Baby Boomer

How Can I Start a New Routine For My Baby, Toddler Without Any Crying?

March 13th, 2023 by dayat No comments »

I frequently get phone calls from sleep deprived parents asking for my help, explaining the routine they are currently using and what they would like to achieve with the new routine and then they add…. “But, I don’t want any crying…my husband and I don’t cope with it”.

I completely understand this request and my aim is to empower the parents with the skills to improve their baby/toddlers routine without any crying or distress and sometimes this happens at the first sleep but sometimes this isn’t possible. In the case of the newborn baby up to age of about 3 months we are often ‘fine-tuning’ the routine with efficient uptimes, downtimes and the bedroom environment and they basically look at us and say “thank goodness someone knew what I needed!” and go to sleep without a murmur.

In other cases the baby needs a few days to settle into the new routine, respond to the new cues and learn to self-settle in their own bed. We need to remember that baby is intelligent and has only responded to the regular cues and routines that you have initiated since birth. What you have been doing was ‘working’ for everyone until now and while we have valid reasons for changing the routine baby doesn’t know we are going to change anything and so sometimes they are going to protest!

Case study: Baby around 4-6 weeks old.

Presents as very unsettled during the day and night, 20-45 minute day sleeps, often will only sleep on mum’s chest or in someone’s arms, in sling or in bed with mum and dad. Refuses to sleep in the cot/bassinette, mum feels stuck at home because baby will not sleep in stroller either. Baby isn’t feeding very well, fussing a lot and is particularly unsettled after feeds, will usually feed best when going to sleep. Mum and dad suspect reflux or colic. Parents have tried the dummy with limited success, baby is wrapped for all sleeps but gets out of it frequently.

Goals for baby:
Relaxed feeds, enjoys playtime, provides obvious tried signs, appreciates cues for sleep, calm going into bed and self-settles to sleep. Enjoys personal sleep requirement and wakes happy and hungry for the next feed and ready to play again……

Plan:
We look at the bedroom environment, make the feeding and playtime more efficient, remove the props that prevent self-settling, identify baby’s tired signs and when baby is ready for bed, fine tune the wrapping technique and provide baby with some new cues for sleep.

Potential Outcomes:

*Once in bed baby may start to whinge/talk on and off like a ‘rollercoaster’ for a few minutes. A whinge is noise that you feel comfortable with and sound like they are self-settling, mum and dad feel happy to stay outside the room because baby isn’t upset and the whinging is getting progressively quieter. A short time later baby is quiet and asleep. Baby ends up sleeping for 2 hours without waking because they are comfortable and their environment is encouraging a restful sleep.

*Once in bed baby recognizes instantly that the going to sleep environment is different and starts to cry and protest asking for the usual routine to go to sleep. This is completely normal for baby to cry and ask for help, they don’t know how to do it themselves and have been relying on you for help. The aim is for baby to self settle so we cannot afford to be putting baby to sleep, we need to just get them calm and show them they can put themselves to sleep. The baby that requires help with the self-settling will usually wake at the 40-45 minute mark and require some more settling from mum and dad to go back to sleep and for another 40-45 minute sleep cycle. Over approximately a week, with consistency and persistency from mum and dad baby will learn how to self-settle without our help. The ability to self-settle will enable baby to sleep through the night when they are developmentally ready to do so.

Case Study: 9 month old.

Presents as enjoying milk feeds, usually feeding to sleep. Has started solids but not always eating well. Mainly fruits and vegetables, cereals and pasta, rice. Rolling on the floor, not crawling yet, but standing up in the lounge room and in the cot. Has started whinging on the floor so has been offered extra time in swings, walkers, jolly jumper or is being carried around a lot. Getting out of wrap in bed and standing up in cot. Starts off going to sleep in own cot but wakes frequently screaming at mum and dad until dummy is given back, given a feed or brought into their bed. If sleeps in the cot all night is awake at 5-6am and wanting to get up and start the day.

Goals for baby:

Baby enjoys family meals with finger food in high chair, has an appropriate amount of milk feeds for age, is crawling and exploring the house earning a great sleep, self settles to sleep in the cot, sleeps soundly all night and wakes around 7am for breakfast..

Plan:

Look at the bedroom environment, encourage appropriate floor play. Increase the amount of protein in the diet and discuss mutually agreeable time for milk feeds. Introduce a sleeping bag, Encourage self-settling in the cot without the dummy, discourage coming into mum and dads bed, reduce the ‘rewards for waking’.

Outcome:
Once in bed baby will protest cry or even scream. After 9 months of previous habits and bedtime routines everything has changed and baby is not happy, they know exactly what they want! It’s very important to acknowledge this and provide ‘hands-on’ reassurance with baby, along with consistency and persistency. Baby is relying on your consistency and persistency to ‘believe’ that the routine has changed at sleep time and is not returning to the old one.

If new routines have been tried unsuccessfully for a few days and returned back to old habits baby will scream every time something new is tried, because screaming at you got you to change back last time! It is also important to be consistent with day and night sleeps and not confuse baby with different routines. We are not hurting baby, just changing the rules and the only way baby knows how to communicate this with you is to cry or scream, whatever usually gets them what they want. Older toddlers can just say “I want my dummy back!” or “I don’t want to go to sleep!” but your baby cannot say these things.

I want Mum and dad to respond to baby whenever baby is upset and provide ‘hands-on’ settling until baby is calm. Then they need to learn to listen to interpret the whinging or self-settling comfortable noises when baby is not upset. On average baby will take on average 30 minutes to self-settle to sleep the first time and usually require some re-settling at the 40-45 minute mark in the first 3-7 days until the baby learns to do it themselves.
When baby learns to self-settle to sleep, they will be able to self-settle back to sleep in the day and the night! With each day mum and dad will gain confidence and will see baby taking less time to self-settle to sleep and delight in the sleeps getting longer.

Tip: Every baby is an intelligent little human being. We need to respect this and not expect them to roll over and agree to go to sleep using a new routine the first time with crying or protesting! We need to gently reassure them and help them feel comfortable going to sleep.

Natalie Ebrill

http://www.sleepandsettle.com.au

Baby Sleep Consultant 0-5 years, mother of three.

I understand you want to find a gentle solution to your baby’s sleeping problem that allows you to respond to your baby and start it today. But you’ve tried so many other strategies and read all of the books and you don’t know who or what to believe anymore. You just want feel confident about your baby’s routine and reduce the crying more than anything else, and that’s okay! I wan

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Baby Boomers – How They Impact American Society

November 13th, 2022 by dayat No comments »

Demographers defined “baby boom” as a rise in the number of births that began in 1946, just after the Second World War, reached a climax in 1957, and declined only in 1964. The enhanced economy is believed to be responsible for the rapid rise in the number of births during these years. Many people use the word “generation” with reference to this phenomemon, but demographers use the word “cohort,” which means a group of people experiencing similar events within a specific time frame. The social changes of the times have a great impact on the lives of baby boomers.

Baby boomers are classified into two categories–early boomers who were born between 1946 and 1955 and late boomers who were born between 1956 and 1964. The last of the late boomers arrived when the Beatles were on their first tour in America and when the early boomers were around 18 years of age. Baby boomers are worth noting because of their large numbers. They literally filled educational institutions and labor markets.

Economic and Social Changes

According to studies, societal impacts have played a great role in shaping the characters of baby boomers, which, in turn, have reshaped the society. Baby boomers think differently. Due to their large numbers, their thoughts and beliefs dominated almost everything in society.

There is a great difference in the economic status of early and late boomers. The energetic job market and rise in economy enjoyed by the early boomers gave rise to a need for economic adjustment on the part of late boomers. This was basically due to the rapid growth of service sectors, instability in employment opportunities for the middle classes, changes in locations for workers, and adjustments in the career market.

Many baby boomers felt that economic security was elusive. Studies on the baby boomer generation revealed several differences among the incomes of Hispanic, Asian, African-American, and white Americans. For example, the black baby boomers were considered to be inferior to the whites, although all the baby boomers did extremely well in school.

Baby boomers were impacted by the ways in which society changed after the post war years. Ideas about gender, family, and sexuality underwent a great change. Concepts such parenthood, aging, retirement, labor, and so on were redefined. Even when they were old, baby boomers preferred to be active and involved. Many remained in the workforce to support their families.

Stereotype and Conservation Boomers

Both stereotype as well as conservative baby boomers such as Seth Grossman created a number of changes in society. The stereotype baby boomers protested on the streets while the conservative baby boomers protested through leaflets, student magazines, and public forums. Their activities might not have attracted public attention; however they achieved great success when they brought into force a referendum that caused the Duke students to withdraw from the National Student Association.

Conservative baby boomers might not match the usual image of a baby boomer, yet they comprise a powerful force in society. They did not make it to the headlines of the newspapers because they quietly attended class when the rest of their classmates were participating in a boycott. But in 1968, they were the ones who supported conservatives such as George Wallace.

About a third of the baby boomers served in the Vietnam war. A number of other boomers achieved a lot of success in a variety of other fields. Joyce Johnson, an African-American stereotype baby boomer, was famous as an activist in her college days. In Duke School, she fought for the good of her race. She was very much involved in the activities on the Duke Campus in the sixties. Johnson and Grossman contributed a great change in the society.

It is very important to understand baby boomers, especially since they are now advanced in years. They have had a profound impact on the economy of the country. Baby boomers have not only reshaped society, but have also had an impact on a number of people beside themselves.