Are There Risks With Co-sleeping?

 Sleep Issues  No Responses »
May 132013
 

 
Mom and Baby Sleeping
 

Cosleeping is sharing a bed with your infant. While cosleeping is widely practiced in many Eastern cultures, Western societies generally consider sharing a bed in this manner as questionable. However, when practiced properly, cosleeping is safer than leaving your infant alone a crib. So, which way should you go? Ultimately, the choice is yours, but there are some issues to consider.

Why Parents Choose Cosleeping

Supporters of cosleeping, as well as a number of studies, believe cosleeping:

  • Makes night time breastfeeding more convenient.
  • Allows you to get your sleep cycle to coincide with your baby’s.
  • During your child’s first few months, it helps your baby fall asleep easier.
  • Increases your child’s sleeping time at night. They wake up more often and take less feeding at a time. This increases you and your child’s sleep throughout the night.
  • Helps you retain closeness with your infant if you’re away from them in the daytime.

Risks of Cosleeping

Western countries, particularly the United States, frown on cosleeping. In fact, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends against such practices. Although they claim sharing a room is perfectly fine, sleeping in the same bed poses too many risks, including:

  • Suffocation can happen in your bed when your baby gets trapped between various parts of your bed and the wall.
  • Suffocation resulting from your baby being placed on his or her belly. This can happen on any sort of mattress or waterbed, as well as pillows and blankets.
  • Strangulation when your infant’s body passes through an area that traps your baby’s head.

Making Cosleeping Safe

Despite the risks, supporters argue that cosleeping is not only healthy for the children, but can also be done safely. Some precautions are:

  • To reduce the risk of SIDS, always lay your baby on his or her back.
  • Never cover your baby’s head.
  • Making sure your bed parts, including the headboard, footboard and mattress, fit together properly.
  • Instead of using comforters or quilts, try switching to sleepers.
  • Moving your bed away from curtains or blinds. Your child could be strangled by the cords if they’re too close to the bed.

Whether you’re for or against cosleeping, the fact of the matter is there are risks and rewards on both sides. If you’re in the United States where cosleeping isn’t recommended, it may be best to keep the practice quiet. Whichever path you choose, always take precaution to ensure your child’s health and safety.

 Posted by at 11:02 am

Putting Your Toddler to Bed

 Sleep Issues  No Responses »
May 012013
 

Sleeping Soundly

Toddlers typically have an over-abundance of energy that allows them to be constantly on the move. During the times they’re tired, this is often still the case to a much higher degree. In those times, they tend to bounce of the walls even more.

Some children are naturally good sleepers, while others aren’t. Fortunately, you can train your little one to go to sleep by on his own, and eventually, to sleep through the night. Here’s some tips:

  1. Start early. Toddlers that have been typically active don’t just stop and be expected to go to sleep. If you’re in the middle of the bedtime routine when dad gets home, he’ll want to avoid riling them up. Instead, he should read the kids a story, instead of playing an adrenaline filled game.
  2. Follow a nightly routine. A common routine many parents follow is dinner, bath then turn the lights out as you tell a story or sing a song to your child. Try to keep your child’s routine simple. You want to project an impression of predictability, safety and calm. Part of this routine includes setting a regular bedtime.
  3. Set up a cozy bed. To assure discomfort doesn’t wake your toddler, make sure her sleeping area is quiet, dark and warm. Achieving this is as simple as turning down the television, closing the window blinds and putting pajamas on your child. You’ll also want to make sure she’s used the bathroom right before putting her down.
  4. Bedtime snacks. Something predictable, calming and sugar free, is the best choice. Before brushing their teeth, allow your child to eat in their room as you read them a story. You can efficiently complete the bedtime ritual this way.
  5. Lay with them. This feeling of comfort helps your little one sleep easier. If you’re nursing or rock your child to sleep, and he wakes up, you’ll need to do this again for your little one to fall back asleep. To help him fall asleep in his bed himself, put him in bed when he’s awake.

Teaching your child to sleep on his own is a process that is learned over time. You shouldn’t expect your toddler to take to the routine immediately. Over time, however, following the rules you set forth will have your little one in bed and sleeping like a baby in no time.

 

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Top 5 Must-Have Baby Travel Items

 All About Baby  1 Response »
Mar 262013
 

Baby car seat

 

Traveling with an infant can be intimidating. Many new parents, afraid of what exactly is involved in the process, try to stick close to home for the first six months or maybe even a year of their baby’s life. While long-distance travel can be frustrating with a baby at times, if you have the right equipment there’s no reason you can’t go where you want to go.

Here are 5 items you must have when traveling with your infant:

  1. Medical necessities. Anytime you travel with baby, you want to make sure and have a thermometer to take your babies temperature, and you want to make sure you have some acetaminophen in case of a fever or pain.
  2. Plenty of bibs and burping cloths. While there may be laundry facilities at your destination, chances are pretty good you’re not going to be able to wash these items on the way. Make sure you have extras so that you don’t run out while traveling.
  3. An appropriate car seat. You should already have one of these in your car, if baby travels with you anywhere at all. Make sure your car seat is appropriate to your baby’s size and age, and make sure that your car seat isn’t on any recall lists.
  4. An extra diaper bag. If you’re going to visit family or friends, you never know when you or your partner might be out with baby. Keep one in your car, and keep one inside the hotel room or house where you are staying.
  5. Toys. Your infant is likely to get bored with travel as you are. Make sure and bring some of baby’s toys, and rotate between them as you travel. If your child is teething, make sure you bring teething rings and other appropriate teething toys.

Traveling with your baby can either be a pleasurable experience, or can be a bit of a nightmare. If you’re lucky, your baby is the kind that likes to sleep on a car ride. If not, make sure to provide plenty of distractions, and stop from time to time to take an extended break so that baby can rest.

 Posted by at 11:55 am

Cloth or Disposables: Which Diapers are Best for Your Family?

 All About Baby  No Responses »
Mar 212013
 

DDNB stack

For thousands of years, parents wrapped their little ones in cloth diapers. Disposables didn’t even come on the scene until we figured out how to make plastic and elastic. While disposable diapers have a distinct advantage in the convenience area, cloth diapers are believed to be friendlier for the environment.

Let’s take a look at how cloth diapers stack up against disposable diapers in several different areas:

  1. Health. The most important health aspect of diapering isn’t the material used, but rather how often you change the diaper. It needs to be changed every time your baby’s diaper is full. While this does happen more often with cloth diapers, as long as they’re changed they’re not unhealthier. Soiled diapers lead to diaper rash, which is unpleasant for your little one.
  2. Comfort. How comfortable diapers are varies from one baby to the next. Some babies seem to prefer the softness of a cloth diaper. However, disposable diapers are more breathable, which some babies prefer. In some cases, the absorbing and moisturizing chemicals in disposables can irritate baby’s skin.
  3. Convenience. Cloth diapers today aren’t nearly as inconvenient as they used to be. Today’s cloth diapers have snap or Velcro closures and are shaped to fit your baby. They have waterproof leg and waist bands, and even removable linings. You do need to change cloth diapers more often, though, because they aren’t as absorbent as disposable diapers.
  4. Cost. Disposables and cloth diapers cost about the same, if you use cloth diaper laundering services. However, if you launder the diapers yourself you’ll pay around half the cost. If you have other children and can reuse your cloth diapers, you’ll save even more.
  5. Environmental factors. Disposables use more resources to create and take up more space in landfills. However, the process of washing cloth diapers can use a significant amount of clean water and energy. The true net environmental benefit to cloth diapers is disputed; it’s possible cloth and disposable use about the same (albeit different) resources.

Whether to use cloth or disposables, really, comes down to your baby’s personal preference as well as your own. There are potential cost savings for cloth if you launder them yourselves, but disposables mean less frequent changing.

photo by: MissMessie
 Posted by at 10:30 am

Breastfeeding and Sleep Patterns

 Feeding, Sleep Issues  No Responses »
Mar 132013
 

DSC_7339

 

Your baby’s sleep patterns are affected by a number of factors. There is your baby’s temperament, of course, as some babies will be more restless than others. Your baby may be sensitive to noise and wake easily. The comfort of your baby’s bed can impact how he sleeps, too.

One of the most significant factors in how your baby sleeps, however, is whether or not she is breastfed.

According to researchers, babies that are breastfed tend to wake up more often during the night than babies that are bottle fed. In fact, breastfed babies are 66% more likely to wake during the night than bottle fed babies.

Realistic expectations

Part of the problem is that many parents simply expect that, within a few weeks or months, their baby will sleep through the night. While that’s true of many bottle fed babies and some breastfed babies, many other breastfed babies may not sleep through the night until the age of one year.

This is completely normal, and it doesn’t mean there’s a problem with your baby. Breastfed babies simply have more frequent feeding schedules than bottle fed babies.

Commitment

Breastfeeding your baby is a decision that you need to make on your own (probably with your partner’s input). There are a number of health advantages to breastfeeding including a strengthened immune system and lower incidences of asthma later on.

However, breastfeeding is a commitment. You have to provide your baby’s nourishment. That often means pumping breast milk at work, for example, so that your baby can feed while you’re away during the day.

It may also mean using pumped breast milk to let your partner do some of the nighttime feedings, as well.

It’s a commitment many women feel is worth it.

Routine matters

There’s another factor in whether your baby sleeps through the night that may be even more important than breastfeeding, however: routine. Some research suggests that babies who have consistent naptimes and bedtimes tend to sleep through the night sooner than babies whose schedule is more flexible. This was true both of bottle fed and breastfed babies.

If you have concerns about your baby sleeping through the night, you can talk to your pediatrician to rule out potential causes and to get some ideas on how to encourage her to stay asleep.

photo by: Mothering Touch
 Posted by at 8:43 am
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