Tip #4: Sleep Part 1

For those of you with small children, sleeping may be an elusive dream. While children are infants, they wake parents to eat. Then they sleep through the night for a few months (if you're lucky), and teething wakes them (and us!). As we were raising our girls, I sought out books on sleep and found some good ones. I am not so friendly when I lack sleep so I encourage all parents to read the relevant sections of these books so that you can return to your own level of sleep while teaching your children to sleep through the night.

1. Secrets of the baby whisperer: How to calm, connect, and communicate with your baby by Tracy Hogg & Melinda Blau.

These ladies describe themselves as the "baby whisperer." Think about that. They know what they are talking about.

2. On becoming babywise: Giving your infant the gift of nighttime sleep by Robert Buckman & Gary Ezzo.

It's great to encounter a book on this topic written by men, and some men will appreciate this one. Notice also that these men suggest that it is the parent providing the child with a gift if we teach them to sleep all night. In some cases, is it the baby waking the parent or the other way around?

3. Solve your child's sleep problems, by Richard Ferber.

This book has some wonderful ideas for specific problems related to sleeping such as children who wake at night to find their pacifiers (let's try not to cause that problem if possible.). There are also some great tables indicating how much sleep a child of, say, one year is supposed to sleep at night. He points out that children who take a long nap will sleep less at night. Seems obvious, but when you, the parent, are sleep deproved, every bit of instruction helps.