My Baby Sleep Guide

As soon as I discovered My Baby Sleep Guide I knew it would be a great resource for myself as well as my blog readers.  I talked to Rachel who was generous enough to take the time to write up this guest blog post for me to share with you.  Make sure to take a moment to pop over to her blog and say hello.

It didn't take me long after my first child was born to realize that all babies do not sleep like those babies you see in the commercials or those babies you hear about when reading your pregnancy books. No, babies definitely do not all sleep like that. And no, despite how I felt at first, having a child who has difficulty sleeping does not mean there is something wrong with you or your child. Children are as different as the snowflakes that fall from the sky. No two are alike and no two respond the same way to things. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to have another child!

I loved my child of course, but the hours it took to put him to sleep, day and night, followed by short spurts of sleep and an inability to ever sleep outside my arms was wearing me thin--very thin. Being the kind of person who doesn't like feeling like a zombie 24/7, who does like some order to life and who, let's face it, very badly needed something to occupy her as she got used to being a first time mom at home all day, every day (and this is after working full time in a busy ER),  I decided to see what in the world, if anything, I could do to change my situation. So I read and read some more. And I talked to mom after mom after mom. At first I felt clueless and all the information seemed to confuse me more, but as time went by I started to figure out what made sense and sounded reasonable to me and I started to act upon this. And what do you know, things started to change. Really change. Sure, things were still not perfect in the sleep department (and they never will be with children), but things were sooo much better. My son started sleeping long periods at night and was taking long naps during the day. And he went to sleep and woke up happy. To add to this, a well rested child (and mom) meant a very happy rather than fussy child. Motherhood completely changed for me.

During all this research I kept a pile of notes on a text document. It was a confusing mess. I ended up adding my notes to a blog because it made things a whole lot easier for me and it also helped out some friends and family that were having similar problems. Over time, that blog grew and now includes loads of information that I regularly add to.

Since every baby and family are different, I include information about various sleep training methods, so you can find what works best for you and your family. Maybe you want a gentle approach like the No Cry Sleep Solution, a middle ground approach like The Baby Whisperer or maybe you prefer Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I've got it and I've put it all in an easy to use index. Along with this you can find information about short naps, night wakings, top sleep tips, ways to help your child sleep longer at night (i.e. dream feeding, cluster feeding, waketime, sleep routines) and everything inbetween.

My hope is that my blog will decrease the stress that many parents feel over sleep so that they can more fully enjoy life and their sweet children. I don't believe sleep deprivation after a baby needs to last several months or years like some people suggest. Everyone, child and parent, deserves good sleep.

Rachel Stella from My Baby Sleep Guide

* This post contains affiliate links, but I was not paid by the manufacturer to review this product - I just like it! I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's 16 CFR, Part 255. Images courtesy of Amazon.