"There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Sleep Lady (Kim West) authored a great book called Good Night, Sleep Tight. As we made our plans for Addison's sleep schedule (in preparation for my return to work), we stumbled upon her eight rules of infant slumber.
1. Create a flexible feeding and sleeping routine.
2. Encourange soothing techniques other than nursing.
3. Offer a pacifier for soothing and sucking, but not as a sleep crutch.
4. Sometimes feed your baby when he wakes up after a nap - not just when you are trying to get him to sleep.
5. Put him down drowsy but awake at least once every 24 hours.
6. Introduce one bottle a day - even if you are committed to breastfeeding - by the second or third week.
7. Create a sleep-friendly environment.
8. Carefully think through the whole question of co-sleeping and the family bed.
These rules are broken down in great detail throughout the book which goes over sleep suggestions for children of all ages with issues of all types. I highly recommend this book as a resource for parents.
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