So, you’ve survived your baby’s 4 month developmental milestone and emerged with a baby who is engaged with the world around him. Congratulations! You probably noticed this fussy period lasted longer than other developmental phases (at least so far). From this age on the skills your baby is mastering are more complicated and he‘ll take… Read more »
• What are some Sleep Coaching best practices?
Start you sleep coaching at bedtime. When making changes to sleep it is vital to start at bedtime, from there you can continue to coach through the night or you can just focus on bedtime for a few weeks to see if the rest of the night improves on it’s own. An alternative is to… Read more »
• How can I tell when my baby is tired?
What Tired Signs Look Like and When and How to Settle My Baby to Sleep Catching your baby’s tired signs and getting them down before they are overtired will help your baby make a smoother transition to sleep. Below are the cues and behaviors your baby will show you as they are getting tired. Note… Read more »
• How can I help my baby nap better?
The following tips may help your baby with daytime napping: Keep your baby from getting overtired Use whatever method you can at this age to encourage naps even if it includes using holding or motion (link to nap page) If you baby sleeps less than 45 minutes long, consider trying to assist him back to… Read more »
• I need help calming my baby down.
Try the following strategies to help calm your baby: Recreating the womb experience can be very helpful in keeping your baby settled and calm and may assist in extending short sleep episodes. Try swaddling to help your baby feel snug and secure. Add some white noise during sleep times and keep the room dark when sleeping… Read more »
• How can I tell if it’s hunger or something else?
Most babies will be feeding in 2.5-3 hour intervals at this age. At night your baby will begin to extend to one longer stretch of sleep without a feeding that will be up to 4-6 hours. After this long stretch they will wake in a regular feeding pattern (every 2-4) for a feed the rest… Read more »
• I’m afraid I created bad habits during the 4 month sleep regression.
The 4-month sleep regression is draining. For everyone, including your baby. It’s not surprising that with all these wonderful new discoveries that you may have felt that you created a few so -called “bad” habits. During the 4-month sleep regression, you likely experienced increased night wakings and difficulty at naptimes (if your baby would nap… Read more »
• Should I be encouraging self-soothing?
Sleeping longer stretches is dependent upon your baby’s ability to soothe himself back to sleep should he wake up during his active sleep phase. Knowing your baby’s self-soothing techniques will be helpful in recognizing when your baby is trying to get himself back to sleep. Some examples of self-soothing are: kicking, raising and dropping his… Read more »
• I’m exhausted and need help from my partner at night.
Make a plan with your partner on how you will manage to get the sleep you need in these early weeks. Discuss how you can share night time baby duties. Splitting the nights (Mom on duty first 5 hours & Dad takes second part of the night), or Mom is on during the week and… Read more »