Baby Care

Children and Sleep: Getting Your Baby to Sleep Like a Baby

You’ve tried lullabies, rocking chairs, late night drives around the neighborhood and your baby still doesn’t sleep. At 3 a.m., your infant starts crying and won’t go back to sleep unless you bring him into bed with you. Your toddler gets up at 2 a.m. and turns on the TV— loud! Homework keeps your fifth grader awake past 10 p.m.And your teens are up until midnight and then sleeping through 8 AM algebra class.

One Sleepless Child, One Tired Family

When a child has sleep problems, parents— and even siblings— also suffer, both from sleep deprivation and worry.Children can suffer the same sleep disorders as adults. Snoring, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and other sleep disruptions in children have been linked to extreme moodiness, accidents, behavioral problems, learning disabilities and even Attention Deficit Hyper-activity Disorder (ADHD).

What’s Keeping Your Child Awake at Night?

Newborns (1-2 months):

Babies are not born with a pre-set sleep-wake cycle— their tummies organize their schedules. Newborns sleep 10½ to 18 hours a day, usually one to three hours at a time and waking when they’re hungry.

Infants (3-11 months):

According to the National Sleep Foundation, “Circadian rhythms begin to develop at about six weeks, and by three to six months, most infants have a regular sleep-wake cycle.” Infants sleep 9-12 hours, including one to four naps.

Toddlers (1-3 years):

Toddlers have figured out that things happen at night, and they don’t want to miss out. They’re also mobile and can climb out of bed. They want their independence, but also want to be with their parents. So it’s tough to get toddlers to sleep the 12-14 hours— including one good nap— that they need every day.

Preschoolers (3-5 years):

Good-bye afternoon naps! Most five-year-olds are up all day and sleep 11-13 hours a night. Active imaginations can trigger more nightmares and fears about sleep. And of course, TV and playtime are much more appealing than going to bed.

School-aged Children (5-12 years):

Serious sleep problems can begin here. School kids are busy and barely have 10-11 hours for sleep. Computers, TV, and videogames— particularly those with violent content— are sleep distractions. Junk food, caffeine, and stress can also keep school-aged children up at night.

Teens (13+):

More work, more play, and more socializing combine with stress and biology to make it difficult for teens to get 8 ½ to 9 ¼ hours of sleep. “Circadian Rhythms change in adolescence,” says Jodi Mindell, Associate Director of the Sleep Disorders Center of Philadelphia. “Teens’ brains and bodies are geared to stay up later at night and sleep later in the day.”

What Can Concerned (and Sleep-Deprived) Parents Do?

Know your child and the guidelines for how much sleep they need at every age. Trust your judgment about what’s healthy for your child. Most importantly, help your children to establish good sleep habits early in life. Sure, you’ll struggle through the first few weeks with your newborn. But at 3-11 months, infants know the difference between day and night and are on a sleep cycle similar to their older siblings and parents. The are also ready to learn to go to bed and to sleep through the night. Remember, however, that helping you infant to do this will take time.

What’s the Right Approach to Sleep Training?

This depends on your baby and your lifestyle. Some experts say it’s good to comfort your child to get them back to sleep and to even bring the baby into the family bed if it means you will all get back to sleep. On the other hand, there’s the “self-soother” theory. You may have heard of Richard Ferber, director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children’s Hospital in Boston and author of Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems. His approach, dubbed “Ferberization,” is rooted in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ theory that babies sleep best when they soothe themselves to sleep. Ferber suggests a loving bedtime routine, putting the baby to sleep awake and waiting before responding when the baby wakes up crying.

Rock-A-Bye Your Infant

Develop a Bedtime Routine:

The best nightly routines—bathing, feeding, calming and bonding—according to Laura Davis and Janis Keyser, authors of Becoming The Parent You Want To Be, are enjoyable for parent and child and should be consistent every night. Pediatrician Harvey Karp, author of The Happiest Baby, recommends the “Five Ss—swaddle, shush, swing, suck (a pacifier) and hold your baby while he or she is turned on his or her side or stomach.” All the experts agree on one thing: to learn to soothe themselves to sleep, infants should be put to bed when they’re drowsy, but not asleep.

Create a safe, sleep-friendly environment:

Keep the bedroom cozy, but not overheated, quiet and dark. Choose a crib with a good safety rating and firm mattress. Take precautions to reduce risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) by putting infants to sleep on their backs.

Encourage sleep:

If your infant wakes up at night, have a consistent response. If you pick up or feed your baby, always do it in the darkened bedroom. Your infant will respond to changes in light, and needs to know that nighttime is bedtime. You also need to decide if you will bring your baby into your bed, and stick to that decision.

Know when it’s time to call the doctor:

The National Sleep Foundation suggests that it’s time to call your pediatrician if your baby is consistently fussy, having breathing problems, snores loudly, or has daytime sleepiness and behavioral problems.

More Sleep tips at http://www.ezhealths.com

About the Author

http://www.ezhealths.com

13 Month Old’s Speech Development

Baby Einstein – Baby Beethoven – Symphony of Fun $13.35 Classical music has been scientifically proven to encourage cognitive development in young children. Baby Beethoven, a 29-minute Baby Einstein production, presents excerpts from five of the composer’s most famous symphonies, as well as incidental music, in a child-friendly, sensory-rich format. Familiar Beethoven themes like the Ode to Joy from his Ninth Symphony are playfully rendered on electric…

Baby Einstein – Baby Da Vinci – From Head to Toe $19.95 Expressive faces and the exploration of arms, legs, and other body parts simply fascinate babies and toddlers. From Head to Toe focuses in on eyes, ears, hands, and other appendages with rapidly changing, close-up photography of real-life children alternating with puppetry, toys, animals, and sculptures and paintings by famous artists. Accompanying the vivid images are whimsical versions of…

Children’s DHA Liquid 8 oz, Nordic Naturals Children’s DHA by Nordic Naturals 8 Fluid Ounces…

Dr. Sears Go Fish Children’s Omega-3 DHA Liquid, Strawyberry-Lemon, 4-Ounce Bottle $14.95 Dr Sears Family Omega-3 DHA Liquid For Kids Strawberry Lemon 4 oz…

Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes $3.98 …

Playskool Explore and Grow Busy Ball Popper $21.99 The Playskool Explore and Grow Busy Ball Popper is a great put-and-take adventure for your infant or toddler. Designed for children ages nine months and up, the Busy Ball Popper will have your child popping the bright, colorful balls into a fun frenzy as they are air-popped out of the lower tube. The ball spinner/popper provides a fun sensorial experience, and includes fun, upbeat music to match t…

Fish Colors Mix N Match Peg Puzzle $4.79 2 years & up. Each wooden puzzle piece has a full color picture underneath. Tell a story, play a guessing game, or find the hidden pictures. Mix them up to form your own creation. Easy to hold pegs allow children to develop fine motor skills. 12″ x 9″….

Touchpoints-Birth to Three $7.97 All over the U.S. and in over twenty countries around the world, Touchpoints has become required reading for anxious parents of babies and small children. T. Berry Brazelton’s great empathy for the universal concerns of parenthood, and honesty about the complex feelings it engenders, as well as his uncanny insight into the predictable leaps and regressions of early childhood, have comforted and su…

1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12 $2.10 The award-winning, best selling ‘1-2-3 Magic’ book provides practical and easy-to-learn parenting techniques that WORK for children ages 2-12. You won’t need to study child psychology to understand the three simple steps in the program and get results quickly! Step 1: Control Obnoxious Behaviour. Learn a simple technique to get your kids to STOP doing what you don’t want them to do (whining, argui…

Your One-Year-Old: The Fun-Loving, Fussy 12-To 24-Month-Old $6.69 The child from twelve to twenty-four months of age is a joy to have around – some of the time, that is. This child is growing at an incredible rate, learning to walk, learning to touch, learning to love, and learning to say “No!” for the first time. All of this can be quite a handful for the new parent.In this first book in the series from the renowned Gesell Institute, which includes Your One-Yea…