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There are many brands on the internet, but how do you know for certain which ones are really the top Sleep Consultants brands? I will tell you. I’ve covered Sleep Consultants exclusively for quite some time and I’ve digested a lot in the process.

Everyone knows that babies can be little sleep stealers and unfortunately there is no way to bank your zzzzzs for when the deprivation kicks in. However there are ways of making things that bit easier for when your baby arrives. Just like so many areas of development, children typically need help learning how to self-soothe to sleep. This process is often referred to as “sleep training.” Although there are multiple approaches, sleep training typically involves helping your child learn how to fall asleep and return to sleep on his/her own. Parents can begin to establish a “start” time each day to wake baby up. Ideally, this would be more or less the same time each morning, but it can vary by about thirty to sixty minutes. Your baby will learn good sleep habits if you take a consistent approach. You may find it quite tough at first, but there will be long term rewards for you and your baby. Cars and buggy’s are fine for your baby to nap sometimes but like the swing chair/bouncer, if this is the only place your baby will nap, your little one has probably become reliant on the motion of the car or buggy in order to go to sleep. Sleep deprivation is the worst. It’s 3am and your baby is crying and so are you because you are so tired and wondering if things will ever get back to normal. Life as a new parent is tough.



Give baby a warm bath followed by a soothing massage to relax tense muscles and busy minds. Be careful, though, because this will stimulate some babies. Newborn babies will sleep on and off throughout the day and night. It can be helpful to have a pattern, but you can always change the routine to suit your needs. For example, you could try waking your baby for a feed just before you go to bed in the hope you’ll get a long sleep before they wake up again. In the early days, accept that you will probably not get nearly enough sleep. Rest when you can, sleep when the baby sleeps, and forget about the housework for now. The good news is that as babies get older, they need fewer night feeds and usually sleep for longer periods. All babies have different sleep patterns and parents and babies are usually happiest if you follow your baby’s sleep cues to form a gentle routine rather than imposing a routine on them. Sleep consultants support hundreds of families every year, assisting with things such as gentle sleep training using gentle, tailored methods.
 

Helping Your Infant Get To Sleep

As baby grows and becomes more aware of their surroundings, it’s easy for them to cross that line between cautiously curious and decidedly overstimulated. In the first months of life, an infant’s social, emotional and intellectual skills are slowly maturing. As your child gets older, it can be helpful to keep to a similar bedtime routine. Too much excitement and stimulation just before bedtime can wake your child up again. Spend some time winding down and doing some calmer activities, like reading. In the modern world where everyone increasingly needs to work, a happy rested mum and dad will result in a happy baby, even if it was initially tough to make it happen. There’s even early research to suggest that sleep training leads to less postnatal depression among mothers. When your baby is a newborn, they will have no concept of night and day. But as they get a little older you can start getting them used to the difference between day and night. During the day, keep curtains open, and make sure there is plenty of activity going on. And don't worry too much about everyday noises while your baby has a daytime nap. Any natural calming ways that can help your baby sleep better at night have got to be worth a go. Baby massage is a popular technique for babies there are ways it can help your baby sleep too. The benefits are not only good for your baby, but good for you too. Having a baby is a steep learning curve and aspects such as 4 month sleep regression come along and shake things up just when you're not expecting them.

As your little one gains upper body strength, she may surprise you by changing sleep positions and rolling over around at about the 4-month mark (and she’ll push to a sitting position when she's around 9 months old, though the timing of all these milestones can vary). Don’t worry — there's no need to return her to her back at this point, but she’ll still need to start there every time she’s going to sleep. Contact your doctor if you are concerned. Babies who are extremely fussy or frequently difficult to console may have a medical problem, such as colic or reflux. Also, be sure to contact your doctor if your baby ever seems to have problems breathing. For decades, grandmas—and doctors—taught that feeding babies a spoon or two of cereal would fill their stomach and keep them sleeping all night. But several studies show that bedtime cereal does nothing to promote sleep. If your baby cries when you put her in her crib for a nap or wakes up crying during naptime, you should use the same methods you did to train your baby to sleep at night. For instance, if the baby wakes up halfway through her nap, give her three to five minutes to calm down on her own before going in to help her. If the baby is still crying after five minutes, go into the nursery and use the techniques from your toolbox to encourage her to go back to sleep on her own. Newborns sleep a total of 14 to 17 hours across a 24 hour period, on an irregular schedule with periods of one to three hours spent awake. The sleep period may last a few minutes to several hours. During sleep, they are often active, twitching their arms and legs, smiling, sucking and generally appearing restless. For sleep training guidance it may be useful to enlist the services of a sleep consultant.
 

Keep It Quiet

Babies at 4 months are increasingly curious about the world around them. It is very common for them to only nurse or feed for a minute or two and then stop to watch the cat run across the room or look at the tv when they hear a noise and then not return to feeding. This in turn can cause them to seek extra calories at night. Your baby's sleep pattern could be affected by all sorts of things – a lousy cold, a tooth coming through or a change in routine. So take a deep breath and turn detective. Has a change in weather made their room colder at night? Is the nursery flooding with sunlight at dawn? Is a neighbour’s new dog barking through the night? Or could their broken sleep be caused by a surge in development? Putting your baby or toddler into your bed to sleep isn’t safe or recommended, especially before age 1. Still, some families fall into co-sleeping — a term often used interchangeably with bed-sharing — if it seems like the only way that everyone can actually get some solid sleep. While older children (and new parents) can snooze peacefully for hours, young babies squirm around and actually wake up a lot. That's because around half of their sleep time is spent in REM (rapid eye movement) mode — that light, active sleep during which babies move, dream and maybe wake with a whimper. Feed and wind your baby to make sure that they are full and comfortable. Wind pain is often worse when lying down. Whether its something specific like ferber method or really anything baby sleep related, a baby sleep consultant can guide you to find a sleep solution as individual as your baby is.

A soft cuddly toy, blanket or cloth can become your baby's best friend. If it is near them when they wake up at night or from a nap, it can truly help babies settle back to sleep again. Too many layers can leave your baby sweaty and cranky, which does little to help her sleep. Remember that babies usually need just one more layer than adults, so a vest with a cotton sleep sack should be enough for most climates. Technology goes from on to off with the flip of a switch, but the brain is more like a dimmer switch, it takes a little while to shut down. In other words, it's difficult for an infant to go straight from, say, playing with an exciting, bright, loud toy to peaceful slumber. Put your baby to bed drowsy, but awake. This will help your baby associate bed with the process of falling asleep. Remember to place your baby to sleep on his or her back, and clear the crib or bassinet of blankets and other soft items. Becoming a parent is a very special time. Getting to know your new baby and learning how to care for her needs can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. However, it can also be challenging, especially when you are tired and your baby is wakeful and wanting to feed frequently during the night. A sleep consultant will take a holistic approach to create a sleeping system that you can manage and one which takes into account sleep regression as well as the needs of the baby and considerations of each family member.
 

Common Baby Sleep Advice

Parents wait all day for that blissful break from nappies, dishes and other demands. Sometimes baby’s bedtime can’t come soon enough. Take time to help your newborn clear up any day/night confusion. At this age, it’s too early to have a super structured sleep schedule. While you can start implementing a simple bedtime routine, your baby is just going to sleep whenever they feel like it. Some parents help their babies sleep by snuggling up in bed with them, and they may even bed-share all night. If your baby is six months or younger, it's safest for them to sleep in a cot next to your bed, but if you want to try having your baby in bed with you, check out our advice on safe co-sleeping. Find further intel relating to Sleep Consultants in this NHS article.
 

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