Consultants

Being a parent is the most wonderful experience you’ll ever have. But having a child who is a bad sleeper hits you with a huge double whammy. You feel like you’re a bad parent and you’re utterly exhausted. Speed bumps in the sleep department are a common, and even normal, part of babyhood. The good news is that they’re usually solvable. And even if you can’t do much to fix them (like a newborn mixing up her days and nights), take comfort in knowing that they’re temporary. As your baby grows and changes, so too will her sleep. If you have twin babies, there are reasons you might want to co-bed your twins that you might want to look into. Various areas of research have suggested that putting twins in the same cot can help them regulate their body temperatures and sleep cycles, and can soothe them and their twin. Most people think a baby’s ready for slumber when her eyes get lidded and her head slumps against our shoulder. Actually, at that point she is overtired. There are multiple approaches to ferber method and a sleep expert will help you choose one that is right for you and your family.

Settling Babies Down

Before babies reach six months old, they should sleep in the same room as their parents, but not in the same bed (that’s called co-sleeping or bed-sharing). No matter how old your baby is, make sure they’re sleeping in a cot, not in a swing or car seat (which can lead to asphyxiation) or a playpen (which is not supposed to be used for unsupervised sleep). Parents of newborns sometimes manage to get a reasonably long sleep. However, they might wonder why they might still feel terrible the next day. The answer may be that being repeatedly woken is as problematic as getting too little sleep in terms of its impact on mood and attention. Keep in mind that babies who are unusually long sleepers may not be getting refreshing sleep. If your child is regularly sleeping for longer than these upper limits you may want to get this checked out with your child’s health care provider. When your baby wakes up in the middle of the night, try to keep the lights dim. Plus, keep talking and playing to a minimum. What baby hears (or doesn’t) is just as important as what they do or don’t see. Pick up a white noise machine, which can help baby sleep better by canceling out house noise, cars and other distracting sounds. Baby will begin to associate the constant and consistent sound with sleep. Having a baby is a steep learning curve and aspects such as sleep regression come along and shake things up just when you're not expecting them.

Look at tweaking your daytime schedule a bit: increase face to face playtimes with your baby, get outside a bit more, and perhaps cut out one of the naps - especially if they’re not yet mobile. Try to stop them napping after 4pm, or at least keep it really short. You could also try making their bedtime slightly later. What does constitute a whole night’s sleep? When you have a young baby, you might feel a 4 hour stretch is a good result but a full night’s sleep is considered as eight hours or more. If you hear crying, don’t rush in straight away – your little one might be crying in their sleep, or they might be awake, but able to settle themselves. If your baby is due for a feed, then they will likely be difficult to settle or will only fall asleep for a short amount of time before waking due to hunger. By age 3 to 4 months, many babies sleep at least five hours at a time. At some point during a baby's first year — every baby is different — he or she will start sleeping for about 10 hours each night. A sleep consultant will take a holistic approach to create a sleeping system that you can manage and one which takes into account 4 month sleep regression as well as the needs of the baby and considerations of each family member.

Try To Sleep When Your Baby Sleeps

Say some comforting, predictable words to your baby before leaving the room, like "Goodnight, I love you," with a stroke on the cheek and a kiss on the head. Create a schedule: for example, choose a 1:00 and 4:00 a.m. feeding time. Quite soon your baby will adapt to wake only for these necessary feedings with no extra snacks offered between times. Eventually your baby will learn to put himself to sleep without food. If your baby needs thirty minutes of bottom-patting each time he rouses or demands that only Mommy can put him to sleep (and screams if Daddy tries to step in), I think it’s pretty clear you’re looking at a bad sleep cue. At night, you might find it helpful to keep the lights down low, put your baby down as soon as they've been fed and changed and not change your baby unless they need it. Your baby will gradually learn that night-time is for sleeping. There are two schools of thought on the best way to put babies to sleep: the parent-soothing method and the self-soothing method. Both have advantages and possible disadvantages. Whether its something specific like gentle 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.

It is important to make sure that your baby’s room is a comfortable temperature – not too hot or too cold. The chance of SIDS is higher in babies who get too hot, so try to keep the room temperature between 16 -20°C If, in an effort to achieve a later bedtime, you allow your child to nap later into the afternoon (past about 4:00), you are more likely to disrupt their overall circadian rhythm and cause more nighttime waking. We know that when your newborn baby’s not sleeping, sleep deprivation can feel isolating, but as much as we’d love to give you the secret to getting your baby to sleep – there’s no silver bullet. You'll feel like you're in a constant eat-snooze-poop cycle. This is usually the most exhausting stage for parents despite so many baby sleep hours, as you'll only ever get a few hours of sleep at a time. While it’s tempting to compare your babe with your friend’s, know that your cutie's sleep schedule is unique to her, just like her adorable nose. 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 sleep training or one of an untold number of other things.

Every Baby, Every Family, Every Parent Is Different

Your baby is probably learning the exciting new skills of sitting and standing up when they're 6 months old– but hasn’t quite mastered how to lie down again afterwards. So their standing up, holding on to the bars of the cot for dear life and crying. Go in, settle the, back down quickly, kiss them good night and retreat fast. Keep doing it every time, while trying to stay calm. Babies who feel secure are better able to handle separations, especially at night. Cuddling and comforting your baby during the day can help him or her feel more secure. Place your baby on their back for all sleep and naps until they are 1 year old. This can reduce the risk for SIDS, breathing in food or a foreign object (aspiration), and choking. A newborn baby cannot follow any sleep routine but from around 3 months you can start to establish a routine that gets them used to the idea of bedtime and snuggling down. So, find a good time for your baby to go down - ideally between 6.30pm and 8.30pm - and try and stick to it each night, or as near as possible. Then establish a set routine to go through each night, such as bath, then story, then lullaby, then dim the lights for sleep. Get extra particulars relating to Sleep Consultants in this NHS article.

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