Sleep or more precisely, baby sleep is almost every new parent’s longest lasting challenge. One that parents hope and wait and hope some more that their baby will outgrow these difficulties they have been experiencing since birth or from around 3-4 months of age. There is no magical age where a child who has been taught to depend on someone to get some sleep will grown out of this need.Sleep & the human body do not need to be taught or ‘trained’. If you are addressing everything that interferes with the body’s natural rhythms you are able to introduce a lifestyle that supports sleep (this includes effective burping techniques). Research (& lots of it) links the well being of a baby right through to teens to them having sufficient sleep. 40% of children will have had a sleep problem by the age of 18. This includes any issues with falling asleep as well as staying asleep *a (Valerie Kirk, Medical Director, Alberta Canada’s Children’s Hospital).
Many European countries don’t even know what a sleep trainer is because they don’t generally need one. Different countries have different education which become traditions, passed down from parents to their children in regards to babies and sleep. When this education is not passed down from parents to child, parents lovingly teach their babies what they were taught which is how not to sleep & to need them instead in order to get it. This interference with the body’s natural balance & has an accumulative effect. This is how baby sleep problems are created & where a sleep coach is required to step in and help.
Introducing your baby to healthy sleep habits from birth is ultimately a personal choice. There is a great need for parents in general to be in tune with individual children’s physiology, what are their capabilities, what are their limits & respecting these. *b. (*Dr. Monique LeBourgeois, sleep scientist, University of Colorado at Boulder.)
Some of the common sleep difficulties experienced by adults such as poor quality sleep (feeling exhausted upon wake up), not being able to sleep alone or insomnia are adult sleep problems due to not having ever learned healthy sleep habits as a child.
Working with me is not only for the baby. Most of my clients are suffering sleep deprivation themselves and as such are at a higher risk for post partum depression. *c: (Mindell et al 2006) These two ingredients are all that you need for a few too many arguments between mama & papa resulting in a tense home environment. This daily scenario can put a strain on the parent – baby relationship by allowing negative feelings towards baby to be introduced.
Happy sleepers make for a happy family & home environment.
The emotional well being of the babies entrusted to me & their parents is a responsibility that I take very seriously.
I am also a regular contributor for Smart Parenting Magazine on baby sleep.