If you’re anything like me, bedtime doesn’t always go smoothly. Some days all is great and those last few minutes with the little ones snuggled up in bed listening to you finish the bedtime story are just perfect.
But there are many nights when the baby won’t go to sleep or your toddler asks for a drink for the 5th time, you’re frazzled from a long day and you just want the kids to GO TO SLEEP! On evenings like this, I can say for certain that I’m not exactly “emotionally available”.
Yet new infant sleep research suggests that parents who are “emotionally available” to their babies and toddlers at bedtime help their children to sleep better at night. Researchers videotaped mothers in 39 families as they put their babies to bed, and also had them fill out questionnaires and sleep diaries. Dads were recruited to participate in the research but not enough of them interacted with their little ones long enough and so the study focused on mothers. (more…)
A new study by researchers at SRI International in California has found that children who go to bed around the same time every night and sleep at least eleven hours get better results. Getting less than this was linked to lower abilities in language, reading and early math skills.
Many studies before this relating to baby and child sleep have published similar findings. In February, a study by academics in Finland suggested a good night’s sleep could reduce bad behaviour and hyperactivity in children.
Previous studies have found that babies learn and grow better when they nap and sleep well at night. Poor sleep habits in babies and children have been linked to obesity, hyperactivity, poor behaviour, slow growth and learning difficulties.
Despite the frequent studies telling us of the negative results our babies and children are suffering as a result of poor sleep habits, we still find it hard to teach them how to sleep through the night. (more…)
I can’t remember who told me you should never wake a sleeping baby. It might have been my mum, or maybe it’s something I heard a lot of people saying as I was growing up. And it does seem crazy to wake a sleeping child.
And yet, there are times when you should.
Take, for example, a newborn who has day and night mixed up. Your little mite is having beautiful long stretches of sleep in the day and then feeding all night. You need your baby to get most of his calories in the day so he gradually needs less feeds at night. Waking him every so often for a feed, change and cuddle throughout the day, is the beginning of teaching him the difference between day and night. (more…)
So you are pregnant and you know that you want to breastfeed your baby. Congratulations! Maybe you have started breastfeeding but not yet ventured out in public. Breastfeeding in public can be a scary thought for any new mum and even not so new mums. These tips should help you on your way. (more…)
The recent media coverage of Penelope Leach’s new book, The Essential First Year – What Babies Need Parents to Know, has focused on this sensational headline –
“Crying-it-out Harms Babies Brains.”
This media coverage is tough on the sleep deprived mother who hears that on the one hand that, if she doesn’t do something about her sleepless baby, he will probably grow into a sleepless child who will have problems with his weight and/or behaviour. And on the other hand, if she allows him to cry until he figures out how to fall asleep by himself, it may harm his brain.
I think it’s safe to say there’s a middle ground, which might be called “common sense parenting”. As parents we are faced with choices that we have to make on behalf of our children on a daily basis and these choices have to take into account the needs of our whole family. (more…)
Noun 1. lie-in – a long stay in bed in the morning. A much coveted event in the world of parenting small children.
Before babies, you may have dreamed about exotic holidays or romantic weekend getaways. After babies, a proper lie-in is probably the ultimate luxury. Two or three extra hours of undisturbed, blissful sleep to make you human again, to give you a little extra energy for the week ahead.
Which is why we have a great rule in our house. My husband and I get one lie-in each per week. Of course, the reality of a lie-in for each of us is just a touch different. (more…)
In another life, before children, I worked in Human Resources, so I’m always interested in the changes to employment law that come through in April each year.
The legislation to introduce additional paternity leave and pay will be effective for children born after 3 April 2011. This new law will mean dads can take off three months’ paid leave at the end of mum’s nine months so that she can return to work. He can also then take a further 3 months’ unpaid paternity leave.
I can see this legislation is a good thing for families. Especially since it increases the time that mum and dad can spend with their new baby – although the statutory maternity/paternity pay is unlikely to come close to the income most parents earn when going out to work.
When I left work in January 2006, a naive mother to be, I’d already filled in my maternity plan. I was going back to work six months after my baby was born on a full time basis. I was even viewing the six months off as a bit of a holiday! (more…)
I love Easter. It was an important day in our house when I was growing up. The Easter Bunny would bring a little basket for my sister, my brother, and me, filled with pocket money size gifts and a chocolate egg.
We always had an Easter egg hunt in the garden, and had a big family lunch. Do people still do this?
This year, for my four year old, Laurie, I’ve bought a bucket and trowel for the garden and filled it with: (more…)
If we’re honest, we sometimes feel guilty as parents, right?
My two small people were poorly last night with a tummy bug and awake for most of the night. So I’m tired today. Snappy and grouchy. I’m looking forward to 7:30pm when I can close the boys’ bedroom door and have some grown up time watching Eastenders. Yes, I watch it, it’s true.
But I know it won’t work like that. I’ll feel guilty instead. Cross with myself for all the times I was irritated in the day, sorry for responding grumpily, for rushing through bedtime and hurrying my little children into bed. I’ll want to get them back out of bed and tell them just how much I love them.
Of course I’m only human, and who spends the day feeling like Pollyanna when they’re seriously sleep deprived? It’s the curse of being a mum – feeling guilty for not being perfect. (more…)
Remember the exciting days of your first pregnancy when (let’s be honest) you had no idea what it would feel like to have a real life baby? You spent your lunch break surfing the net for all the things you wanted for your precious newborn? The weekends were spent planning dreamily, shopping excitedly and chattering to anyone who would listen about your pregnancy and the future?
Looking back on all the baby stuff you bought or had given to you from friends and family, how much of it did you use? Were all the products recommended to you by the Mother and Baby magazines any good? (more…)
