KIDS GUIDE 2021

BUMPS & BEYOND

Losing Snooze Along with the great joys of motherhood come a few fairly trying situations, one of them being sleep deprivation.

SCENARIOS Babies and toddlers can experience a range of sleep issues – which, in turn, end up making parents lose lots of sleep. Here are some common ones: • Not falling asleep unless rocked, patted, bounced, pushed in a pushchair or driven in a car • Not falling asleep for up to an hour or more • Waking at the same time every night and not going back to sleep again for an hour or more • Waking several times during the night • Only sleeping if co-sleeping with a parent • Waking at the crack of dawn or earlier • Still waking for a night feed when older than nine months • Continually getting out of bed • Only napping in a pushchair or baby sling, not in the cot

OPTIONS Some parents prefer not to subject their babies and toddlers to sleep training, especially if they think it involves leaving them to “cry it out”. However, sleep training has been shown to improve the lives of many parents and little ones within a very short time. Plus, not all sleep training involves leaving them to wail the night away, which can tug at the heartstrings!

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