The lovely Lauren from Little Sleep Stars is a baby sleep consultant and I’m delighted to announce that she’s coming along to our Harrogate Mama Baby Club Kick Off event on Monday 19th November to share some of her expertise with Mamas and their babies and tickets are available online.
In this blog post she’s sharing some of her vast knowledge as she de-bunks a few myths around sleeping and babies…
Child Sleep Specialist vs Common Sleep Myths
As a sleep consultant, I hear a lot of pervasive myths! From formula will help your baby sleep to sleep-training means leaving your baby to cry, some things have been so-often repeated that, despite being based on absolutely zero evidence, they have seemingly become “fact”. Here are the most persistent myths I encounter and the truth behind them.
“Some babies are just bad sleepers”
A baby’s experience, both pre and postnatally, does impact their intrinsic relationship with sleep. One of the most influential factors on how easy a little one naturally finds sleep is their temperament, with children who are particularly alert tending to have a trickier time than their more easy-going contemporaries. However, all children have the ability to sleep soundly – it’s just that some need more help to unlock their sleep potential than others.
“My baby wakes more frequently because I’m breastfeeding”
The research on the relationship between sleep and breast versus bottlehas established that it is, in fact, breastfeeding mothers who get the most sleep overall. To avoid both immediate and longer-term digestive issues, I always advise bottle-feeding mums (whether it is formula or expressed milk in the bottle) to use a paced-feeding technique. Otherwise, babies tend to guzzle. Whilst this “over-filling” may lead to a little one initially conking out (much like us after Christmas dinner!), when consistently repeated, a tiny tummy becomes stretched which isn’t a great long-term strategy! When babies regulate their intake in line with their hunger – as breastfed babies do naturally, how well they sleep depends on their learned skills and confidence rather than the contents of their stomach.
“Sleep training means ignoring my baby’s needs”
Not. At. All. There are some sleep-training methods that do involve leaving a child alone to cry. There are others, which are just effective, that do not. It is absolutely possible to have a baby who sleeps well without the road to achieving that being an ordeal – for parent or child!
Harrogate Mama Baby Club Kick Off Event – Monday 19th November
To learn more about how you can achieve great sleep, using gentle methods, book your place to join Lauren at the kick-off event of the Harrogate Mama Baby Club on 19 November at 10am at the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate!
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