It turns out that music is one of the finest and most beautiful ways to put your infant to sleep and make them rest peacefully. Why music?

Well, music is inherent to human beings. It’s a universal medium of communication that binds people together and transfers subtle messages across all age groups easily.

1. Music helps babies to relax and calm down

   Have you ever seen your baby struggling to fall asleep? We bet you have because it’s a common thing among infants. Only a few months after birth, a baby will sometimes get angry for not being able to fall asleep easily.

   In such circumstances, music can help you out by creating a calm atmosphere and a relaxing ambiance for your little child. How come?

   Well, it’s a well-known fact that music makes an impact on our moods and babies are by no means an exemption here. Studies reveal that music can lift a person’s mood, boost happiness, and reduce anxiety.

   The same logic applies to everyone, from grown-ups to young children to babies. Therefore, you should take advantage of music to help your infant relax and fall asleep quickly.

2. Music helps you create a pre-sleeping ritual

   Do you know how psychologists always say that people should create daily habits in order to become more productive and improve sleeping patterns? Well, they say it for the youngest kids as well because everybody feels great when following the same rhythm day after day.

   In this case, the purpose of music is to create a familiar environment and help babies figure out that it’s time to sleep. After all, infants’ lives are all about following the same patterns and embracing a common daily schedule.

   This means that babies can learn that it’s time to sleep whenever you play a particular song. You should pick a slow and relaxing song for pre-sleeping rituals in order to make your baby feel cozy and ready for a good night’s rest.

3. Music reduces stress

   If you are struggling to calm your baby down before going to the cradle, perhaps you should try doing it with music. A beautiful song can have a superior relaxing impact on a baby’s mind, particularly if you are playing a quiet classical composition.

   According to the study, this type of music can have a beneficial effect on our physiological functions, slowing the pulse and heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and decreasing the levels of stress hormones. It also helps babies to start breathing calmer and reach that much-needed level of mental stability before falling asleep.

   However, the fact remains that infants can have various reactions to different songs, so we strongly encourage you to test many compositions and figure out which one really calms your baby down.

4. Music boost brain development

   Music definitely looks like a magical phenomenon because it also boosts brain development in babies. It seems like songs encourage infants to keep in touch with their emotions, understand common patterns in compositions, and figure out new and invisible concepts.

   For example, a study by the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences found that playing music to nine-month-old babies led to an improved understanding of rhythm in speech and music.

   Music obviously serves as a very special communicator that teaches the youngest kids important lessons before they can even walk and talk, which means that you should incorporate it into everyday interactions with your child.

5. Music is a relationship-builder

   Another aspect of music that many parents tend to forget is its significant relationship-building effect. Many researchers say that joint movements and dance lead to the release of oxytocin, a hormone in charge of mutual bonding. The same hormone is generated while nursing.

   At the same time, psychologists explain that all genres produce pretty much the same effect. While most parents choose to play classical music, the fact is that it’s much easier to enjoy and sing along with your infant if you are listening to a familiar song with interesting lyrics.

   Besides that, researches prove that babies who follow the rhythm and move to the drumbeat tend to smile more often than their peers.

6. Music helps strengthen a wide range of skills

   Although we talked about brain development already, it is important to add that music can help babies grow and strengthen a wide range of skills altogether. Namely, studies show that infants and toddlers who listen to music on a regular basis usually outperform other kids in terms of:

   • Creativity and problem-solving abilities
   • Spatial intelligence and understanding of the world around them
   • Memorization and learning processes
   • Mathematics and logical thinking because music is based on patterns
   • Emotional intelligence
   • Language learning

The Bottom Line

We all understand the privilege of listening to music as it pleases people of all ages, without exception. However, a lot of parents still don’t realize how important it is to play music for their infants. It’s a powerful child development tool that you must use to help the baby grow and develop more successfully.

In this post, we focused on six practical benefits of music for baby sleep.

Have you ever thought the music could influence babies this way? Do you have any interesting music-related experiences to share with us? Feel free to leave a comment – we would love to hear more about you and your baby’s sleeping rituals!

Author Bio: Isabell Gaylord is an expert who works for several college paper writing services and contributes a lot to dissertation writing services. Besides focusing on some of the top paper writing services, Isabell is a passionate explorer of human psychology.

The post 6 Benefits of Music For Your Baby’s Sleep appeared first on The Baby Sleep Site - Baby / Toddler Sleep Consultants.

Don’t freak out at that title. Yes, I know it seems odd – this is The Baby Sleep Site®, after all! Shouldn’t we be talking about how to put an awake baby to sleep, and not the other way around? Well, stick with me. While we do specialize in helping sleepless babies find their sleep, we also offer tips on how to keep a baby awake – or how to wake a sleeping baby – and when it makes sense to wake your baby. And one of the occasions, when you may find you need to keep your baby awake, is during breastfeeding.

Why Keep Baby Awake During Breastfeeding?

You may be wondering why some parents even want to keep their babies awake during breastfeeding; after all, breastfeeding is naturally sleep-inducing and gives parents a fast and effective way to get baby to sleep.

However, there are times when you may want to keep your baby awake during and after breastfeeding. Those times include….

….when your baby is falling asleep early in a feeding and not taking in full breastfeeds. This, in turn, can mean your baby feeds almost constantly day and night, and never gets any longer stretches of sleep.

….when you want to wean your child away from her breastfeeding sleep associations, and therefore need to keep her awake throughout and after the feeding.

We checked in with Miriam, a friend and lactation consultant, and asked her to share her top tips for how to keep a baby awake during breastfeeding.

How To Keep Newborn Awake During Breastfeeding

Remember the following pointers:

• Newborns naturally get drowsy while nursing, and we really don’t worry too much about your newborn falling asleep while nursing unless there are concerns with weight gain or jaundice.
• Newborns with jaundice tend to be very sleepy and it’s important to wake them and attempt to nurse every 2 hours during the day. The more they drink, the more they poop; the more they poop, the less jaundice they will have, and the more alert they will become.
• If weight gain is an issue for your newborn then be sure to use breast massage and compressions to maximize the amount of breastmilk your child takes in at each feeding. Babies are very smart and they won’t waste energy at the breast if they aren’t getting milk, so don’t hesitate to use breast compressions to encourage more milk flow. You can also switch breasts every 5-7 minutes to encourage faster flow and more suckling.

Now, if you are worried that your baby is eating too often it’s important to understand that nursing every 2-3 hours is normal throughout the first year. It’s not necessarily “normal” for all babies to nurse every 3-4 hours; some will need to eat more frequently. The babies who can get by with feeding every 3-4 hours are usually older babies on solid foods who can get 5+ ounces of breastmilk at each breast feeding.

If your baby is nursing hourly, then do speak with your doctor or a local lactation consultant. This can still be normal during a growth spurt, but it can also indicate problems with breastfeeding, like latch or supply problems. Always check in with a healthcare provider if your baby seems drowsy all the time and isn’t having lots of wet and dirty diapers.

How To Keep Baby Awake During Breastfeeding

One great way to keep your baby awake during breastfeeding is to work towards a daily feeding and nap schedule. Here are some basic steps you can use to move towards a schedule:

1. Start the day in the same 30 minute window each day (called a “fixed point”).
2. Nurse your baby shortly after “starting the day”.
3. For babies on a 90 minute cycle of eat-play-sleep, it’s fine to feed after the nap, but once the cycles are 120 minutes or longer you will likely need to move the feeding about 20 minutes before the nap so your baby doesn’t wake too early due to hunger. Offer a feeding even if you don’t think your baby is hungry.
4. It’s always okay to gently offer an extra feeding to help your baby get on a better schedule. You might do this prior to a nap or prior to going out for the day.

If you feel that your baby still isn’t taking a full feeding, even after you’ve worked towards a more predictable feeding schedule:

• Keep in mind that sometimes babies just need a drink and that’s okay! 🙂
• To encourage a bigger feeding, especially if you know you won’t have the opportunity to feed again (car trip, going out, bedtime feeding, etc), then be sure to use breast massage before the feeding and breast compressions after the feeding.
• Don’t use a wet washcloth or anything too harsh to get your baby to nurse. Instead try running your finger gently along his cheek or foot.
• Skin to skin contact is a great way to get your baby to wake-up and stay awake during a feeding. Even very sleepy babies will be motivated to nurse more often and for longer periods if they are skin to skin on mom’s chest.

How To Keep Baby Awake During Breastfeeding In Order To Solve A Sleep Association

Once you have established a decent daytime nap and feeding schedule, and you know your baby is taking in full feedings, you may find you need to keep your baby awake during breastfeeding not necessarily for nourishment, but in order to teach healthy sleep habits. Nursing to sleep is a really common sleep association, and it’s key to help your child learn how to breastfeed at bedtime or at nap time without falling asleep. But that’s easier said than done!

Generally speaking, it’s a good idea in this situation to move the feeding to an earlier point in the bedtime or nap time routine. If you usually breastfeed right before laying your child down for sleep, try breastfeeding first, and then going through the other steps in your routine. This not only helps keep your child awake, it also separates feeding and sleep enough that your child will stop associating them in his mind.

Baby Falling Asleep While Breastfeeding and Nursing? We Can Help!

If you’re struggling with your baby’s sleep and feeding habits, don’t worry – our team of experts can help! Connect with one of our expert consultants today; she’ll craft a Personalized Sleep Plan™ just for your baby, walk you through every step of sleep training, and provide detailed answers to your most pressing sleep training questions.

Purchase a sleep consulting package today, and connect with your expert sleep consultant!

Once you make your choice and purchase, you will immediately receive an e-mail with your Helpdesk login information. You’ll be able to log in and get started immediately!

Want more information about how personalized help works? Check out our FAQ page here, and get answers.

Or, join our VIP Members Area packed with exclusive content and resources: e-Books, assessments, detailed case studies, expert advice, peer support, and more. It actually costs less to join than buying products separately! And don’t forget that as a member, you’ll also enjoy a weekly chat with an expert sleep consultant, which is perfect if you have truly tough, pressing sleep coaching questions that require expert help.

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This is also a common theme in many of the sleep books out there, too. Many of them make you feel guilty for nursing your baby all the way to sleep or using a pacifier or co-sleeping or not co-sleeping. If you don’t do it their way, you are not a good parent or you have failed your baby.

I’m here to say that it IS your fault your baby won’t sleep. Here’s why:

When your baby was 3 days old, your baby wouldn’t sleep in any way but breastfeeding or with the bottle. You fed him to sleep every nap and night after that until you thought he’d outgrow it.

When your baby was a few weeks old, you decided to try a pacifier and that worked quite well, too, only now your baby won’t sleep without it and you might be running in every two hours to replace it. You started to wonder whether you should be feeding your baby on a schedule or feeding her on demand.

When your baby was a couple of months old, sleep was fine, so you felt like super mom (or dad). Or, sleep wasn’t great, but you made do. Some of your friends might have started claiming their babies were sleeping through the night and you wondered when yours would too. You wonder why your baby won’t sleep through the night, too.

When your baby turned 4 months old, for many, sleep started to go downhill and you didn’t have the foggiest reason why. If you were lucky, you were starting to wonder what it would be like to sleep for more than 6 or 8 hours in a row again. If you were unlucky, 3 hours straight sounded pretty good. If your baby won’t sleep longer than one or two hours, you might have trouble functioning in the daytime.

When your baby was 6 months old, you might have started dreaming about what it would be like to be able to plan activities in the day. You might have dreamed about a baby’s schedule that was almost the same every day or you enjoyed going with the flow, throwing a strict schedule to the wind. You might have started to wonder if your baby’s naps would start to lengthen like other babies you heard about. Some days it feels like your baby won’t nap and won’t sleep through the night.

When your baby was 9 months old, you wondered if your baby still needed night feedings or not because your baby won’t sleep all night like your friends’ babies or other babies you read about on the Internet.

If your baby is now a toddler and hasn’t outgrown the sleep challenges you thought she would, you start to wonder if it is your fault. You realize you’ve helped some habits to remain habits, but haven’t been able to break them, no matter how many things you’ve tried and now that it’s been so long, is it really fair to just let her cry it out?

You see, all of these things are your fault. You became a loving mom who decided to breastfeed to sleep when your baby wouldn’t sleep any other way. You were a loving dad when you rocked your baby to sleep every night when she cried bloody murder any time you stopped. You replaced that pacifier ten times per night, so your baby could get the 12 hours of sleep you heard he needed every night. You sacrificed your sleep to help your baby get hers. That doesn’t make you a bad parent, that makes you a loving parent!

My advice today is to embrace the fact that it IS your fault! You are a loving parent. You did what you had to do to transition to parenthood or to tend to your older children when your baby wouldn’t sleep no matter what you did. This is NOT a bad thing. We all do what it takes when we can barely see straight, trying to figure out how to even be a new mom or dad. We don’t want our babies to cry (or scream as some of us would have it) and we do what we can to make sure we have babies who will become well-adjusted young adults one day. We are afraid we will make a million mistakes (and we will), but there is no way to predict whether you will have a baby who will miraculously sleep all night at 8 weeks or will be rocked to sleep for 5 minutes every single night and sleep 12 hours straight. Did I know I’d end up rocking my son for 2-3 hours every night at bedtime and repeat it every 2 hours later (or nurse him to sleep)? Nope. I did what I felt was right and I don’t regret it for a second.

Nothing is a problem until it is a problem and only THEN do you need to decide to make a change. Only YOU know when that time is and when you have a problem. No one else in your life knows what you are going through every day, but you and your baby. You will know when it’s time.

So, from now on, instead of saying something like you’ve failed as a mom or that you made a lot of mistakes, say something like this:

“Damn right I rocked and held my baby to sleep every night and I enjoyed the cuddle time! But, now it’s time to make a change.”

Ready To Make A Change In Your Baby’s Sleep?

Believe me, I know – I know what it’s like to feel guilty that your baby won’t sleep, and to feel like it’s your fault. I spent countless, bleary-eyed hours trying (and failing!) to get my oldest son to sleep, and wondering what on earth I was doing wrong. But I also know what it’s like to make a change, to do the hard work of helping baby learn to fall asleep, and then to enjoy the “fruits” of that work – peaceful nights filled with sleep!

That’s my story. And it’s why I’m here. It’s why I created The Baby Sleep Site^®, and it’s why I have continued, year after year, to devote myself to helping exhausted parents around the world. It’s why I want to help YOU.

When I created The Baby Sleep Site^®, I didn’t want to offer one-size-fits all help. I knew I wanted to create customized, personalized plans for families, that would take into account each family’s unique situations and individualized parenting styles. That’s why I created my personalized consultation packages – I wanted parents to be able to connect one-on-one with a trained consultant, who would answer their questions and create a customized sleep solution. These personalized consultations are perfect for families who are tired of trying to go it alone, and who are ready to get a personalized sleep solution that will work.
 
Click here to see all the personalized consultation packages.
 
If you do decide to purchase a consultation package, you will be able to get started right away. After purchasing, you will receive an e-mail with your Helpdesk login information. Using that, you will be able to log in to the Helpdesk, fill out your sleep history form, connect with a consultant, and get started on the journey to better sleep!

Lots of people have questions about how the consultation process works, and that’s understandable – the services we offer are truly one-of-a-kind! The resources below should help you better understand how our personalized consultations happen:

• Read through our Frequently Asked Questions here.

I want to end with a reminder. Know this – you are not doing anything “wrong”. You have not “failed”. By deciding to get help for your baby’s sleep, you are not admitting fault. In fact, just the opposite is true – by seeking help, you are demonstrating that you are a loving and concerned parent who is willing to do whatever it takes to help your baby get the rest she needs. And, in my book, that makes you one fantastic parent indeed!

How is it your fault your baby won’t sleep (or wouldn’t sleep)?

The post Your Baby Won’t Sleep and It’s Your Fault! appeared first on The Baby Sleep Site - Baby / Toddler Sleep Consultants.

A parent recently mentioned to me something about her mom making her feel guilty about the things she was doing to help her baby sleep and I thought this would be a good article topic to write about.

There are co-sleeping parents whose loved ones believe in cry-it-out and don’t understand why they wouldn’t let their baby cry-it-out. Then there are parents who do cry-it-out whose loved ones don’t understand how they could let their baby cry. And, of course, there is everything in between.

I am an optimist (at least I think I am) and try to find the good in people, so I remind myself that people are only trying to help and honestly feel they are giving their best advice. Those without kids that give advice, I definitely take their advice with a grain of salt. I mean I know *I* had all the answers before I had kids. It seemed so simple didn’t it? Little did I know what a loop motherhood would put me in! I guess I didn’t have as many answers as I thought, so now I don’t expect non-parents to have as many, either.

When I would mention to people what a challenging sleeper my son was I got ALL kinds of advice! From a lady (a stranger!) on an airplane asking me if my baby needed a bottle when my son was overtired and needed a nap and I was frantically trying to “hard rock” him (as we called it) into a slumber to my mother-in-law telling me to keep him up late so he’d sleep better, anybody and everybody thought they knew how to help my son sleep:

“You need to make more noise when he sleeps” – He can’t sleep through noise!

“Don’t let him nap” – Less naps meant more over-tiredness which meant more night-wakings!

“Keep him up late” – See above

“Give him a pacifier” – Yeah because I didn’t try that when he was up every hour last night. Thanks.

“Breastfeeding is not enough” – Yes it is! He’s not hungry. He’s tired. (I went on to breastfeed both sons for a year and didn’t start solids until close to 6 months)

“Put cereal in his bottle” – No solids until 6 months old, thank you, and it can be a choking hazard*. And, see above, he was not hungry.

“When my baby was 6 weeks, I just put her to bed and didn’t get up again until morning. (even if crying)” – No thank you. Not for me.

“Does he have to go to sleep now?” (when people wanted to visit) – Yes. Yes he does, because the ramifications of not getting him to bed now are not pretty.

The advice was endless and much of it might work for other people, but just not for me. The beautiful part is that these are my children and I’m the one who gets to decide what’s best for them. Well, okay, my husband does have a say, too. 🙂 So, I nodded my head or said we tried it. Okay, in some cases, I may have e-mailed all the benefits of breastfeeding to educate my mother-in-law people. (By the way, I am pro-breastfeeding but not a strict “lact-ivist.” I feel that formula-feeding moms are just as loving and their babies will be just as smart as mine.)

When you’re struggling with your baby or toddler’s sleep and everyone around you either has “the answer” or the baby or toddler who is that perfect sleeper, it’s easy to lose confidence and wonder if you’re doing everything wrong. You might question your ability to parent. But, what I tell my clients a lot is that sometimes you do EVERYTHING right and your baby just. won’t. sleep. You can only do so much. You can lead a horse to water, but can’t make him drink is how the saying goes and it is so true when it comes to your baby’s sleep.

Your job is to provide a soothing sleep environment and to give the opportunity for sleep and the rest is up to them. When my son, now much older, tells me at bedtime “I’m not tired” (when I know it’s not true and just that he doesn’t want the day to end), it is my job to set firm limits that lights are out at 8:30, no matter what. Most of the time he is asleep in a few minutes and other nights he might take 10-15 while he listens to a CD playing. Either way, I’ve done my job.

When he was a baby, my job was to make sure we stuck to a routine pretty regularly because of his temperament and get him the sleep he needed because of the ramifications if we didn’t. Sure, family members didn’t understand why we had to skip the barbecue for his nap (among many other things), but his sleep and well-being came first and we knew him best. AND, we were the ones who had to get up at 10pm, 1am, 3am, etc. when he wasn’t sleeping from being overtired. They weren’t going to do it!

There are many things to help promote sleep, of course, and that’s what this site is all about! But at some point, you do have to let go and realize they are just going to do what they are going to do! They will have good days and bad days just like we do.

All in all, YOU KNOW YOUR BABY BEST! You are the one with your baby day in and day out (even working parents like me!). And, you know what you can handle as a parent. We knew the result if we kept our son out too late, so we chose our special events very very carefully. They would always set us back at least a week. Our second son has been much more go-with-the-flow, so I can definitely see how people do it. It just wasn’t going to happen with our first son and it’s not because he was first. It’s just his personality, temperament, and sleep needs. It’s just how the cookie crumbles.

Get Personalized (And Guilt-Free!) Sleep Help For Your Baby or Toddler

Sleep training is work – but it doesn’t have to make you feel guilty! Our consultants at The Baby Sleep Site^® specialize in creating Personalized Sleep Plans™ that are customized to your own parenting philosophy, and that will NEVER make you feel guilty or pressured. Even better, once you have your Personalized Sleep Plan™, your consultant will walk you through each step of implementing it at home.
 
Browse our list of consultation package options here.
 

Once you make your choice and purchase, you will immediately receive an e-mail with your Helpdesk login information. You’ll be able to login and start your Sleep History right away – it’s that simple!

Want more information about how personalized help works? Check out our FAQ page here, and get answers.

Sleep Resources That WORK

For those persistent nighttime struggles, check out The 3 Step System to Help Your Baby Sleep. Full of practical tools for success, this e-book helps you and your baby sleep through the night.
 
 
 
 
If you’re looking for ways to get your baby or toddler into a healthy sleeping routine during the day, I encourage you to explore Mastering Naps and Schedules. This is our comprehensive guide to napping routines, nap transitions, and all the other important “how-tos” of good baby sleep. With over 45 sample sleep schedules and planning worksheets, Mastering Naps and Schedules is a hands-on tool ideal for any parenting style.

Or, join our VIP Members Area packed with exclusive content and resources! This includes e-Books, assessments, detailed case studies, expert advice, peer support, and more. It actually costs much less to join than buying products separately! As a VIP member, you’ll also enjoy a weekly chat with an expert sleep consultant and much more.

The post Handling The Sleep Training (Or Lack Of!) Guilt appeared first on The Baby Sleep Site - Baby / Toddler Sleep Consultants.