5 of our favourite tips from ‘The Baby Sleep Guide’

Need some help getting your baby off to sleep? Is your baby suffering from sleep problems?
Fear not! We spoke to Stephanie Modell, author of ‘The Baby Sleep Guide' who gave us her top tips to help your little one get some zzz.



1) Teach your baby the difference between night and day
During the day, give more verbal and physical interaction, go out for walks to provide light and fresh air and don't minimise normal daytime sounds when he's napping. At night, keep the lights low or off, keep night feeds quiet and minimise interaction, keep his room warm and cosy but not too hot. 


2) Establish a regular bedtime
Have a consistent bath and bedtime routine, creating cues for sleep. Keep it short and calm, keeping the lights low and this will prepare your baby for sleep and help his natural levels of the sleep hormone, melatonin rise. 


3) Establish a routine which does not involve feeding just before napping
This will avoid your baby developing a feed-to-sleep association. A positive sleep/awake pattern to follow is: nap, feed, play/interaction, nap. This has the added advantage that your baby will be feeding when he has the most energy so is more likely to take a bigger, more satisfying amount which will encourage him to go longer between feeds. Meet the expert: Stephanie Modell is a sleep consultant and maternity nanny based in West Sussex. Her new book, The Baby Sleep Guide, focuses on establishing positive sleep habits early on and provides parents with information on how babies sleep, their sleep cycles, natural rhythms and how to gently help them to self-settle.
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