Do you have a young baby not sleeping through the night? Is this causing you to feel exhausted, frustrated or concerned about your child’s well being but don’t believe in controlled crying? Most parents look forward to the day their child or baby starts sleepimg through the night. This is bliss for most parents, however a small number have to wait several years for this to happen.
How do these mums cope, what is it that keeps mums and dads going throughout the day without to resorting to ‘high energy’ pills on a daily basis? Parents have an inner resiliance to how much sleep they can survive without and as time goes by, they actually forget what it was like to have a full nights sleep without being disturbed by children.
If your baby starts off as a good sleeper and then a few months later everything changes literally overnight in some cases, how do you know what to do to improve the situation?
Many mums I speak to mention two books to me, The Baby Whisperer and Gina Ford- the formidable maternity nurse who advocates a very strict and rigid routine. Brilliant if A .your baby can read and B.you love to have a very organised and restricted lifestyle!
The Baby Whisperer takes a more gentle attitude which is a bit more flexible. Tracy Hogg recommends that you use her E.A.S.Y system in which a baby first eats, has an activity, then becomes tired and needs to sleep and then you have chance to focus on Yourself to keep your sanity!
What do I believe and advise my clients? I simply find out the parenting needs and find out about their individual parenting wishes and then come up with a tailor made Sleep Plan designed specially for your child. As every child is different the same as parents, no two plans are the same.
I don’t advocate controlled crying,or leaving a baby to cry for more than a few minutes depending on their age as it can be very waring, not to mention disturbing for you or your baby. The big question everyone asks me when I’m at events or nursery schools is, “what is your secret Juliet?
I can say that I use a gentle family focused solution that works for both parent and child. Leaving a baby to cry for a few minutes does no harm, on the contrary it is the baby’s only source of communication. If you do not let your child cry or you rush to them straight away you could be setting them up for disaster.
I do recognise that some mums don’t mind getting up at night to attend thier child or baby, however the majority of clients are shattered, confused and want fast solutions.
If you baby never cries it will be sometihng that they have to deal with at some point in life, I always like to point out if you had twins would you be able to look after both children at once and can do once they get home and you only have one pair of hands and your partner has returned back to work. You can hope for help and more peace, however you will often find yourself prioritizing your tasks and one twin will often have to wait.
Mums of singletons don’t seem to realise this and think they will be damaging their child or they will be stressed and produce cortisol if they are not tended to immediately.
Every loving mother wants what is best and with some training and learning new techniques you can have your family life back to norma,l in no time at all.
Would you like to book a FREE 20 minute chat with the Sanity Nanny and discover answers to your own baby questions? Pick up the phone and maybe you could be the parent that finally announce,s “my baby slepts all night without me having to go to him once”. That then leaves Mum or Dad time to put their feet up and relax too!