Ultimate Sleep Guide Ebook Ultimate Sleep Guide Ebook
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Ultimate Sleep Guide ebook Ultimate Sleep Guide ebook Baby Sleep Safe sleep and settling ............................................4 Routines ......................................................................16 Sleep aid reviews ......................................................23 Expert advice .............................................................32 Toddler Sleep General advice ..........................................................38 Routines ......................................................................45 Sleep aid reviews ......................................................48 Ultimate Sleep Guide Baby Sleep BABY | SAFE SLEEP & SETTLING | SAFE BABY Everything you need to know about safe sleep for babies By Nina Young It can be confusing to cut through the noise and misinformation, but here are the facts you need to know about infant sleep. Ensuring your precious bundle of joy is safe while they’re Sleeping bags are a great option, with added layers on sleeping is one of the most important things you will do as baby’s arms when needed. The best way to dress your a parent. It can also be helpful to remind ourselves of the baby for bed is a number of tightly-fitted layers that can be facts around putting babies to sleep safely. added or removed as needed through the night. Let’s get started with the basics. Pillows? Blankets? Putting baby down for a sleep Newborn babies don’t need to lie with their head on a pillow until they are at least 12 months of age (and many Red Nose advises the following to reduce the chances of don’t until preschool age or older). Lying on a pillow Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI): can interfere with the correct posture of their neck and • Sleep baby on its back back and is not recommended. Pillows are also not recommended to help prevent SIDS. If you want your • Keep head and face uncovered baby’s head to be tilted up (for example as part of treating reflux), you will need to tilt the whole cot, or place pillows • Keep baby smoke free before and after birth or rolled towels under the top part of the mattress, • Safe sleeping environment night and day to slightly tilt the whole mattress. Speak to a medical professional before doing this. • Sleep baby in a safe cot in parents’ room (ideally for the first six to 12 months of life) NOTE: Red Nose Australia currently recommends that pillows, quilts, doonas, duvets, cot bumpers and lambskins • Breastfeed baby if possible should not be used as part of your baby’s bedding. Soft and fluffy bedding is unnecessary and may cover your baby’s Dressing for bed face and make breathing difficult. Babies regulate their body temperature through their If using blankets in your bub’s bed they should be tucked in heads, so the most important thing is that they are put to and not loose in the bed where they could cover your bub’s sleep on their backs with their face and head uncovered (so face. that’s a no to hats in bed). 4 ULTIMATE SLEEP GUIDE BABY | SAFE SLEEP & SETTLING | SAFE BABY Room temperature For further details about cot measurements, see the Australian Government’s Product Safety website at www. For both children and babies, a safe sleeping environment productsafety.gov.au. is between 18 and 22 degrees. It is worth investing in a room thermometer or a baby monitor that has one built in Old or second hand cots may be dangerous. Never place for peace of mind. your baby in a cot that does not definitely meet current safety standards. However, on nights that are expected to drop below 18 degrees, an additional layer of clothing or blankets (for Picking a bassinet older children) should suffice. On nights that are expected to reach temperatures above 22 degrees, fewer layers or a According to Red Nose: fan to circulate the warmer air can also be helpful. It may have been suggested by family and friends that you sleep baby in a bassinet in the first couple of months, Picking a cot before baby becomes active and starts to roll, for some According to Red Nose: sleep times. Here are some things to consider when weighing up this suggestion. A safe cot is one that meets the Australian Standard for cots. All new and second-hand cots sold in Australia must As there is no Australian standard for bassinets, we are meet the current Australian and New Zealand Standard for careful to keep up to date with reports of accidents Cots (AS/NZS 2172:2003) and will carry a label to say so. associated with their use. To date, the most frequent If you are planning to use a second-hand cot, check that it accidents associated with bassinet use are falls and meets those standards. suffocation hazards. The Australian government draws on these reports and produces guidelines on ways to Only use a single, firm, mattress that fits snugly (within 20 reduce these types of accidents, which are available on mm of sides and ends) into the cot. The mattress must be the Australian government’s product safety website. flat (not tilted or elevated). Do not use cot bumpers or soft Further information from the ACCC is also available in bedding as these have been associated with fatal sleep their publication ‘Keeping baby safe - a guide to infant and accidents. nursery products’. 5 ULTIMATE SLEEP GUIDE 5 ways to create healthy sleep habits from birth By Francesca Kendall From early risers to late sleepers and the ones that just don’t want to sleep - infant sleep expert Francesca Kendall shares her top tips for creating healthy sleep habits from birth. For many parents, sleep and children are just a combination Correct sleeping bag: Check you are sleeping them in that doesn’t mix. While some may credit their good the appropriate and correct TOG sleeping bag as per snoozer to ‘pot luck’, there are a few things you can do the climate you live. Based on typical Australian weather to encourage healthy sleep habits from the moment your in winter, I suggest for a night below 16 degrees: a vest/ baby is born. singlet, 1.0 bodysuit and 3.5 tog sleeping bag. Francesca Kendall, Baby and Infant Sleep Expert and For our late sleepers Founder of The Sleep Escape, shares five helpful and easy tips to follow to ensure the whole family is getting enough Last nap: Check their last nap isn’t too late in the day, Z’s (right through the year). or too long at the end of the day. The drive to sleep will significantly reduce with the above factors, meaning From newborn to three weeks, sleep babies in the daylight bedtimes ends up being pushed out. Check your current for their naps, and in darkness for overnight sleeping to routine with my suggested programs that are created activate their circadian rhythm in a positive way. BABY | SAFE SLEEP & SETTLING | SAFE BABY based on nap timings and durations that your little one needs as per their neurological age. White noise: White noise turns on the calming reflex for a baby, blocking out sudden unwanted noises around the Room temperature: Room temperature control is hard house and allows babies to feel secure as they connect to perfect and something that I find worries parents a lot through sleep cycles. White noise is a positive sleep during winter. It often depends on the climate the specific association so can be used for as long as you want. baby is used to, the efficiency on air con units, the clothing the baby is wearing and much more. Typically, parents : From week three onwards, sleep your little Dark room tend to believe they need to make their babies room ‘cosy’ one in a space that is darkened to activate their melatonin during winter, but like us as adult sleepers, babies sleep (sleepy hormone) so that they receive a more restorative better in slightly cooler temperatures of around 18-22 sleep. As they grow older have as many of their naps in as degrees. dark room as possible to enhance the quality of their sleep to ensure better sleeping overnight. A baby will let you know by crying if they are too cold, however, they are not as good at communicating they are : Between 6-7pm depending on the age of Early bedtime too hot, so from my perspective, I believe it’s beneficial your baby. Their melatonin starts to rise at this time and to start out on the cooler side of 18 degrees and adjust their cortisol starts lowering between 6pm-12am meaning accordingly up to 22 degrees to figure out what your baby they will receive quality sleep between these hours, which likes to sleep in. will help the second part of the nights sleep better. I recommend beginning this habit with newborns too as their As per the Red Nose guidelines, feeling a baby’s chest, melatonin level is also the same at this time as an older tummy, and back to make sure they feel warm, is a good baby so they are going to be less fussy, but understanding indication of the room temp required. Accredited baby this early bedtime might not be achievable every night in sleepwear companies Ergopouch and The Gro company the early days as you are getting to know your baby. have great informative guides around what to sleep your baby in according to the climate you live in and they can be (70-80 percent of the time): For Feed play and sleep easily followed as the seasons change throughout the year. babies 4-6 weeks plus, creating this will reduce the risk of a ‘feed to sleep’ association being created. General tips for healthy sleep habits in kids Tips for the early risers Oil panel heaters are a safe way to heat your little ones room, and for peace of mind (which is what all parents : This allows for their melatonin to Dark room until 7am want), purchasing an auto one that turns on when the room maintain a higher level to keep them asleep.