Sleep

A baby's sleep is holy. In fact, sleep during the first three years has a completely different of quality than the rest of life. You could think of it as magic and creative, whereas later on sleep does the job of restoring, refreshing and adjusting our bodies and souls. So it's vital that baby gets as much sleep as possible.

But sleep today can be a huge problem area. Why that is, I can't say. What I can tell you is that three of my children had no problem getting off to sleep, and the fourth was the opposite. Maybe it had to do with the house not being so settled, because his older siblings would be busy with homework, reading, playing or simply chatting.

We tried 'sleep training' him and there'll be a link for on on this later. Didn't work. When we left him to cry, he'd simply get more and more upset, and so would we. Then the comforting would take even more time. So, night after night, one of us sat with him, singing until he drifted off. Sometimes big sister would play her guitar and that was good. A lyre would have been even better.

Fortunately, once he was sleeping, he tended to stay that way. Not always the case with sleep problem babies, I know. Sometimes I wonder if the 2-hour feeding schedule demand fed babies are inclined to fall into add to the waking up syndrome.

Anyhow, I have no words of wisdom to add to the topic. All I can do is refer you to a book that a good friend and long-time kindergarten teacher and trainer recommended to me. It's called 'The No-Cry Solution to Sleep'.

And here's the link to a recent Guardian article if you're interested:http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/sep/12/health-dilemma-sleep-train-baby?

p.s. yes, I do believe a regular bed time ritual can help. So don't give up on this!