Vacations are fun! Weekends with the family are nice. But, Late Night Adventures are “simply marvelous”. If you really want to shine in your child’s eyes on a more regular basis– try some late night adventures with them.

By late night I am talking about adventures that start from 10pm on.

Shouldn’t kids be in bed at that time? — yes

Shouldn’t parents keep structure? — yes

Don’t parents need to set an example? — yes

Aren’t kids only young once? — YES and that is the point.

Take time to be magical in your child’s eyes. I applaud organized, structured family systems. I think it can be quite difficult for many families today that are over worked, tapped out, and stretched as far as time will allow for cramming in activities. Yet, since your kids are only young once– why not give it a shot and build a couple memories as the coolest parent on the block.

Here are a couple ideas that won’t take up much time or money but go a long way with kids:

• Wake up and watch a lightening / thunder storm at 11pm
• Grab a skateboard and hit the pavement at 1am
• During a snow freeze on the driveway and street out front– ice skate in athletic shoes at 2 am
• Go to bed early and make a run for Denny’s at 3 am
• Watch the sun rise together while eating Krispy Kreme donuts and drinking milk at 6 am (or even add homemade fortune cookies so you both have something cool to open up with a positive outlook pronounced on your day ahead)

The difference with about late night adventures with your children vs. weekends or vacations is simply that late night adventures are novelty, costing less money and more quality attention. Your kid will be the envy of the other kids– because what other parent do you know that does these things?! Believe me, the kids in our neighborhood still can’t get over some of the things my son tells them we do. In fact, they want to come along.

Every now and then, go on and forget about the adult in you and join your child in being a kid. Regain your sense of wonder and enchantment. Throw rules to the wind and have some innocent fun. If you do, I promise you will shine in their eyes and fill both your hearts with rich memories that will last your life time.

Until next time— all the best,

Kate

About The Author
Kate Hufstetler is a well established business, personal, and relationship coach. Her clients come from both the United States and overseas. She offers coaching services via email and phone consultations at flexible timing and financing to meet your every need. Through personal, business, spiritual mentorship, she could help you too! Please visit for available packages within your range: www.comedreamwithme.com/start_today.html. Kate@comedreamwithme.com

It can be difficult to think straight when your crying child shakes you awake in the middle of the night frightened and tearful by a nightmare or the monster she knows for sure has taken up residence in her closet or under her bed. Or a terrible dream that leaves her feeling shaken. Groggily, I would find myself talking half-asleep to my 4-year-old daughter, “Honey, I know that the monster moved out last week. He doesn’t even like it here. He’s completely afraid of you.” But, to no avail.

Up we went to scope out the situation and reassuringly find her room clean of all mysterious creatures. As I went to tuck Kyle in, she looked up with me with sudden realization and declared, “Mommy. I just realized that the monster only comes out in the dark.” Apparently her night-light and door opened a crack to the hallway light simply didn’t count when it came to monster chasing.

Up went the dream-catcher (doing double duty now as a monster catcher as well) that my friend Judy had given me, and out came the “monster spray.”

Change-up Bedtime Rituals

Starting new things for your child sometime difficult, but you still have to do it. Potty training is one phase that your child has to go through. So, find out when is your child ready for potty training. Here are those five ready signs:

1. Takes Off Own Clothes
Let’s face it. The first step to becoming dry begins with your toddler’s ability to recognize he has to go to the bathroom. The second step is his ability to pull down his pants, or lift up her dress. The third step is actually going to use the potty. If your child begins insisting on taking off his clothes then he probably is ready to begin training for the potty.

2. Talks about Using the Potty
He may say, “I want to use the potty.” Or, he may just point to it and sit down. Either case he is showing an extreme interest in the little chair. Well, what do you do if he’s interested in sitting; maybe he’ll be interested in using it. You never know unless you try. Hey diapers are expensive why spend more on them if you don’t have to.

3. Does a Potty Dance?
There are some children doing potty dance? Does your little one have a routine? Does he stomp, turn, twist, and grab his groin like Michael Jackson? If he does, then that’s his potty dance. He’s ready, ready, and ready if he has his own version and he dances it whether there’s music on or not.

4. Shows an Interest in the Bathroom or Toilet
This is the big koruna of all ready signs. The big earthquake so to speak. If your child is curious about the bathroom or toilet, then he’s ready to learn how to use it. Is he curious about how it flushes? Well, that’s because he wants to know how that giant white chair works. Why does it make that sound? It’s a noise like no other. He’s not being bad when you have to drag him out of the toilet. He wants to know what the toilet is. He wants to know how it works. He is ready, ready, and ready for potty training.

5. Stays Dry Overnight & During Naps
This is a hard readiness sign to understand. If you child staying dry overnights and at naptime that is the sign that he is ready for potty training. In any event, your child is ready if he displays this sign.

Now, does your child exhibit any two of these ready signs? If so, then get ready to do your potty training. You will never know those signs if you are not pay attention to their reaction.

About The Author
Janice Caller, author of “A Parent’s Guide to Toddling, From Diapers to the Pot.” She successfully potty trained her four children. Visit her Website PottyTrainingGuide.com at http://www.pottytrainingguide.com.

1. Prepare in advance.
Before you shoot, frame the background first through the viewfinder. Make the entire background, including corners and sides interesting. First frame the background and then place the subject.

2. Have patience.
Talk to your subjects and let them get comfortable with you. When they start to forget the camera is there, you can take more natural candid shots.

3. Avoid using the flash.
The light looks unnatural and washes out colors and facial features. If you’re using film, try 800-speed films, which are widely available and allow you to take sharp indoor photos without a flash.

4. Avoid the outdoors during the middle of the day.
Bright daylight is unflattering and washes out your subject. Instead try capturing your subject in the rich tones and long shadows at sunrise and sunset. If you must shoot during the day, move your subject into a shaded area out of direct sunlight.

5. Get closer.
Being too far away from your subject can take away from the uniqueness of your pictures. Often the key to giving a photo pizzazz is to move in and capture the details of your subject, leaving out extraneous things in the background.

6. Take night pictures.
Nighttime offers different lights and shadows that you can incorporate into your pictures to make them look unique. At night you can use flash, a street lamp or even holiday lights if they’re bright enough.

7. Ex-nay on the pose-ay.
Don’t have your subject pose. A picture caught in motion often makes a better and more memorable shot.

8. Have comfortable surroundings.
If your subjects have to pose, have them find a comfortable, natural position. Here’s when a little leaning or slouching is permitted. Standing straight can make unflattering lines and give boringness to your picture.

9. Use props.
If you’re taking a portrait, include a telling item in the picture. A favorite toy or rocking horse for a child’s picture, or a wedding picture in the background of a couple’s 50th Anniversary picture. The props will create conversation about your picture

10. Unfocus the background.
A background can tend to take away from your picture so try taking your picture with the background blurred and only your subject in focus.

According to sleep research, and motherly experience, the length and the quality of naps affect nighttime sleep. (And, conversely, nighttime sleep affects naps.)

Babies differ in their napping needs – but here’s a general guide that applies to most babies:

When should your baby nap?
Timing of naps is important. A nap too late in the day will negatively affect nighttime sleep. Certain times of the day are better for napping because they suit your baby’s biological clock; these optimum periods balance sleep and wake time to affect nighttime sleep in the most positive way.

All babies are different, but generally, the best nap times are as follows:
If baby takes three naps: midmorning/early afternoon/early evening
If baby takes two naps: midmorning/early afternoon
If baby takes one nap: early afternoon

Watch your baby’s sleepy signals!
Naps should happen immediately when your baby shows signs of tiredness. If you wait too long, she becomes overtired, “wired up,” and unable to sleep.

Once you are familiar with the your baby’s nap needs you can plan a nap routine to start the wind-down process. If consistent naps are new to you look more for your baby’s signs of tiredness and scrimp on the routine until you settle into a predictable pattern. In other words, don’t begin a lengthy pre-nap routine if your baby is clearly ready to sleep! Watch for these signs of fatigue; your baby may demonstrate one or more of these:

Decreasing activity quieting down losing interest in people and toys rubbing eyes looking “glazed” fussing yawning laying down caressing a lovey or asking for a pacifier, bottle or to nurse

Timing is very, very important!
You have probably experienced this scenario: Your baby looks tired and you think, “Time for a nap.” So, you wash her hands and face, change her diaper, answer a phone call, put out the dog, and head for baby’s crib or the family bed, only to find that she’s suddenly wide awake and anxious to play!

What happened? She has moved through her window of tiredness and gotten that “second wind” that buys her another hour or two of alert time before she re-enters her tired state. This can often happen later in the day. Suddenly, your baby is (finally!) ready for a nap at dinnertime, and the plot thickens- do you put her for a late nap and thus extend bedtime, or keep her awake and deal with a tired, fussy baby? Rather than face this ordeal, respond earlier to her signs of fatigue and get her in for her nap right at that time.

Once you have watched your baby carefully for a week or so, you should be able to create a nap schedule that works with her daily periods of alertness and tiredness, thus making your nap schedule easy to adhere to.

The nap routine
Once you’ve established a nap schedule for your baby, it is very helpful if you create a simple but specific nap routine. This routine should be different from your nighttime routine, although it can have similarities that signal sleep- for example, the presence of a lovely or special sleep-inducing music. Follow your nap routine the same way every day. (Except, as I mentioned before, if your baby is showing clear signs of being tired and ready to sleep. Then abbreviate or even eliminate your routine for that day.)

For a reluctant napper, your routine might include some relaxing motion, such as rocking/relaxing in a swing/walking in a sling or stroller, and some gentle lullaby music.

A nap routine doesn’t have to be long and involved to be effective. If your baby’s nap occurs about the same time every day there will be many subtle cues, such as the timing of his lunch, that tell your baby that nap time is nearing.

Better naps mean better nighttime sleep.

About the Author:
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of several books, including Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry — Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, Kid Cooperation (with an introduction by William Sears, MD), Perfect Parenting, as well as her latest The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and is also president of Better Beginnings, Inc. She is a popular speaker on family issues, and her newsletter, Parent Tips, is seen in schools nationwide. She appears as a regular radio show guest, and has been quoted in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, American Baby, Working Mother, and Woman’s Day magazines. Visit Elizabeth’s web site http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth.

1. Create a bedtime routine. Your baby may fall asleep easier if there is an order that you do things every evening and he knows what to expect. Some babies don’t like the feeling of surprise when they are put to bed and would rather be eased into it. Start with dinner, a bath, nursing and then bed. If you want you can throw in a song, a story, or a massage.

2. Try to get your newborn to bed when he is sleepy but not overtired. If you let him get overtired he may have a harder time falling asleep and fight it more. If he is sleepy he will probably let his body’s natural instinct take over and lull him to sleep.

3. Use the light and dark to help “program” your baby. Wake your baby up in the morning once the sun comes up and start putting him to bed as the sun goes down and the room gets dark. Let the natural light help teach your baby when to fall asleep and when to wake up.

4. Check the sleep environment. You don’t want the area he sleeps in to be too busy or have too much going on. Find a quiet corner his bed can go in and take the toys out of the bed. Allow him no distractions so that he can easily go to sleep.

5. Teach your baby how to self-soothe. It is never too early to think about it so that when it is time to begin you can easily help your baby start putting himself to sleep. Once your baby can calm himself and put himself to sleep, it will free up your time to take care of other family matters. It will also help him be able to fall BACK to sleep after being awoken.

6. Pay attention to his pattern. If you watch his sleeping you will begin to notice a pattern forming of when he is tired, is ready for bed, how long he will sleep and you will know about when he will wake up. Knowing your baby’s schedule will make it easier to judge when he needs to sleep and how long you have before he wakes up.

7. Avoid stimulation. Highly stimulating forms of activity right before bedtime can wind up your baby making it hard to get him to settle down and go to sleep. Keep it calm and quiet in the house leading up to his bedtime so that he will fall asleep with little fuss.

Napping a Six Month Old
By the halfway point of your baby’s first year, not only has he hit a ton of milestones, but he is probably on a regular nap schedule throughout the day. Most babies will be waking up and going to bed at night about the same time, and taking a couple of naps a day for a couple of hours each. These will normally be in the morning and afternoon. At this point it becomes much easier for mom and dad to plan outings as well as meals in the house, because they know when their baby will be awake, and when he will be asleep.

Napping a One Year Old
Most one year olds are still taking a couple of naps a day at this point; however the naps may not be lasting as long. Your baby is probably up walking, running, and very interested in the world around him. It may be hard to get your baby to actually settle down and take a nap, when there is so much else that they would love to do. Enjoy the down time you do have however, because it may not last much longer.

Napping an 18 Month Old
By the time your baby is 18 months old he probably would have cut out one of his naps. Instead of a mid-morning and mid-afternoon nap, he will probably just be taking his afternoon nap, although it may have moved closer to noon or right after lunch. It also may have gotten longer. Where your baby may have only been sleeping an hour to an hour and a half in the afternoon, he could possibly be sleeping 3 hours now. Make the most of this time during your day and get stuff done.

Napping a Two to Three Year Old
Sometime during your baby’s second and third birthday it is highly likely that he will no longer be taking naps. There is entirely too much going on in his world and too much to see and do. You will put him in his crib or toddler bed and he may sit and play for the two hours he is there instead of napping. Your peace and quiet may be coming to an end. The good news is that since your child still needs at least 12 hours of sleep a day, it might be possible to put him to bed early, around six in the evening and have him sleep all night. This will give you that free time in the evenings to get done things that you were not able to get done during the day.

What constitutes sleeping through the night? Many people consider it eight hours straight, without waking up. Others may consider it the time that they are asleep themselves, whether it be six hours or 10. Some people may consider their baby sleeping through the night when he only wakes up to nurse once in a 12 hour period. Sleeping through the night can really be a subjective issue for the parents.

Some babies will begin sleeping through the night very early. Some parents will have a baby who first sleeps through the night as young as two weeks old. This age is rare but is definitely possible, however some pediatricians will recommend to parents to wake their baby up in order to feed them, instead of letting them sleep all night. Other babies may not start sleeping through the night till two, three or even six months. Breastfed babies may not sleep through the night till after they have been weaned or until most of their nourishment comes from table food and not breast milk.

Now contrary to a popular myth, starting your baby on cereal early, or putting cereal in a bottle of breast milk or formula will not help your baby sleep longer or through the night. In fact starting your baby on cereal too early as an effort to make them sleep longer could trigger allergies in your child that will make life harder down the road.

If your baby is having a hard time sleeping through the night, or putting himself to sleep there are sleep training books on the market that offer different points of view and can help you in getting your child to sleep. These range from letting them cry it out, to letting them fall asleep on you and sleep with you in your bed.

If you feel like you can no longer handle your baby not sleeping through the night or that it is taking a toll on you, your family or your marriage, don’t hesitate to ask your pediatrician for any suggestions they have to help your baby sleep through the night, and helping you cope with the lack of sleep you may be feeling.

Congratulations on the birth of your new baby. This is a glorious time in your life. Whether this is your first baby or your fifth, you will find this a time of recovery, adjustment, sometimes confusion and frustration, but — most wonderfully — of falling in love.

Babies younger than four months old have very different sleep needs than older babies. This article will help you understand your newborn baby’s developing sleep patterns, and will help you develop reasonable expectations when it comes to your baby and sleep.

Read, Learn, and Beware of Bad Advice
Absolutely everyone has an opinion about how you should handle sleep issues with your new baby. The danger to a new parent is that these tidbits of misguided advice (no matter how well-intentioned) can truly have a negative effect on our parenting skills and, by extension, our babies’ development…if we are not aware of the facts. The more knowledge you have the less likely that other people will make you doubt your parenting decisions.

When you have your facts straight, and when you have a parenting plan, you will be able to respond with confidence to those who are well-meaning but offering contrary or incorrect advice. So, your first step is to get smart! Know what you are doing, and know why you are doing it. Read books and magazines, attend classes or support groups – it all helps.

The Biology of Newborn Sleep
During the early months of your baby’s life, he sleeps when he is tired, it’s really that simple. You can do very little to force a new baby to sleep when he doesn’t want to sleep, and conversely, you can do little to wake him up when he is sleeping soundly.

A very important point to understand about newborn babies is that they have very, very tiny tummies. New babies grow rapidly, their diet is liquid, and it digests quickly. Formula digests quickly and breast milk digests even more rapidly. Although it would be nice to lay your little bundle down at a predetermined bedtime and not hear a peep from him until morning, even the most naïve among us know that this is not a realistic goal for a tiny baby. Newborns need to be fed every two to four hours — and sometimes more.

During those early months, your baby will have tremendous growth spurts that affect not only daytime, but also nighttime feeding as well, sometimes pushing that two- to four-hour schedule to a one- to two-hour schedule around the clock.

Sleeping “through the night”
You have probably heard that babies should start “sleeping through the night” at about two to four months of age. What you must understand is that, for a new baby, a five-hour stretch is a full night. Many (but nowhere near all) babies at this age can sleep uninterrupted from midnight to 5 a.m. (Not that they always do.) A far cry from what you may have thought “sleeping through the night” meant!

What’s more, while the scientific definition of “sleeping through the night” is five hours, most of us wouldn’t consider that anywhere near a full night’s sleep for ourselves. Also, some of these sleep-through-the-nighters will suddenly begin waking more frequently, and it’s often a full year or even two until your little one will settle into a mature, all-night, every night sleep pattern.

Falling Asleep at the Breast or Bottle
It is very natural for a newborn to fall asleep while sucking at the breast, a bottle, or a pacifier. When a baby always falls asleep this way, he learns to associate sucking with falling asleep; over time, he cannot fall asleep any other way. I have heard a number of sleep experts refer to this as a “negative sleep association.” I certainly disagree, and so would my baby. It is probably the most positive, natural, pleasant sleep association a baby can have. However, a large percentage of parents who are struggling with older babies who cannot fall asleep or stay asleep are fighting this natural and powerful sucking-to-sleep association.

Therefore, if you want your baby to be able to fall asleep without your help, it is essential that you sometimes let your newborn baby suck until he is sleepy, but not totally asleep. When you can, remove the breast, bottle, or pacifier from his mouth and let him finish falling asleep without something in his mouth. When you do this, your baby may resist, root, and fuss to regain the nipple. It’s perfectly okay to give him back the breast, bottle, or pacifier and start over a few minutes later. If you do this often enough, he will eventually learn how to fall asleep without sucking.

Waking for Night Feedings
Many pediatricians recommend that parents shouldn’t let a newborn sleep longer than three or four hours without feeding, and the vast majority of babies wake far more frequently than that. (There are a few exceptional babies who can go longer.) No matter what, your baby will wake up during the night. The key is to learn when you should pick her up for a night feeding and when you can let her go back to sleep on her own.

This is a time when you need to focus your instincts and intuition. This is when you should try very hard to learn how to read your baby’s signals. Here’s a tip that is critically important for you to know. Babies make many sleeping sounds, from grunts to whimpers to outright cries, and these noises don’t always signal awakening. These are what I call sleeping noises, and your baby is nearly or even totally asleep during these episodes. I remember when my first baby, Angela, was a newborn. Her cry awakened me many times, yet she was asleep in my arms before I even made it from cradle to rocking chair. She was making sleeping noises. In my desire to respond to my baby’s every cry, I actually taught her to wake up more often!

You need to listen and watch your baby carefully. Learn to differentiate between these sleeping sounds and awake and hungry sounds. If she is awake and hungry, you’ll want to feed her as quickly as possible. If you respond immediately when she is hungry, she will most likely go back to sleep quickly. But, if you let her cry escalate, she will wake herself up totally, and it will be harder and take longer for her to go back to sleep. Not to mention that you will then be wide awake, too!

Help Your Baby Distinguish Day from Night
A newborn baby sleeps about sixteen to eighteen hours per day, and this sleep is distributed evenly over six to seven brief sleep periods. You can help your baby distinguish between nighttime sleep and daytime sleep, and thus help him sleep longer periods at night.

Begin by having your baby take his daytime naps in a lit room where he can hear the noises of the day, perhaps a bassinet or cradle located in the main area of your home. Make nighttime sleep dark and quiet. You can also help your baby differentiate day naps from night sleep by using a nightly bath and a change into sleeping pajamas to signal the difference between the two.

Watch for Signs of Tiredness
One way to encourage good sleep is to get familiar with your baby’s sleepy signals and put her down to sleep as soon as she seems tired. A baby cannot put herself to sleep, nor can she understand her own sleepy signs. Yet a baby who is encouraged to stay awake when her body is craving sleep is typically an unhappy baby. Over time, this pattern develops into sleep deprivation, which further complicates your baby’s developing sleep maturity. Learn to read your baby’s sleepy signs — such as quieting down, losing interest in people and toys, and fussing — and put her to bed when that window of opportunity presents itself.

Make Yourself Comfortable
I’ve yet to hear a parent tell me that she or he loves getting up throughout the night to tend to a baby’s needs. As much as we adore our little bundles, it’s tough when you’re woken up over and over again, night after night. Since it’s a fact that your baby will be waking you up, you may as well make yourself as comfortable as possible. The first step is to learn to relax about night wakings right now. Being stressed or frustrated about having to get up won’t change a thing. The situation will improve day by day; and before you know it, your little newborn won’t be so little anymore — she’ll be walking and talking and getting into everything in sight…during the day, and sleeping peacefully all night long.

About the Author:
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of several books, including Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry — Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, Kid Cooperation (with an introduction by William Sears, MD), Perfect Parenting, as well as her latest The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and is also president of Better Beginnings, Inc. She is a popular speaker on family issues, and her newsletter, Parent Tips, is seen in schools nationwide. She appears as a regular radio show guest, and has been quoted in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, American Baby, Working Mother, and Woman’s Day magazines. Visit Elizabeth’s web site http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth.

There are many ways to co-sleep. Baby product manufacturers actually make co-sleepers that attach to the bed and keep your baby within arms reach. These make it easy for a mother to lie in bed and nurse her baby while not worrying about her baby accidentally rolling over from the weight of the parents in bed. They also have sleep positioner’s that you can place your baby in, so that they stay either on their side or back and are unable to move. These are also good when your baby can roll, because they are blocked on either side and can not roll off the bed.

Co-sleeping is practiced widely by parents who parent on demand or consider themselves doing a form of attachment parenting. It is a way for parents to keep their babies close by at all times, in hope that the baby will feel more secure and have his needs met quickly. It many ways it is just a matter of convenience for parents and their new baby.

Safety
In order for co-sleeping to work both parents have to be aware and in agreement that they will do co-sleeping. If a parent is aware, then subconsciously, even when they are asleep, they will tend to make room for the baby and know they are there so that they do not move around too much in bed.

Decide How Long
From the beginning you want to know how long you will be co-sleeping. There is nothing wrong with co-sleeping indefinitely, or planning to do it till your baby is big enough for a real bed. However, if you plan on only doing it for a few months you will want to know that too and prepare for it. Have a crib ready for your baby already to help the transition. Once you start the transition, try not to go backwards as it might be confusing for the baby.

Nap Time
If you plan on co-sleeping indefinitely then when it comes to nap time you will want to have a positioner or rails on your bed to keep your baby from rolling off. If you do not plan on co-sleeping indefinitely, you can actually lay your baby in his bed for naps, in an effort to get him used to sleeping there and hopefully make the transition later easier.

Sleeping Through the Night
For parents who co-sleep, they may find that it seems like it takes longer for their baby to start sleeping through the night. Mothers are very tuned into their baby’s wants and needs, especially at night when they are half asleep. Any small whimper may cause a woman to think that her baby is awake and needs something, leading her to respond. In many of these cases, especially as the baby gets older, it is possible that the baby is just settling himself and isn’t really “awake”. In these cases, if left alone the baby would probably fall back into a deep sleep on their own. If the baby is in his own bed, in a different room, mom and dad would probably never hear him making noise and he would be sleeping through the night.

There is no right or wrong place to bed your baby. It is a decision that has to be made by weighing the pros and cons of the situation and making the best choice for your family.

Sleeping…

A newborn baby spends most of her time on two things: sleeping and feeding – although, as she needs an average of 8 diaper changes a day, maybe that should be three things

Newborn babies sleep for around 17-18 hours a day, but the bad news is she will sleep only for 3 or 4 hours at a time. When she wakes she will probably need feeding and/or a diaper change.

Babies are not born with a conception of day and night, so you have to teach her to take short naps in the day and longer sleeps at night. During the first few weeks you will have to feed on demand and let her decide when she will sleep. Then you should try to encourage her to take the majority of her sleep at night by changing her surroundings: at night she should sleep in a darkened room (either her own bedroom or a corner of yours), in her cot. During the day keep her in bright light (but not direct sunlight, babies get sunburnt very easily), in her buggy.

After about 4 months baby should be sleeping for a total of about 15 hours, but she should now be sleeping for around 8-10 hours at night and without a break. She will benefit from a set routine at bedtime. A bath followed by a feed and a clean diaper, then settle her in her bed while she is still awake and play her some soothing music. Mobiles suspended over the cot work wonders.

Getting baby to establish a routine is a gradual process so don’t worry if it takes a while. There will still be the odd night-time feed required until she reaches about 6 months when she should last all night without refuelling! Aren’t you looking forward to that!

Sleeping Position
To minimise the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (also known as cot death):

• place baby on her back,
• tuck in the sheet and blanket (don’t use a duvet until she is at least 12 months),
• make sure the room is neither too hot nor too cold – ideal temperature 65?F,

Sleeping Problems
If baby isn’t sleeping well at night, it may be because:

• she is too hot, too cold, hungry, thirsty, or needs changing,
• she is getting too much sleep in the day. A recent study found that keeping baby in bright light during the daytime naps will teach her the difference between a night-time sleep and a daytime nap,
• she isn’t tired enough. Introduce more energetic playtimes, then wind down an hour before bedtime,
• she is over-tired. Introduce a quiet time before bed to calm her down. You might also try baby massage.
• she has colic. That’s a whole different problem and you will find a separate article about colic.

Finally, remember that, like adults, all babies are not the same and some will need less sleep than others.

About the Author:
Tony Luck who runs a site with advice about babies. You will also find the fascinating chinese pregnancy calendar which is supposed to tell you whether the baby you are expecting will be a girl or boy, and a conception chart to tell you when baby is expected.

When your baby is first born it is very likely that his days and nights will be mixed up. While in the womb the baby was rocked to sleep as you moved around, and was probably awake more at night while you were asleep. For the first few days or couple of weeks your baby might have trouble adjusting to your sleep/awake schedule.

If you are one of the lucky ones and your baby’s schedule isn’t totally messed up, he still probably won’t be sleeping all night. A baby’s stomach is very little and they can only eat enough generally to fill them up for a couple of hours at a time. It is likely that your baby will be up every 2-3 hours in order to eat. Many times your pediatrician will tell you to wake your baby up if he sleeps more than three hours. Just because it gets dark outside doesn’t mean that your baby doesn’t need to eat and you will still need to wake him up every 2-3 hours.

Because of your baby’s sleep schedule, you probably haven’t gotten much sleep yourself. It is easy to say, “Sleep when your baby sleeps”, but much harder to do it, especially if you have other kids, have work to do, or a house to take care of. Some women are lucky to get a nap in during the day while their baby sleeps, others don’t get to rest at all. When night time comes around you will find yourself cat napping around your newborns feeding schedule, not really getting adequate rest.

If at all possible, having the baby’s father help in the middle of the night is a great idea. Even if it is just having dad give the baby a bottle of expressed breast milk, or formula for one feeding so that you can sleep a 4-6 hour stretch, it may help how you feel and your mood greatly.

Issues like postpartum depression and exhaustion can come into play for you if you do not feel rested and you are not getting sleep. All these things can make you unhappy leading to sadness, frustration or anger. If you are stressed, it is likely your baby will feel it and be stressed as well. It is important to keep yourself feeling good so that everyone in the house will be relaxed and happy. After all, if mom isn’t happy, no one is happy.

What is a baby monitor & why do I need one?
It might seem like an obvious question these days, but baby monitors are a relatively new innovation. At the most basic level they give the parent freedom from keeping a constant vigil at their baby’s bedside (cot-side or Moses basket-side!).

A baby monitor normally consists of a transmitter and a receiver unit. The transmitter is placed near the baby and the parent keeps the receiver unit. This way the parent can hear instantly if their baby needs reassurance while doing other things around the house – or maybe catching up on some well needed rest!

Baby Monitor Types
Baby monitors now fall into three main categories. There are the traditional audio baby monitors . These alert the parent if the baby starts to cry or seems restless or uncomfortable. Audio/visual baby monitors take this a step further by letting the parent see and hear their baby. These consist of a camera unit with a microphone and a receiver unit with a TV screen and speaker.

Lastly, there are sensor baby monitors (also called respiratory baby monitors). These offer peace of mind by immediately alerting the parent if their baby’s breathing becomes significantly uneven or even stops completely.

Audio Baby Monitors
Audio baby monitors fall into two further types: analogue and digital . Analogue baby monitors traditionally were subject to lots of interference from other household items that gave off a wireless signal. While this still can be true of cheaper analogue monitors, today most have more than one channel enabling you to select one that is interference free and incorporate technology that lessens outside interferences such as the Philips Cordless Babysitter.

To guarantee an interference transmission and reception you will need a digital baby monitor . Remember that a baby monitor is essentially a radio transmitter and receiver and digital radio (should you have one!) is superior to normal radio reception. The higher-end digital baby monitors use something called DECT technology . This technology came from digital walkabout phones and stands for Digital Enhanced Cordless Technology.

DECT monitors will select a channel automatically from 120 channels and often encrypt the channels to stop any eavesdropping. Because of this technology these monitors are normally more expensive, but (like the Philips Digital Baby Monitor and the BT Digital Monitors) they guarantee interference free transmission and often come with several useful extra features:

Audio baby monitors – things to look for:

• Number of channels
• Rechargeable parent unit
• Belt clip for portable convenience
• Light display on the parent that shows noise level even if the sound is turned down.
• Low battery indicator
• Night light on baby unit
• Two-way transmission – so you can talk to your baby from the parent unit.
• Temperature gauge – remember the ideal nursery temperature is around 18C (65F)

Audio/Visual Baby Monitors
A recent innovation – these monitors let you see and hear your baby. This gives obvious added benefits such as seeing if your baby has come out of their blanket, or if they are sleeping in an awkward position etc. However, these baby monitor may also be useful for older children so you can remotely check on them if they are playing by themselves in another room.

The range of audio/visual baby monitors can be limited by your house layout. If your house has normal partition (or stud) walls then the range will be around the quoted 30m. However, if you live in an old house with solid internal walls the range will be reduced – especially if the signal has to pass through several walls. This will not apply when you are directly below or above a nursery as the signal only has to pass through a wooden floor (or floors) and should therefore be perfect.

AudioVisual Baby Monitors – Things to look for:

• Night vision – sounds obvious but some come without it! This is essential for night time viewing. All our audiovisual baby monitors come with night vision.
• Number of channels – helps in finding the best channel but can also enable you to add extra cameras later.
• Standby mode – if you have a portable parent unit the screen can be draining on the battery. Some units such as the Tranwo Gigaair automatically come out of standby mode if you baby makes a noise.

Sensor Baby Monitors
Also called respiratory baby monitors these monitors consist of sensitive pads that go underneath your baby’s mattress. During the first year of life, infants can experience irregular breathing patterns or even stop breathing completely.

These monitors can alert when your baby’s breathing changes due to a cold, high fever, or other illness. The Babysense II will continually detect your baby’s motion and breathing movements, and set off a sound and visual alarm if breathing movements ceases for over 20 seconds or if the breathing rate slows to below 10 breaths per minute.

REMEMBER , a sensor baby monitor is an added precaution and safeguard which can help peace of mind but it must be combined with the important recommendations of “Safe Sleeping” (sleeping on the back, not overheating of baby’s room, not smoking around the baby).

Sensor Baby Monitors – things to look for

• Certifications – the Babysense II is currently the only Household Movement Monitor to carry complete CE registration as a Medical Device and to comply with 93/42/EEC Medical device Directive.
• Mattress type – some sensor baby monitors will not work properly with a spring mattress
• Mattress thickness – check your mattress thickness. Some are certified for thicknesses up to 12cm and some for thicknesses up to 14cm.
• Mattress base – sensor monitors work best on a flat base. This should be no problem with a cot, however, if used in a Moses basket you are advised to put the basket on a flat base.

About the Author:
Sarah Cooke. Mother of two and Director of MonitorMyBaby – Baby Monitor Specialists A site specialising in all types of baby monitor.