Tag: baby sleep help

CityMommy Interviews Smooth Parenting

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Interviewee: Smooth Parenting’s Founder & CEO, Diana Blanco, B.B.A., M.B.A., Y.P.F.C.

1. Please tell us a little bit about your business/site?

Smooth Parenting is an infant and toddler sleep consultancy and parenting-coaching firm. We provide a gentle and progressive approach to parenting and sleep training for children under 3 years old.

Smooth Parenting’s goal is to provide parents with useful, direct and practical advice to help them become the parents they’ve always wanted to be, connect with their children, eliminate unnecessary fights and struggles, and enjoy parenthood. Smooth Parenting wants parents to have a ‘Smooth Parenting Experience’.

2. How long have you been in business?

I have been an independent parent coach and sleep training expert for many years, and have a great track record of helping families teach their babies to sleep, and help families be happier, more balanced and adjusted.

I know how stressful parenting can be at times, especially when sleep issues arise. At Smooth Parenting, we develop a personalized sleep and schedule strategy for the families she works with, after analyzing their parenting preferences, lifestyle and family dynamics. Our approach to sleep training is gentle, progressive, effective, holds the wellbeing of the child first, and follows the American Association of Pediatrics guidelines.

3. Is your business online, or a physical location or both?

Smooth Parenting offers private by-phone or in-home consultations, as well as seminars, online webinars and private groups sessions about various parenting topics.

4. What do you enjoy most about running your business/site?

I enjoy all of it, although the best part for me is being part of the transformation of families. I love helping families improve their relationships, parents become the best they can be, and children become happier and better adjusted.
I also value the opportunity to better balance my personal life, and to be fully involved in the daily lives of my daughters.

5. Is there a favorite product or service that you offer?

The favorite face-to-face services are our ‘In-Home Sleep Consultation’. We have an initial conversation with the family over the phone (or skype) learn more about their parenting style, children sleeping habits and needs. We then design a comprehensive sleep training strategy that will meet the family’s needs, current situation and parenting style. We share with the parents the recommended sleep training strategy and answer any questions they may have; during a 90 – 120 minute long meeting, at the comfort of their own home.

The In-Home Sleep Consultation includes: (1) step by step sleep training strategy, (2) nursery assessment, (3) daily schedule, (4) recommendations for the future and (5) 2 weeks of support by phone or email.

The favorite online services are our ‘Teach Your Baby to Sleep Webinars’. Webinars are live and highly interactive. You can attend from the comfort of your own home, with your computer. All the webinars include a ‘questions & answers’ section, in which you will be able to ask questions about what was discussed in the webinar, and about your baby’s particular sleep issues.

The topics covered on the most popular webinar are the following: (1) Sleep needs by age; setting the right expectations, (2) Sleep tips and techniques for your baby and toddler, (3) Step by Step sleep training guide by age, (4) Schedules, (5) Nursery set up, and (6) Bedtime routines. This webinar is perfect for parents with children between 0 and 3 years old, and for expecting parents.

6. Anything else you would like to share about your business? Being a working Mom? Etc…

For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about children’s wellbeing, children’s rights, education, coaching and parenting. After many years working in the corporate world and graduating with an MBA from New York University; I decided to follow my passion and launched Smooth Parenting to help families have a better and smoother parenting experience.
In 2009, I became the proud mother of twin girls, who are the loves of my life and have taught me more about myself, parenting and unconditional love that I could ever imagined.

I am also the founder of Top MBA Mom, an online community for women who are mothers (or are expecting), and have earned or are earning MBA degrees. If you are one of us, I invite you to join us.

Sleep Training Twins – Separate them or not?

Sleep and Travel

Baby sleep and travel is the number one question we received during holidays and vacations. Will travel ruin my baby’s sleep habits? Will he/she be able to maintain the schedule? Should we maintain the schedule or just let him/her ‘run wild’? How do we adjust the schedules when there’s a time difference? How do we handle his/her jet lag? Could you share some tips about baby and toddler sleep and travel?… These are only a few of the questions we received, so I’m going to try to answer all of them in this post.

  1. Try to book an overnight flight, as it will be easier to get your child to sleep on the plane.
  2. Definitely keep your schedule (at local time)! You can move it 1-2 hours up or down, but you should maintain your routines and structure while on vacation. For example, if you’re traveling to Southern Europe from the States, and your baby’s schedule in the States is 6am to 6pm; you might be able to move him to 7am-7pm or even 8am to 8pm.
  3. The first day at your destination, try to get as much sunlight as possible, as it will help your baby’s body set into the new time zone easier and faster.
  4. During the day, try to keep your child entertained and active. Exercise and play will wear him out and leave him ready for a good night sleep.
  5. Do the naps! Do not think that skipping the nap will help your baby sleep better and faster at night. That’s a common misconception, as they will get to their bedtime overtired and it will take them longer to fall asleep.
  6. During naps and night, make sure your baby’s room is dark; and continue doing your naptime and bedtime routines.
  7. Try to ‘recreate’ your child’s current enviroment as much as possible: blackout shades, favourite blanket, same pajamas, nightlight…
  8. Do not introduce bad habits or poor sleep associations. Do not rock your baby to sleep, let him play longer than normal, let him sleep on your bed, let him watch TV before bedtime… do not create bad habits that you do not allow at home, and that you will have to take away once your return.
  9. Feed your child at the usual mealtimes. Try to choose healthy, filling options, junk foods will only make the problem worse.
  10. Expect that it will take your baby between 2-5 days to adjust to the new time zone, especially if there’s more than 4 hours difference. Plan your stay and return accordingly.
  11. The adjustment on your return will be harder than on your way to your destination.
  12. Keep your calm, stay possitive and consistent and have plan beforehand. You should decide on your schedule (local time) and how you’re going to help your baby adjust to the new time zone, BEFORE leaving.

We hope this information was useful, and we wish you a great family vacation!

Much love, Diana-

Transition from Crib to Toddler Bed

How’s that process going to affect her sleep habits?

Some toddlers will enjoy their new found freedom and jump out of the bed and roam around; some will feel afraid being taken out of the safety of their familiar crib; and some will transition easily to their new beds and sleep there from day one.

Sleep training and sleep adjustments are different for every one of us. Keep in mind that your child will eventually sleep in her bed. Make a plan of how the transition is going to go and stick to it.

When should you do it?

Making the transition to a ‘big boys/girls bed’ can be difficult, and many parents stress about this process. Our advice is to keep your toddler in a crib for as long as possible, this means waiting until your toddler is around 3 years old.

There’s no one-size-fits-all recommendation to tell parents when a child is ready to make the move from a crib to a bed. Every child is different and you know yours better than anyone. Wait to make the transition once you feel she’s ready and she’ll be able to do it without major complications. Some signs that she’s ready are:

  • She’s been trying to climb out of her crib consistently at night and naps (cribtents and mattress on the lowest position didn’t work).
  • She understands directions and boundaries.
  • She shows interest in other friends or siblings’ beds.

When shouldn’t you do it?

When there’s another major change or event going on (i.e. new sibbling, new house, potty training, new daycare, new caregiver…).

How do you do it?

We advice you to break it down in two different phases:

1. Preparation:

During the preparation you should talk to your child about moving to a ‘big bed’ and how great that is. You should make it sound like a big accomplishments to her. Tell other family members and friends what a big girl she is, and that you trust her so much that you’re going to give her a ‘big girls bed’. Your goal is trying to get her to feel proud about the transition, create anticipation. You can mention older friends, siblings or friends who sleep in a bed. Remind your child how big and grown she is now, and remind her of other milestones she has reached (i.e. potty training, giving up a pacifier, drinking by herself, brushing teeth, dressing herself, etc.)

If possible, try to involve your child in the process. Let her pick up the bed, the sheets, choose between two different locations where the bed would go in the room, decide what to do with her crib, decide how she wants to ‘say bye’ to her crib, take pictures of her in the crib, etc.

Make sure her bedroom is ‘safe’ before making the transition. As she will be mobile, you have to make sure that she won’t be able to harm herself if she decides to move around at night or during naps.

Pick a date in which you will make the transition, and make a fun countdown with your child. She could cross the days in the calendar, write the number of days left on a board, etc.

2. Mixing it up:

During this phase, you should let her familiarize with her new surroundings without making the transition. This means, letting her use their new sheets and pillow while she’s still sleeping in the crib.

Remeber to celebrate and take pictures of every step towards the transition.

3- Transition:

There are many different approaches of how to do the transition. However, we believe that the most effective for most kids is the ‘cold turkey’ approach.

On the day you and your child decided the transition would take place, talk about it from the moment your child awakes in the morning. Set the new bed (or take down the side from the convertible bed), have her help you make the bed, arrange the pillows… You would remove the crib and you could throw it a ‘goodbye’.

Start the transition at nap time that first day; and celebrate after the nap is over, even if she fought it a little bit before falling asleep. Remember to have your same routines in place!

Remember:

  • If you think your child is ready, and you decide to make the transition, stick to that decision (no going back!).
  • Take the crib away once the transition is done (out of sight means out of mind).
  • Celebrate your child’s accomplishment in the morning.
  • Make a big deal out of it.
  • Keep your bedtime routine in place. You can also incorporate the bed into the routine (i.e. reading time now is on the bed).
  • Do not put ‘bad associations’ on your child’s head. She might not think that it’s going to be scary, so don’t suggest it by saying ‘You don’t have to be scared’. She might not even think of coming out of bed, so don’t tell her ‘You can’t come out of the bed’.
  • If your child has a convertible crib, the transition should be easier, as she would still be in her familiar ‘crib’.
  • If your child comes out of the bed, bring her back, calmly but firmly.

Remember that moving to a ‘big bed’ is one of the many milestones your child will accomplished in the first years of life. Our experience tells us that the attitude the parents have towards the transition determines how easy or hard the process will be. So, try to be relaxed about it, feel proud of your child, think you both can do it, and do it!

Good luck! Diana-

Takeaways from Dr. Weissbluth’s Talk

Tuesday, 05/25/2010, we had the opportunity to participate in a talk by Dr. Marc Weissbluth, MD. at 92Y on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  He’s the acclaimed author of ‘Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child’ (and ”Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins’).

There were many great takeaways from that session that are completely aligned with our philosophy that we would love to share with you. Some of them have already been mentioned in previous posts in our blog, so click on the links for further information.

We encourage you to follow these principles when implementing your baby’s sleep training plan.

Dr. Weissbluth is a big defensor of cry it out (CIO) or extinction on method for sleep training, that basically involves putting your baby down to sleep (drowsy but awake), and let him soothe himself to sleep. Parents do not go back to check on the baby even if he is crying. He does mention other sleep training methods, such as ‘check & console’ or ‘graduated extinction’; but he certainly believes that CIO is the only effective method of all.

We, Smooth Parenting, do not believe CIO is the way to go in most circumstances; so that’s where we part ways with Dr. Weissbluth. We do, though, value extremelly his insights and research on child development and his wonderful research on sleep, memory, child development, circadian rhythms and brain development; and for that, we will continue to consider him a reference.

Much love, Diana-

Announcing: Baby Sleep Webinars

Smooth Parenting team is thrilled to announce the launch of their new Sleep Webinar ‘Teach Your Baby to Sleep”

Is your child keeping you up at night? Are you wondering when are you going to sleep again? Have you read all sleep training books and nothing is working? Are you expecting want to know how to teach healthy sleeping habits to your baby from the beginning?

Join us and you will learn how to help your child become an independent sleeper. The topics covered in the webinar are the following:

  1. • Sleep needs by age; setting the right expectations.
  2. • Sleep tips and techniques for your baby and toddler.
  3. • Step by Step sleep training guide by age.
  4. • Schedules.
  5. • Nursery set up.
  6. • Bedtime routines.

This webinar is perfect for parents with children between 0 and 3 years old, and for expecting parents. Webinars are live and highly interactive. You can attend from the comfort of your own home, with your computer. All the webinars include a ‘questions & answers’ section, in which you will be able to ask questions about what was discussed in the webinar, and about your baby’s particular sleep issues.

Sign up here: http://smoothparenting.com/Smooth_Parenting/Webinars.html

Diana-

Sleep and the Immune System

Lack of sleep makes ours and our children’s immune systems weaker, hence they makes us more prone to catching colds, viral infections and the flu. Our immune system is designed to protect us from colds, flu, and other ailments. Lack of sleep suppresses immune system functions.

A study published in the September 25, 2002 issue of theJournal of the American Medical Associationdemonstrated that a lack of sleep measurably adversely affects the body’s response to the flu vaccine. This study was done in healthy young adults and half of those included in the study slept only 4 hours per night for 6 nights. The comparison group, experienced a normal night’s sleep over the same period of time. Flu vaccines were administered on the 5th day.

Blood test results showed the sleep-deprived group had less than half the antibodies the comparison group did. Once the sleep deprived group resumed normal sleep habits, there was no difference found in levels of immunity between the two groups.

Want to be healthier and make sure your children don’t get as sick? Make sure you all get a good night sleep.

Much love, Diana-

When to stop swaddling?

The main purpose of swaddling your baby while she’s a newborn is to make her feel secure, warm and safe. After night months inside your womb, your baby will feel disoriented in the outside world, and the swaddling will help him remember her previous environment and rest.

After two months, many babies will start kicking and fighting the swaddle, while others are comfortable being ‘wrapped’ until about 4 months. Whenever you see your baby fighting the swaddling while he’s sleep or before falling asleep, it’s your cue to stop swaddling.

Swaddling a baby become a safety hazard once your baby is able to roll over, which usually occurs between 2 and 5 months. Once she has the ability to roll, you should stop the swaddling, as you don’t want her to be all tighly-swaddled and roll onto her tummy, since she could end up suffocating her, and certainly increases the risk of SIDS.

Swaddling also becomes a safety hazard when the temperature is high. Make sure you swaddle your baby on a breathable blanket, that is appropriate for the current weather conditions. As a rule of thumb, remember that babies should wear one more layer than adults, so do not overdress your baby as overheating is a major risk factor for SIDS.

Some babies don’t like being swaddled, though. If your baby doesn’t, you can try swaddling him a bit looser or leaving his arms out of the blanket altogether. To sum up, we recommend swaddling your baby during the first two months of life, if she looks comfortable like that; and read her cues after that as to when to stop swaddling.

Much love, Diana-

Should We Use White Noise Machines?

We get asked a lot from parents whether they should use white noise machines to help their babies fall asleep.

While white noise machines are great for many reasons:

  • They can help reduce the effects of a variety of disorders including Tinnitus, Hyperacusis, and Meniere’s Disease.
  • They help night workers sleep through the day.
  • They help people sleep alongside partners who snore or use apnea and breathing machines.
  • They cancel out most household noises.

However, we believe in teaching our children become independent sleepers. We want them to be able to fall asleep without our help and without the help of any external ‘aide’ that might no always be available.

White noise machines can help babies sleep better, since they cancel out household noises that might interfere with their sleep. However, after using them, babies might not be able to sleep without them.

Therefore, we wouldn’t suggest the introduction of white noise machines by default. In some specific circumstances we might recommend their use, but certainly not for every child.

Much love, Diana-

Signs of Sleep Deficiency in Children

Many parents wonder whether their childrena are getting enough sleep. The first thing to do when in doubt, is counting the amount of hours they are sleeping. Then refer to the general guidelines of how many hours children their age should sleep per day.

The second thing would be to watch her for signs of sleep deprivation,such as:

  • Constant sleepiness throughout the day, almost every day
  • Fatigue. It looks like your child is dragging herself from one place to the next one
  • Inattentiveness and hyperactivity
  • Crankiness and moodiness, especially at the end of the day
  • Difficult awakenings. It is difficult to get your child out of bed and active in the morning
  • Difficult betimes. Your child is so cranky that she can’t fall asleep
  • Frequent waking during the night
  • Trouble focusing on tasks
  • Impaired memory and cognitive ability, the ability to think and process information
  • Decreased daytime alertness
  • Decreased academic performance
  • Low threshold to express negative emotion (irritability and easy frustration)
  • Difficulty modulating impulses and emotions

If your child exhibits many of this symptoms, you should adjust her schedule so she gets more daytime sleep (naps), and night-time sleep.

Much love, Diana-