You’re looking at this blog post as you want to learn more about Sleep Consultants.

If your baby has been awake for too long before going to sleep, a build up of cortisol, the stress hormone, can make them hard to settle or cause them to wake sooner. Your best hope of masking noise disturbances and guiding your groggy little sheep back to sleep is with strong white noise. Hissy fans and ocean waves may have worked during the first few months, but they often fail to soothe older infants with greater curiosity and bigger discomforts. You should always put the baby down in their crib or moses basket before they fall asleep to get them used to dozing off on their own. Putting your baby down while they're still awake teaches babies to self-soothe, meaning they’ll slowly learn how to put themselves to sleep. In some cases missing a nap during the daytime may result in your child having more trouble falling asleep at night or a night-time waking because your child may be overtired by the time bedtime rolls around. Most sleep consultants will only work proactively on sleep after the age of six months, so that they can be sure that the baby has developed mature sleep cycles and the capability to sleep for longer periods. After creating an age appropriate routine for them, you can choose a sleep training method that you feel comfortable maintaining consistently for a few weeks. At 4 months of age, she will still need 1-2 night feeds, but all other wakings that aren’t a result of true hunger can be responded to with the sleep training method of your choice.

Make sure that whatever you give your child in their cot is not a SIDS or choking risk. Before you give this toy to your baby for the first time, you should sleep with it for three to four days so it absorbs your scent. When the baby wakes up at night, she can then draw this toy close to her and be soothed by your smell without you actually being there. If baby seems very upset, try cuddling your newborn skin-to-skin against your chest; soothing them really can help work wonders in those early weeks. Most babies have their day and night time differences sorted by around 3 months. So in the meantime do let yourself nap in the day to get yourselves through the nights. Ask for help from family and friends and do not worry about these erratic patterns as your baby is showing normal newborn behaviour. Sleep is important for all of us, but especially for babies and toddlers. In the first few years, daily naps are needed to ensure that your child gets all the sleep they need every day. It is important not to feed your baby more frequently than every two and a half hours during the first six weeks, unless there is a medical reason and your pediatrician advises you follow a more frequent feeding schedule. Your baby’s digestive system needs time to process the food. If you need guidance on 4 month sleep regression then let a sleep consultant support you in unlocking your child's potential, with their gentle, empathetic approach to sleep.

Helping Your Baby Fall Asleep

The good news is that as babies get older, they need fewer night feeds and usually sleep for longer periods. All babies have different sleep patterns and parents and babies are usually happiest if you follow your baby’s sleep cues to form a gentle routine rather than imposing a routine on them. There is no need to use any type of equipment or rolled up blankets to keep your baby in one position unless you have been advised by a health professional for a specific medical condition. 3 to 6 months. According to some experts, some babies in their third month may settle into a sleep routine but may not start sleeping through the night until much later. At 3 months, your baby still needs plenty of sleep, but less than she did as a newborn with longer stretches at night. If she’s up in the middle of the night and doesn’t seem cranky, she simply might not be tired. If this is the case, try cutting the length of her daytime naps. Breastfed babies orient themselves near their mother’s breast in bed. Research shows that mothers who bedshare with their breastfed babies adopt a naturally protective position, making smothering unlikely. This has been referred to as the ‘cuddle curl’ position. If you're looking for a compassionate, effective and evidence-based approach to sleep or just advice on one thing like sleep regression then a baby sleep specialist will be able to help you.

It's recommended that babies up to 3 months get 14-17 hours of sleep per day (24 hour period). This includes daytime naps. Sleep regression is usually temporary. It may go away just as fast as it came on, or it may last for a few weeks or months. In some cases, sleep training may help get things back on track sooner. Sleep disruption isn’t something that all babies go through, but most do experience it from time to time. Crying is a baby’s way of saying ‘I’m lonely’, ‘I’m frightened’, ‘I need you’ and soothing them and calming them and helping them to resettle will encourage good sleep, when they are developmentally ready. Starting solids early won’t provide big babies or small babies with extra nutrition. Nor will it make your baby sleep through the night. Introduce solid foods when your baby is about 6 months old. You’ve probably noticed your baby starts to fall asleep and then suddenly “startles” and wakes. It’s officially called the moro relflex and is like a free-falling sensation for your baby. Babies grow out of this fairly quickly. At around 6 weeks their neck gets stronger helping them support themselves and by 4-6 months this reflex has gone. Having a baby is a steep learning curve and aspects such as sleep training come along and shake things up just when you're not expecting them.

Waking Up During The Night

No single approach will work with all babies all the time or even all the time with the same baby. Don’t persist with a failing experiment. If the “sleep program” isn’t working for your family, drop it. Develop a nighttime parenting style that works for you. Babies have different nighttime temperaments and families have varied lifestyles. When your baby is around 3 or 4 months old, you should be able to slowly cut back on middle-of-the-night feedings, with the ultimate goal of getting your baby to sleep through the night. But be sure to talk to your pediatrician first, since some babies may need those night feeds for longer than the first few months. Parents don’t often think of this as a reason but it can be the case. Your newborn will give you tiredness cues, eyes getting heavy, yawning, look out for your baby showing these signs so you can get them down to sleep when they really need it. Give your baby the chance to self-soothe and get himself back to sleep before you go in to check on him. All babies wake up overnight (just like adults). Understanding your newborn’s sleep needs, and why they wake so often, can be extremely beneficial to your own sleeping patterns too. Initially, sleep whenever your baby does – this will be one of the best ways to catch up on some much needed sleep when they are sleeping frequently in the day. For gentle sleep training guidance it may be useful to enlist the services of a sleep consultant.

It's important to put your baby to bed when he's drowsy, rather than already asleep. This means he'll learn to send himself to sleep as he gets older, rather than relying on you to help him fall asleep. While newborns need to eat about every two to four hours, when baby is 3 or 4 months old, you can usually start extending the times between feedings (though, again, it varies from baby to baby). If your pediatrician gives the green light, introduce the concept gradually by adding an extra 15 to 30 minutes between feedings every other night. With any luck, the result will ultimately be a baby who sleeps longer. Let your baby’s natural response guide you – if they need more sleep, allow them that. If they’re stirring more in the night, consider shortening their naps. Be patient and don’t rush the process. 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. Newborns have little tummies which means they eat more often; and if they are going through a growth spurt, your newborn may feed even more often. The gentle approach and caring manner of a baby sleep expert allows them to assist you in the most preferable way to deal with ferber method and to assist you and your family in any way possible.

During The Night

A realistic goal is to help your baby sleep consecutively throughout the night by the time they reach their first birthday. As they grow into toddlers and school-age children, their sleep needs will become more similar to those of adults. Consider swaddling your baby at night so their arms and legs don’t move and wake them. You can also try putting them to sleep in a small crib, so they feel snug and secure. Your baby is unique and may sleep differently to other babies. Some babies sleep for long periods, others for short bursts. They will sleep during the day and night. They might sleep for anything between a few minutes to a few hours at a time. Uncover further details about Sleep Consultants at this NHS web page.

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