Growth Spurts

There's nothing more frustrating than finally getting to know and understand your newborn and BOOM...first growth spurt. Or when your baby finally starts to sleep for a good stretch, and she hits a growth spurt and throws everything off. A growth spurt can totally confuse everyone and mess up any pattern or schedule your baby may have had.

So what is a growth spurt?

A growth spurt is when your baby grows in height and weight, at a very rapid rate, in a short amount of time. In turn, requiring a lot more feedings to supply the demand of her rapidly growing body. During the first year growth spurts usually happen around 7 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months.

What does a typical growth spurt look like?

Well, up until you may have had a very predictable baby, who wakes to eat every 2-3 hours and goes right back to sleep. Now it seems you can't get her off the bottle or breast. She will feed on demand, and very often. She will be fussy and hard to put to sleep. You will find she is awake more than she is asleep, which will make her overtired and even more cranky. If you are breast-feeding, it may be a little more difficult for you, because your body will have to supply the sudden increase in demand of your baby's growing needs. It will seem as if your baby is on your breast all day.

But guess what? This is all NORMAL. Every baby goes through growth spurts and every mom gets through them. Growth spurts typically last about 3 days.

What to do

It's going to be a tough few days but the best way to keep baby happy is to feed her when she wants to eat, even if you just did it a half hour ago. If you are breast-feeding, don't give up just because you think you won't be able to keep up. Don't forget breast-feeding works on supply and demand. So if baby is emptying your breast, your breast will in turn produce more milk. Drink plenty of fluids, get rest when you can, and try your best to tough it out. And keep telling yourself that this will only last a few days. If this is going on for more than just a few days, then it could be a sleep regression. Take a look at my article on sleep regression here.

And if you need a little humor, here is a funny letter from a baby going through a growth spurt:

Dear Parents,

 I am your brand new, wonderful baby. I have very simple needs, but I cannot communicate them to you, therefore, I am a mystery. I also am changing very rapidly, and every day will be different. I promise you–DIFFERENT. Make no assumptions, there are no patterns, just when you think you know who I am and what I like, I will CHANGE. Oh, and let me tell you about my first growth spurt. It will happen sometime when I am 2-3 weeks old, and it will come out of nowhere, like a bolt of lightning. Up until my growth spurt, I may have been a good nurser. You may have been banking on me sleeping at least 2 hour stretches at a time. You may have thought you had figured out what kind of bouncing or rocking or swaying or singing I enjoyed. You may have been gaining some confidence with your new parenting skills. HAH! I am here to tell you that my growth spurt will throw all of this out the window. It won’t just throw it out the window, it will toss it up, spit on it, tear it to shreds, set fire to the shreds, and then throw the ashes out the window all done while laughing maniacally. During my growth spurt, I will DEMAND food every hour, on the hour, and when you offer me your breasts, I will flail at them and spit them out because they will be EMPTY and so inadequate for my growing needs. I will not just be fussier than usual, I will be INCONSOLABLE. I will introduce you to several of my more distressing cries which I have been saving for just this occasion: the high-pitched wail, the piercing shriek, the crying-so-hard-I-choke-and-stop-breathing-for-awhile, the so-red-in-the-face-you’ll-think-you-need-to-call-911—these and other specialty cries I prepared for you. I will not let you sleep. AT ALL. EVER. You might have thought other parents were just joking when they said they literally got NO sleep, but really, TRULY, you WILL NOT SLEEP. You will spend 24 hours trying to comfort me. You will pull your hair out. You will wonder where you can return me to. You will question the decision you made to have a baby. You will question whey you ever wanted to have sex, ever, in your life, instead of joining a convent at the tender age of 13. You will be forced to watch an all-night Hugh Grant movie marathon in bleary sleep-deprivation while I gnaw and masticate your nipples to a pulp in my unending demand for milk, of which you are so unable to provide for me. And then, finally, when I pass out from exhaustion after wailing for 8 hours, I will only sleep for 2 hours before beginning the cycle all over again. THIS IS MY GROWTH SPURT! BE AFRAID! BE VERY AFRAID!l 

Baby Just Won't Sleep!

Sleep deprivation... UGH

There’s a reason it’s commonly used as a form of torture!

When your child keeps you up all night long and you can’t get more than two or three hours of
shut-eye at a time, it can feel like your whole world is falling apart.You’re exhausted. You can’t think straight. Your nerves are completely frayed. In other words, you’re not exactly at your parenting best. And your child isn’t at his or her best, either. When babies and children don’t get full night’s rest, everything is harder for them. They don’t eat right. Learning basic skills is more challenging. And all-out screaming tantrums are usually just a “no” away.

I used to have a lot of trouble getting Brianna to sleep well at night. For months, she’d go to bed really late then wake me up four or five times a night, demanding to be fed back to sleep.It was a nightmare.! She was cranky, and I was sleep-deprived and exhausted!As I mentioned before, I did a lot research and reading to try to get her to sleep through the night.But the best site I came across so far, is the Sleep Sense site which is run by professional sleep training consultant Dana Obleman. She gives you a free customized sleep plan on her site. I have to be honest, at first I was a little bit weary about this program, and the way it is advertised. But I was so glad I tried her methods. The first night it took Brianna 1hour to fall asleep on her own, by the 3rd night we were down to 5 minutes. I highly recommended this program. I would never risk losing credibility on my blog by posting about some bogus program. It's really hard to trust any program guaranteeing your baby to sleep through the night, but at least this one will give you your money back if your baby doesn't.

I’m also Dana’s friend on Facebook and have seen a lot of really great comments about her sleep training methods. Those are real people on there and real comments, so you know this is not some scam program. And as you can see from the testimonials and success stories on her site, she’s obviously helped a huge number of families finally get a good night’s sleep! Here is a comment a Father...yes a Father posted on her page. It's kind of long but I just had to share.

"Not sure if this is a real email address or not, but I wanted to send a response. My wife and I have been struggling with our 5-month old to sleep (naps and at night) since we brought her home. She rarely slept more than an hour at a time at night and rarely napped for more than 30 minutes during the day. We have been suffering from sleep deprivation for many weeks, and although I think we inherently knew we were doing something wrong, we were simply too tired to think straight.

I signed up for your program yesterday morning after a HORRIBLE sleepless night and forwarded the user and password information to my wife at home. She began reading the material almost immediately and called me in tears saying how many mistakes we've committed and bad habits we've instilled in our daughter. The way you laid it out really made sense to us and gave us hope from the very beginning. We read the material together aloud yesterday evening and put the bedtime routine into action last night.

We're not naive enough to believe all is well instantly, but after a 45 minutes of mixed screaming-crying-sobbing...Abigail slept for 12 straight hours: from 7:30 pm to 7;30 am. We woke to my alarm in stunned disbelief. We look forward to daytime naps that will allow us to exercise, clean house, or even relax. We are craving the adult time we can enjoy by putting her to bed earlier and going out for dinner together. But most importantly, we look forward to the happy, giggly times lasting longer and knowing that our daughter is getting her proper rest. As parents, we can tell that she has been WANTING to sleep and was getting frustrated that she COULDN'T!! She didn't know how, and you're helping us teach her.

Your program is not rocket science. The principles are simple and straightforward--as were reading we kept saying "that makes total sense." The value in your program is the way you lay it out, the plain language you use to describe your ideas, and the kind way you point out the mistakes we're making. Thank you very much for making your product available...what a difference a day can make.

This morning, I drank a cup of coffee because I like the taste...not because I needed it to stay awake on the drive to work.

May God watch over you and bless you and your family."

Jonathan and Patricia

This is why I recommend the Sleep Sense program, many other programs just sound like scams to me. I constantly see nothing but great things being said about this program and Dana Obleman herself. And by the way, she has helped over 32,000 people with a success rate of 93% in getting babies to sleep through the night. That's pretty impressive! I don't think any other program could offer that. And like I said, I would never lose credibility on my blog which has so many readers, by recommending a scam. I am just so excited about this program, I had to share it. Here is the site: www.sleepsense.net  

Time to Share!

"The Biggest Cause of Baby Sleep Problems", explained by sleep specialist Dana Obleman.

For more information or sleep tips from Dana Obleman. Take a look at the Sleep Sense Program www.sleepsense.net

Sleep Training Basics

So you decided that enough is enough! You need your sleep and sanity back! And the only way to do that is by creating some structure in your babies sleep routine. Well sleep training will do just that. You don't have to think of sleep training as some harsh means of controlling your baby. You don't have to hear them cry all night. In fact, there doesn't have to be much crying at all. There are many things you can do to help your baby get to sleep, and stay asleep. Here are my basic tips, to successful sleep training.

• The best place to start is a solid, and consistent bedtime routine, at a descent hour. This will help teach your baby predictability. The more they know what's coming, the more likely they are to accept it. You can start by something simple like a bath and reading a book. It doesn't have to be anything complex. As long as it is the same routine, every night, at the same time. Eventually your baby will get use to this routine and know it's time to go to bed 
•  Create a good sleeping environment. This may include things such as: room darkening shades, swaddling if your baby is young, comfortable jammies, proper room temperature. Anything you can do to make them as comfortable as can be, to promote a restful nights sleep.
• The next thing is a biggie. What I always try to teach everyone, is to put your baby to sleep drowsy but awake. This may be a little difficult but it is essential to getting your baby to sleep through the night. Your baby has to learn the skills to fall asleep independently, so that she may do the same when she wakes in the middle of the night. A baby that falls asleep, by rocking or nursing, will expect the same thing when they wake at night. A baby has many short sleep cycles, so they wake up a lot, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to keep running in her room to rock or nurse her back to sleep. Do yourself and your baby a favor and put her down to sleep awake. It's the best thing you can do for your baby's sleep. Just this step alone should solve most if not all of your sleep troubles.
• The next important step is to find a sleep training method or program. Sleep training is not easy, and neither is teaching your baby how to fall asleep independently. It's going to take major work and your going to need help, there's nothing wrong with that. There are many programs out there for you to choose, but most of them are divided into the following: are you going to let your child cry it out until they fall asleep? or are you going to pick up and comfort them? Take a stand, and pick your program. There are some programs that utilize both crying and comforting, but if you feel uncomfortable with letting your baby cry at all, that won't work. So think long and hard about how you want to do this, because once you start, you're going to have to be firm and consistent. I highly recommend the Sleep Sense Program. I wrote a review on it here. If you don't want to buy a program, you can try a variety of different methods created by "sleep experts" to see what works, but this may take a lot more time and patience. It will be a trial and error kind of thing. Some methods include the "pick up, put down" in which you are picking your baby up when they cry, and putting them back to bed awake when they settle. "Shushing" or "patting" your baby to sleep  is another method. And my least 2 favorite "controlled crying", where you allow your baby to cry, but check on them at intervals, or just let them "cry it out" completely. There are many choices, pick something you feel comfortable with, and something you can actually see yourself committing to.
• The last, and most important piece of advice I can offer is be consistent, and don't give up! Whichever program or method you choose, no matter how hard it gets, and how badly you want to give up, stick to it! If your baby takes and hour to fall asleep the first night and 50 minutes the next, that's progress. Take every day at a time, don't look too far ahead and hope your baby is going to be sleeping through the night within a few days. Sleep training takes time, patience, and commitment. And think about what your poor baby is going through, this isn't easy for them either. They want to be able to just fall asleep and stay asleep too. It's a process you have to go through together. If your lucky you can sleep train your baby within a week, but for most it's going to take a bit longer. It's not easy, but I promise you the uninterrupted, blissful night's sleep, is so worth it in the end. Good luck, happy sleep training!

How to Teach Your Baby to Fall Asleep Independently

Imagine putting your baby down to sleep awake and they just doze off to sleep, completely on their own. You don't have to do any work. Just lay them down, and walk out of the room. They don't cry, whine, or get upset, just peacefully fall asleep.You would probably say to me that I'm nuts, and this is impossible. I don't blame you, I didn't think it was possible either, but it is. This is exactly how my little one falls asleep. I taught her to fall asleep on her own, and this is exactly what she does every night, no crying, no fighting. And the best part of teaching her to fall asleep on  her own, is that she is able to fall back asleep in the middle of the night, when she wakes from a sleep cycle. Meaning no unnecessary nighttime wakings.

Getting your baby to fall asleep on their own is an amazing accomplishment, that will solve most, if not all of your sleep troubles. However, it is probably the hardest part of sleep training. I thought long and hard about how I wanted to compose this post. It's the most common question I get from moms, yet I still have no direct answer. The problem is that when you get to this point of sleep training, there are a lot of different sleep training methods and you have to be firm about which one you are going to be using. Are you going to be letting your baby cry? Are you anti-cry it out? Will you be using the pick up put down method etc. A few other factors come into play, such as sleeping arrangements. Is your baby in a bassinet or already in their crib? Are you co-sleeping? The age of your baby plays a huge part of how you are going to teach them, as well as their temperament. Teaching my baby to fall asleep independently was not that difficult because we started very early. But most moms that I have been contacted by, have much older babies, set in their ways. This is why I say this can be very difficult.

I have answered many emails on an individual basis regarding this topic. I even wrote up my my own plan, to helping your babies fall asleep on their own, and emailed it out. But I realized that many moms that are coming to me are at their wits end, they have waited too long to address sleep problems, and their babies are much older than mine was when we did this.  How can you all of the sudden teach a 6 month old to fall asleep on their own, when they have never done that before? They are going to put up a fight like you wouldn't believe! You're going to need more help/advice than I know how to offer. This is where I think you need expertise advise,  and the Sleep Sense Program is great for that. Dana Obleman put together a great program, and walks you through it step by step. I will share some of my own tips, but I always say, if I can't be the one to help you, I will make sure I point you in the right direction.


Tips for helping your baby fall asleep independently:

• Put your baby down, "drowsy but awake". I know you have probably heard this a million times, but this is truly the best way to go about this. If your baby is wide awake, your going to have a hard time getting her to go down. So make sure she is very sleepy or "drowsy" before you lay her down.
• Pick a sleep training method and stick to it. Do it over and over if you have to. Even if that means you are picking your baby up, and putting them back down, over and over like a maniac. The plan is that you pick a method and stick to your method. Your baby will eventually tire out and accept what you are trying to accomplish, and she will just fall asleep.
• Be consistent. Do the same thing every night. This will let your baby know what to expect, and over time they will just accept it, without a fight.
• Don't ignore your baby's cries. If your baby is crying, she is communicating a need. She's probably scared, after all, this is all new to her. Respond, and respond right away. Let your baby trust you. If she's crying and you don't respond, how will she ever learn to trust what you are teaching her? 
• Stay with your baby. She will feel more at ease knowing you are right beside her. She needs to learn the skills to fall sleep on her own, and leaving her might scare her, where she won't even try to fall asleep. Eventually, when your baby masters this, you won't have to stay with her at all. But in the beginning you're going to have to show her that you won't leave her and it's ok for her to fall asleep.
• Don't give up! This is most important. Many times moms see how difficult and overwhelming the first night can be, they give up, and don't get to see that it gets easier. The second night is easier than the first, and the third gets even better. By the end of the week your baby will most likely be falling asleep on her own in under 5 minutes. Even if it takes 2 weeks, that's a great accomplishment, so don't give up!

For more advice and a step by step process, check out the Sleep Sense website. You can browse through the site and even get a customized report to get you started. http://www.sleepsense.net

Chamomile for Babies

                  Chamomile:The Wonder Herb

I absolutely love this herb. When Brianna was a few weeks old she was crying every evening at the same time (characteristic of gas/colic). Our Pediatrician recommended .5oz of Chamomile Tea. She stopped crying the minute I gave it to her. I gave it to her anytime I saw signs of gassiness or discomfort. This herb worked wonders, no more crying, no more kicking her legs in pain. She was like a new baby, I couldn't believe how well this worked. I gave it to her very diluted, you don't want to make it too strong because your baby may reject it. Try giving it a little at a time to see how your baby tolerates it. Although I have never heard of any dangers, please check with your Pediatrician before you take any my advice.

Colic, gas, sore tummy,
Chamomile tea can soothe a colicky or gassy baby.  Although colic has no identifiable cause, it can stem from gastrointestinal discomfort. Chamomile has long been a remedy for intestinal spasms so that's why it works great for colic. It has been used for centuries and has a long track record for safety. In one of two clinical trials  published by the American Academy of Pediatrics "68 healthy term infants who had colic (2 to 8 weeks old) received either herbal tea (German chamomile, vervain, licorice, fennel, balm mint) or placebo tea (glucose, flavoring). Each infant was offered treatment with every bout of colic, up to 150 mL/dose, no more than three times a day. After 7 days of treatment, parents reported that the tea eliminated the colic in 57% of the infants, whereas placebo was helpful in only 26% (P<0.01). No adverse effects were noted in either group."


Better sleep
Chamomile is also known for its soothing and relaxing properties. It is used as a natural sleep aid. So not only will it sooth a gassy baby but help your baby relax. Babies need their sleep just as much as we do. This herb can help relax a inconsolable baby so both of you can be happy.

Teething
No need to use dangerous over the counter teething jells. The FDA issued a warning against the use of those products anyway. Chamomile is great for teething. Soak a clean washcloth in the tea and let your baby gnaw on it. The soaked wash cloth can also be frozen for an added benefit. It also does wonders for teething when given to drink. 1-2oz should be enough depending on the age of your baby. The relaxing property of the herb will help take the edge off the teething pain naturally.

Others
Studies have also confirmed that Chamomile has anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic, anti-allergenic properties. But because I strongly suggest those types of serious conditions be investigated by your pediatrician, I will not even include the uses of Chamomile in such conditions. I do not advocate any home treatment of infections, rashes, or fevers etc. I'm just simply sharing the endless wonders of Chamomile with you.

Sleep Regression

This is what a typical sleep regression looks like:

Your baby goes from sleeping through the night, to suddenly waking several times a night. They can't fall asleep, or stay asleep. They fight naps, bedtime, and wake frequently at night, often crying. Your baby is clingy, cranky and super needy during the day. You have ruled out illness, teething, and it's way longer than a few day growth spurt.

A sleep regression most commonly presents itself at around 4 months, 9 months, and 12 months.  This is around the time that your baby is going through some major milestones: rolling, sitting, standing crawling, walking etc. What's actually happening with your baby is pretty interesting. Your baby is going through tremendous cognitive development. They are learning new skills and are practicing them in their head. Over and over, until they finally master the skill, which usually then terminates the sleep regression. Your baby's brain during this time is in overdrive. Try to imagine for a minute what you feel like the night before a big event like going away on a vacation, or the night before your wedding. You stay up all night thinking about everything, making sure you don't forget anything. You toss and turn, and keep looking at the clock. It keeps getting later and later and no matter what you do, you can't turn off your thoughts and just fall asleep. You start to get angry which makes it even harder to fall asleep. At this point you just want to scream! The next day you are over tired, cranky and just want to crawl back into your bed. This is exactly what's going on with your baby. Your baby can't turn off the brain work. She tries to soothe herself to sleep like she always did, but that doesn't seem to work. She often wakes up crying and screaming for your help, because she can't do it on her own. Your baby becomes overtired from all of this interrupted sleep, and ends up being cranky all day long.

So what do you do?

 1.) Try your best to stick to your bedtime routine to keep things consistent. You may have to make minor adjustments during a regression, but you don't want to completely change your routine, this will only confuse your little one even more.

 2.) Extra comfort during this time. Extra hugs and kisses. Try your best to settle your baby.

 3.) Don't let your baby cry. Respond to her need. She's telling you she's confused, tired, and doesn't know what to do with all these new ideas in her head. Respond to her, distract her, let her know it's ok and that you are there beside her to help her through this.

 4.) Pull out your bag of tricks (most of which you probably used when your baby was newborn).White noise, bouncer, binky, "lovie",  whatever it takes to get your baby to sleep.You both need sleep, otherwise you will find it very difficult to make it through several week of this.

5.) Remember a sleep regression doesn't last forever, on average 2-6 weeks. Keep reminding yourself that this will pass, and your life will be back to normal soon.

6.) Sometimes there's not much you can do, but just tough it out.  Stay strong, don't get frustrated, and take naps during the day to be handle the rough night

I have been through this and it's not pretty. My baby went from sleeping 12 hours to suddenly waking several times a night. I was so confused and frustrated, until my Pediatrician told me about the regression. Made total sense to me once it was explained. Brianna's sleep regression only lasted 2-3 weeks. I thought to myself  "I have been through months of not sleeping, I can sure handle a couple weeks". So I just cuddled her more, responded right away, and even gave her extra feedings. I was so afraid that the extra feedings would be a major set back. I thought I would have to start sleep training all over again. But I knew she needed it during that time, and strongly believed that since she had already mastered the skills of falling asleep independently for several weeks, she would go back to that, once the regression was over. And guess what? That's exactly what happened. Once she worked out whatever she was working on in her little noggin, she immediately went back to sleeping 12 hours a night.

 I look at a sleep regression  like when you first bring your baby home from the hospital. Anything goes at that point, anything she needs you provide. No set rules.  So that the both of you get some sleep, otherwise you'll slowly start to lose your sanity. Don't be afraid that your going to have to start sleep training all over. Like I said, once your baby already has those skills, the most that you'll have to do is remind her, not start all over.

My next article Baby Just Won't Sleep!