Baby Sleep Tips Archives - Baby Sleep Problems - Baby Sleep Academy

Top 10 baby sleep tips for holidays

Edel Gargan - Baby & Toddler Sleep Coach — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 13:27:54 +0000

Try and avoid allowing your child to get overtired when travelling. If you are flying your child may not nap for long periods and this is fine. Encourage frequent short naps if possible. When travelling don’t worry about how you get your child to sleep, if your child was in a good sleeping routine at home he will return to a good routine again very soon.
Pack your child’s used cot linen. When your child rouses during the night he will smell home which will help him to resettle. When he settles you can change them!
If your child has a favorite sleep toy be sure to pack that too!
Ensure your child is familiar with their new sleeping environment before you put him sleeping there. To do this put your child into the cot he will be sleeping in for a few minutes to play with a toy, show your child some pictures in a book and then pop in and out of the room very frequently. Ensure you do not leave your child for any longer than 10 seconds when you leave the room. If you child gets upset when you leave play peek-a-boo from behind the door. Total playtime in the cot should not be longer than 5 minutes. If possible do this 1-2 times during the day before putting your child asleep there at night.
During the first day I recommend letting your baby/child nap on the go in the car or buggy as usually children are exhausted after travelling and in no mood to start napping in an unfamiliar environment. Spend time doing playtime in the cot on the first day instead.
To settle your baby/child on the first night use the same bedtime routine you use at home, expect that there will be some tears. Go in and out to your child very frequently (5/10 seconds) if he is upset until he falls off to sleep. After a night or two your child will return to settling well for you again just like at home.
Expect some night time awakenings for the first night or two. Always reassure your child and go in and out frequently until he returns to sleep, if your child is sleeping in your room just return to your bed you don’t need to leave the room. After a night or two this will also settle down once you haven’t introduced any habits such as rubbing/rocking or feeding your child to sleep.
Keep to the same daytime routine as you do at home as this will lead to a happier child during the day. If possible try and encourage your child to have 1 nap a day in their cot and the rest can be on the go.
If dining out in the evening settle your child to sleep in the buggy at their usual bedtime. When you return to your holiday room/home change your child’s nappy when you take him out of the buggy and put him into their cot, this will help him sense his environment is changing and therefore will know where he is when he rouses later during the night.
Above all else enjoy your holiday and if you do find yourself introducing habits you don’t wish to continue when you get home leave the holiday habits behind and get back to your usually routine. After a couple of days your child will be right back on track.

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Baby Sleep Tips – New Pamphlet

Edel Gargan - Baby & Toddler Sleep Coach — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:26:45 +0000

Download our Baby Sleep Tips pamphlet here. Recently I was asked by a community nurse to put together a brief document about the most common questions parents have, so I came up with the list of baby sleep tips. I hope you find it a handy reference!

Topics covered include:-
– Nightmare & Night Terrors
– Day & Night Sleep
– How Do Babies Sleep
– What Effects Sleep
– Positive Sleep Associations
– Negative Sleep Associations
– Useful Sleep Aids
– Try Not To’s…
– Overtiredness

Baby Sleep Academy Baby Sleep Tips pamphlet download.

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Get your child back into a normal sleep schedule after Christmas or a Holiday

Edel Gargan - Baby & Toddler Sleep Coach — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:29:54 +0000

If your child has been up all hours over the Christmas and having nice lie-ins in the morning, to get him back on track for school next week you should start adjusting his sleep schedule now. This will ensure he does not start off the new term on the wrong footing.

You can start to adjust his sleep schedule by awakening your child a half an hour earlier in the morning for 2 mornings and putting him to bed a half an hour earlier each night gradually over the course of the week. Wake your child earlier and put your child to bed earlier until you are back at his regular bed time.

It is important you don’t just tackle this on Sunday night. When people do this normally what happens is the child won’t settle until late on Sunday, this may lead to overtiredness on Monday night and again the child will find it very hard to go to sleep. This can then have a knock on effect for your child for the rest of the week. Sometimes this can lead to longer term sleep issues as the child loses the ability to settle themselves to sleep as their body clock is all out of sync.

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Baby Sleep Associations

Edel Gargan - Baby & Toddler Sleep Coach — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:19:16 +0000

What are they?

A sleep association is something that a child requires to help him get to sleep. There are many types of infant sleep associations, some good and some not so good. Therefore you need to be very wary what you introduce your baby to at sleep time. The very thing that gets your baby to sleep may very well be the reason why your baby won’t sleep through the night.

Good Baby Sleep Associations

– Bedtime Routine

– Cot/Crib

– Special Blanket/Teddy

Negative Baby Sleep Associations

Anything a child needs assistance with to help him get to sleep;

– Soother, Rocking, feeding, staying in room, etc.

– Continuously sleeping in buggy or car

– Falling asleep elsewhere and then being moved to cot/crib

– Musical Mobile needing switched on

Negative baby sleep associations are the cause for most infants not sleeping through the night. When we sleep we all wake frequently during the night. Although it is usually very brief, if we can settle ourselves to sleep we generally are not aware of being awake during the night. Children are the same, however as a baby’s sleep pattern is slightly different. They can wake more than an adult and if they are unable to get back to sleep, your baby may wake up as many as 5 or 6 times a night. Obviously a small baby will wake during the night for feeds. However, if you find your baby is awakening every 40 minutes to 1 hour it is probably an negative sleep association issue.

When a baby does not sleep though the night, it can affect the whole household. Usually some form of sleep training will normally be required to break the association. When breaking a negative sleep association I would strongly encourage you to use a gentle approach, prepare yourself, be persistent and give your baby time to learn new methods of falling to sleep unaided.

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How to Put Baby to Sleep

Edel Gargan - Baby & Toddler Sleep Coach — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:01:30 +0000

Babies should be put to sleep in a calm secure environment. Be very careful they are not too warm as overheating is very dangerous for a child. Babies should always be placed on their back’s “back-to-sleep” to go asleep unless you were told otherwise from your doctor. Once your baby can easily roll from front to back and back to front and lift his/her head then s/he is free to sleep in whatever position s/he is comfortable in. Do not leave stuffed toys, pillows etc. in the cot with your baby. Usually small babies have not developed a comforter, a comforter can be introduced once your child is 4 months old and can lift his/her head and roll over easily. Babies should sleep on a firm mattress with a sheet securely fastened. Ensure your child does not sleep near a window, curtains, cords or blinds.

Once all safety measures are in place then it is time to concentrate on how to get baby to sleep.

1- If you want your baby to sleep in a crib or cot, then always ensure your child is placed in the cot/crib awake. You may find this difficult when your baby is very small but it is probably the single most important piece of advice you will get to ensure good sleeping habits for your baby in the months ahead.

2- If you feel you need to introduce a soother, do not let your baby fall asleep with this in his/her mouth. Soothers are perfectly fine if you want to delay feeds or calm your baby but they should not be used as a baby sleep aid. If you need the soother for your child to wind down go right ahead, however remove the soother before your baby falls asleep.

3- Do not let your child fall asleep while you breastfeed or on the bottle, remove breast or bottle before your baby is asleep.

4- Leave the room before your child falls asleep, if your child is confident you are around they should be happy to fall asleep on their own. If you take this baby sleep approach from the start and points 1, 2 & 3 from day one then you should have no sleep problems when your child is older.

5- Do not let your child cry themselves to sleep (Cry it out/Controlled crying method). This can cause more problems than it solves. There are always other ways to solve baby sleep problems. Reassurance is key to a child’s wellbeing, therefore if you do everything you can for the child during the day and then let your baby cry themselves to sleep, all your efforts during the day was a total waste of time.

6- Always reassure your child if s/he is upset going to sleep, don’t leave the room while s/he is crying, go back and reassure them and then leave when they stop crying, repeat this until baby falls asleep.

7- Always watch your child to ensure he is not overtired when you put them to bed. When you spot the first signs of tiredness i.e. rubbing eyes, yawning, quite in himself then this is the time you should start your bedtime routine.

8- Routine is vital to a child especially when s/he gets older s/he needs to know when bedtime is, therefore you must have a routine in place. How would you like it if you were told just as your were getting ready to watch Coronation Street that you were not allowed and had to go to bed right now!

Follow these ‘How to Put Baby to Sleep’ steps and you should not require my services in the future. However if you do, just email me at info@babysleepacademy.ie I would be delighted to help you get your baby to sleep through the night.

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Weaning Baby Off Soother Without Crying

Edel Gargan - Baby & Toddler Sleep Coach — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 21:03:24 +0000

Many babies cannot get themselves to sleep without a soother. The real problem is when your baby wakes up the soother has fallen out and they can’t find it. What many people do is attach a chain to the soother, although many others have concerns about the soother chain getting caught around the baby’s neck. The best thing to do is teach your baby to sleep without a soother.

Weaning a baby off a soother is never easy. You’ll need to prepare yourself!!! With persistence it is possible though. Try following these steps and see if they help:-

Weaning Baby Off Soother Step 1:

As your baby is falling asleep, but before she actually falls asleep, remove the soother from her mouth. Then place your finger under her chin and press firmly to stop the sucking movement of her tongue. If she awakes just say shhh, shhh gently to her. If she really starts to search for her soother give it back to her. Then again as she really starts to fall asleep remove the soother from her mouth and press firmly under her chin. Removing the soother needs to be repeated until she actually falls asleep without it. Be prepared this can take a while but it is very important she falls asleep without the soother.

Weaning Baby Off Soother Step 2:

After a few days as your baby starts to fall asleep quicker without her soother (don’t worry this will happen eventually!), stop giving her the soother going to bed. Just sit beside her and say shhh, shh and maybe rub her gently (but always stop rubbing before she goes asleep as you do not want to replace the soother with rubbing).

Weaning Baby Off Soother Step 3:

When your baby wakes up at night while being weaned off the soother, enter the room and say shh, shh. It may be a good idea to rub her hand or temple. If this does not get her back to sleep, give her the soother but always remove it before she goes to sleep.

In a recent case with a client in Cork I used this method and within a few days the baby was sleeping through the night without the soother. While this does take time and persistence it does work in most cases and does not involve using crying techniques.

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Constant Reassurance

Edel Gargan - Baby & Toddler Sleep Coach — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:40:50 +0000

In many of the baby sleep problem cases I have consulted on, the baby wakes during the night and can’t get themselves back to sleep without the assistance of a parent. There are many possible reasons for this like not being able to find their dodi. However, in many cases the baby simply needs reassurance that their parent(s) are there, so reassure them that you are. Let them know that you are in your bedroom not very far away. Obviously this only works for older babies that can understand you. So let them know that if they want to check that you are there they can come into your room and see you are asleep in your bedroom. Your baby may never actually come into your room and see you there but if they do they’ll soon have the reassurance that you’re never to far away and not bother coming in anymore.

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Sleep Star Chart & Rewards

Edel Gargan - Baby & Toddler Sleep Coach — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 19:10:22 +0000

If you are planning to start a new sleep routine with your baby or changing something with your baby’s sleep routine it can be a good idea to make a sleep star chart. This has helped in many case where I have consulted with parents in removing night time bottles or stopped giving the baby a soother/dodi. A few days before you are going to change the baby’s sleep routine tell them what is going to happen. Make a big fuss over what rewards they will receive when they get a star – like a small treat. Spend time with them making the star chart, colouring it in, adding stickers an so on. Also, have a bigger reward after maybe 3 days and an even bigger reward for a full successful week. Don’t set out a target of a full week for your infant as it is simply too long for them to comprehend and after a couple of successful nights they may give-up and return to their old routine. Children really want your time so the big reward could be going to the park for a afternoon one-on-one and getting an ice-cream.

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Role-Play Good Sleeping Habits

Edel Gargan - Baby & Toddler Sleep Coach — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 15:40:07 +0000

For children who are old enough to understand is can be a good idea to role-play how to go to sleep with your infant. Simply go to your infants bedroom during the day and with a doll or teddy-bear role-play going to bed. Get your child to put the doll into bed and read it a story and sing a song or whatever your going to bed routine is. Then tell the doll that you are leaving the room but will be back to check on them in 2 minutes. After 2 minutes send your child into the room to give the doll a kiss and tuck it in. Do this again after 5 minutes and so on until your infants agrees the doll is asleep. Then at night time do exactly the same thing with your child! This is a crucial part of teaching a child to fall sleep by themselves.

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Keep an Open Mind

Edel Gargan - Baby & Toddler Sleep Coach — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:13:40 +0000

There is no single approach to baby sleep problems that works for all babies. It is important to realise that what worked for your friend, mother or mother-in-law may not work for you and your baby. It is important to try new programs if others have failed, if they don’t work, Stop! You can try again taking the positives of the programs that you have experimented with.

Be aware that what works today may not work over time as your baby progresses through the various stages of infancy.

Keep trying and don’t lose faith, you will find the right sleep program for you and your baby!

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