3. Be informed
Do your research on safe infant sleep – co-sleeping, bed-sharing, cot bumpers, sleep positioners, separate bedroom etc. It is crucial to ensure your baby sleeps in a safe space every time.
Well meaning friends and relatives often share advice that contradicts the latest research and safety standards, putting your little one at risk inadvertently. Have you ever been told you need to move your 3/4/5 month old out of your bedroom asap or you’ll create a bad habit? Advised not to feed your baby at night because they’ll get used to it?
By being properly informed, you can build a healthy relationship with sleep that will benefit the whole family in the long term.
4. Be Practical
When setting up your baby or toddler sleep space, think about their ideal sleep conditions (and safety) first. Work your beautiful interior design to fit around that. It’ll save you money and frustration later!
Do you choose the pretty sheer blinds, or full black out curtains? Do you want the big beautiful (but high!) toddler bed, or a montessori style floor bed that they can’t fall out of? There are undoubtedly millions of unused cribs and bassinets around the world, because they were bought for their beauty and not their practicality.
5. Be instinctive
Most importantly, listen to your intuition. This is so crucial for healthy, happy family sleep as much as it is for all other aspects of parenting.
If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.
Shut out the clamour of confusing advice from friends, books and social media, and listen to your instincts instead. You know your baby better than anyone else!
This can be quite challenging, and it’s something we work on together as part of my consultation packages. Nurturing and listening to your intuition is one of the best decisions you can ever make for your family!
Give these 5 strategies a go with your family, and let me know how you get on.
Happy sleeping, mamas!
Hayley Bukhamsin is founder of The Gentle Mama (www.thegentlemama.com, Instagram, Facebook). She is a certified Infant Sleep Educator, specialising in supporting parents to achieve healthier and happier sleep, balance for the whole family, and confidence in their instincts. Her primary motivation is to empower parents to cut through the clutter of confusing advice in order to listen to their own intuition and their babies’ communications.
Whilst Hayley’s clients come from all over the world, she currently lives with her husband and two daughters in Dubai, UAE. She earned a BA Hons degree from The University of Nottingham, UK, before starting a career in advertising. It wasn’t until the birth of her first daughter that she discovered her true passions: Attachment Parenting, Gentle Parenting and, above all, healthy infant sleep.
For the last 5 years, Hayley has pursued this passion actively, building an Attachment Parenting community within the UAE, blogging about her parenting experiences, founding The Gentle Mama and writing for national and international titles including The Natural Parent Magazine.
