Sleep

Who doesn’t love the end of Daylight Saving Time in autumn? Parents of babies, that’s who. While most everyone else in the U.S. enjoys falling back an hour and thus getting an extra hour of sleep, babies have yet to get the memo that they’re supposed to sleep in the next morning. If you have yet to experience a Daylight Saving Time, whether springing forward or falling back with a baby, then you may be wondering how one little hour can throw off your baby’s sleep schedule. From the personal experiences of mothers everywhere, if your baby isn’t prepared, they can go from a good sleeper to a bad sleeper overnight. Your baby may have a harder time falling asleep or they may start waking up an hour early every morning. Not even a morning and an afternoon caffeine pick-me-up can help you get through those long days and nights. And it can take up to two weeks before your baby is back to their normal sleep schedule. Sleep matters – for your baby

I love teaching Infant Massage. It's such a wonderful way to introduce new parents to the concept of mindfulness, being fully present with your baby and learning their uniqueness. Many parents don't realize until they are learning the strokes, that their infants (some as young as 4-6 weeks) have been communicating their personalities and preferences from the moment of birth!   We teach parents to ask for permission before they start the massage by rubbing their hands together to warm up the oil, show the baby their hands and say "May I massage your legs and feet?" Some parents chuckle, thinking this is a little silly, that a baby can't possibly understand, but after massaging their babies for only a few days, they start to observe their baby's cues...do they look them in the eyes with interest? Give them a smile? Maybe show excitement by kicking their feet? Or do they turn away, yawn, or even pout or cry? This early respectful interchange is wiring our baby's brain for the capacity

The No-Cry Sleep Solution Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night By Elizabeth Pantley For those many parents who first tested Elizabeth Pantley’s “No-Cry Sleep Solution,” thank you for your combined patience and persistence proving the efficacy of this system with your own babies. I imagine some parents first picked up this book in a hazy state of mind-altering sleep deprivation, read the title through half-shut eyes, and muttered, ‘My baby? Sleep through the night? Are you kidding?’ The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night delivers: there is a ten-step plan you can follow, borne of “dissecting truth from fallacy.”  There are insights into the mutual agony for parents and child with the cry-it-out method. You will know you are not alone on this journey as you read parent testimonials and their

Recently, there has become a clear distinction between co-sleeping and what experts now refer to as bed-sharing. In order to decide what is best for your family, it is important to know the difference. According to Attachment Parenting International (API), the definitions are as follows: “Co-sleeping refers to sleeping in ‘close proximity,’ which means the child is on a separate sleep surface in the same room as the parents.” “Bed-sharing, also called the ‘family bed,’ describes a sleep arrangement where the family members sleep on the same surface.” While new parents may feel pressured to have their baby “sleep through the night,” this scenario describes a myth. Frequent waking occurs for myriad reasons, and throughout most of the phases of a baby’s growth and development into childhood. Most parents find it less disruptive to sleep in close proximity to the baby, to accommodate for nighttime feeding

“Most of the present world cultures practice forms of cosleeping and there are very few cultures in the world for which it would ever even be thought acceptable or desirable to have babies sleep alone.”  Dr. James J. McKenna’s book, Sleeping with Your Baby: A Parent’s Guide to Cosleeping brings light to the facts behind outdated cultural opinions and practices that have interfered with the most natural and supportive ways of parenting and co-sleeping. With passion for his subject,