How is your baby sleeping with the arrival of colder weather?

 
Is your baby still sleeping soundly with this temperature change lately?? 

This time of year when the seasons and the temperatures change can be tricky. Knowing your baby is warm enough is a common thought of many parents at any time of year but particularly now.  Often it is still reasonably warm when they go to bed, but during the night and early hours of the morning , it all changes. The drop in temperature can be the single culprit for babies waking up pre dawn.

Even though they may seem warm enough, if this is happening and you can’t work out what it is, simply adding another layer of warmth may fix this and prevent or reduce the occurrence.  If it is warm when your baby goes to bed,  an option is to add a layer when you go to bed or at a night feed time.

A few tips for safety.

Always use breathable materials. Cotton is recommended because it is lighter.  A number of layers of thinner material is usually more efficient than one layer of thick artificial  material such as doonas.  Thicker doonas don’t breathe as much and can be the culprit of your baby over heating and becoming uncomfortable.

Always leave your baby’s head uncovered.  Your baby loses heat from their head.  It is a large surface area in comparison to their body and is useful to act as a little bit of a temperature control mechanism.  When they are up and about and outside and it is cold by all means put hats or beanies on their head, just not at night.  Hats can also move around at night in the cot and can be a suffocating hazard.

Sleeping bags are fantastic  for night time sleep  particularly when the temperature is dropping or is a bit changeable. When your baby is moving around in the cot, having a sleeping bag means that they will not kick off blankets and be cold and wake up. You may need to dress a few layers underneath the sleeping bag to help your baby’s comfort  level.  And there are a number of thicknesses of sleeping bag for different temperatures.

Sometimes it takes a little bit of trial and error to get the right one.   It is worth it for a good nights’ sleep for everyone.

Sleep builds Sleep

 
I’ve been helping a few people this week to help get their baby to sleep.  When we are discussing what is happening or not  happening for sleep so we can work out what steps to take, the knowledge that sleep builds sleep often takes people by surprise.

To get good quality sleep, you need to be relaxed.  When any of us are overtired, we tend to have more difficulty going off to sleep. The same is true for your baby and toddler.

When this idea is new to you , it can take a little while to get your head around.  For a lot of us it doesn’t seem to make to make sense.  Most people think that if any of us are over tired we will just go to sleep because we are exhausted.

At times this may appear true. Certainly there are many, many babies who do this every day.  They are so beyond overtired that they just crash, often after being awake for hours on end , beyond what they can cope with.  Most times, they are cranky and not  happy when awake.

When I am talking about babies and sleep  remember  that we need to feel relaxed to go to sleep and when your baby is not feeling relaxed,  they feel “yukky”, they need you to help them feel better so they can go to sleep. When your baby has not had quality sleep for an extended period of time, it can be harder for him or her to go to sleep easily because of feeling yukky.

The solution is to build good quality sleep first and then work through any other challenges with sleep and your baby.  Sleep builds sleep and has a positive effect on your baby as a result.  For all of us, we are much happier and calmer when we are feeling relaxed and well rested.

 

Who is in your community?

 
“It takes a community to bring up a child”.  This is repeated by so many.  I have heard it so often I don’t know where it originated from.  I think even my grandmother said it at some time in one of her moments of wisdom sharing.  She doesn’t say much of those things but having had 12 herself – she would know!! It is true though.  We do expect a lot from mothers, particularly new mothers.  Not only do they have to perform well in their new “job” of being a mother, they have to do it on interrupted  and often very little sleep.  What if you went to a new job and did this?  You probably wouldn’t last very long. Luckily you can’t get sacked from being a parent. Babies are very forgiving and as long as you are there  and trying they are pretty happy.  As things fall into place, you get more sleep and your baby gets more sleep, things start to come together.  Suddenly or most times, slowly, you can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or at least a glow of light. Okay, for some it is a glimmer for a while, however, for most it does work out and wha la- there is light!! Having a community to help you can bring the light quicker. Your community can be large or small, friends, family or even hired help. Even though we live in a privileged time in history particularly in western countries, we still need that support. That is one thing that will not change as long as we are human. Your community is important for sharing experience, listening ear, giving you a break and any number of practical things like food. Getting your needs met means your baby has a better chance of getting their needs met.  Particularly the big things like your baby getting more sleep  or even at all.

So who is in your community??