Sleep (or more accurately the lack of it) is a topic of interest for many parents – there are a whole plethora of techniques and “solutions” – from gentle child-led approaches which include bedtime routines and cosleeping to more parent-directed baby training approaches – there are also some resources that include a balanced middle-of-the road approach to discussing sleep issues and potential solutions.
For parents who are at the end of their tether and have tried everything a more parent-directed approach may be warranted and while “controlled crying” as such is no longer recommended by children’s and women’s health services like CYH, some parents swear by controlled comforting techniques, teaching babies to “self-soothe” and feed, play, sleep routines. It’s important though to realise that some of these techniques may not be suitable for babies under 12 months of age and especially not those under 6 months of age as young babies do need to be fed frequently including overnight, so expecting a baby under 6 months of age to “sleep through the night” may be unrealistic, bear in mind also that sleeping through the night for a baby under 6 months old is defined as 5 hours not 12 hours!
Breastfeeding mothers need to be aware that introducing a rigid feeding and sleeping routine many adversely affect milk supply as it is restricting the frequency and length of time that a baby is allowed at the breast to suckle and stimulate the production of more milk (supply = demand). Therefore breastfeeding mothers are encouraged to contact either the Australian Breastfeeding Association or Child and Youth Health helplines before implementing a sleep program.
It can be useful reading a range of ideas, however, all parents are advised to contact their GP, pediatrician or child health nurse before implementing a sleep program to ensure that any potential medical problems that may be affecting sleep are diagnosed and addressed.
If planning on using some form of “sleep training”, it’s advisable to do some reading around the reasons why some are cautious or wary about these techniques – eg. CYH fact sheets, Australian Association for Infant Mental Health.
The following sleep resources are available from Burnside Library’s Family Information Zone:
If you are looking to take a gentle child-led approach try…
Helping your baby to sleep – Anni Gethin and Beth McGregor
No-cry sleep solution – Elizabeth Pantley
No-cry sleep solution for toddlers and pre-schoolers – Elizabeth Pantley
The baby sleep book – William Sears
Sleeping like a baby – Pinky McKay
Co-sleeping – James McKenna
What every parent needs to know – Margot Sunderland
If you would like a more parent-directed sleep training approach try…
It’s time to sleep (DVD) – Maree Viotto
Save our sleep – Tizzie Hall
Contented little baby book – Gina Ford
Contented toddler book – Gina Ford
Silent nights – Brian Symon
Toddler Taming – Christopher Green
If you would like a middle-of-the-road approach to baby and toddler sleep try…
Baby Love – Robin Barker
The Mighty Toddler – Robin Barker
Sleep right, sleep tight – Tweddle Child and Family Health Service
Happy child, healthy sleep habits –Marc Weissbluth
Finally, I encourage parents to do all the reading in consultation with your medical advisors, then trust your own intuition. Know that you can pick and choose from a plethora of suggestions depending on what suits your individual situation. My own situation is that up until my son was 12 months of age I was fairly relaxed about sleep and used co-sleeping and breastfeeding to sleep as tools to send Lachlan off to sleep so we could all get some sleep. Once Lachlan was 12 months, I decided I wanted him to sleep in his cot in his own room and that I no longer wanted to breastfeed him overnight. Setting up a consistent bedtime routine of bath, breastfeed/bottlefeed, story and music was an important first step and with a bit of help from Elizabeth Pantley’s No-cry sleep solution, Robin Barker’s Baby Love and Child and Youth Health’s Parent Helpline we got there!
