Putting Baby to Sleep

PHILADELPHIA (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- According to a National Sleep Foundation poll, three out of four parents want to change something about their child’s sleeping habits. The good news is you can get your infant to sleep through the night by following some simple steps.

It’s bedtime for Chloe Abramowitz. Andy and Caryn get ready to send their daughter off to dreamland. But going to sleep hasn’t always been this peaceful. When the couple first adopted the 21-month-old, she screamed and cried every time they tried to put her in her crib. Caryn says, “Not only did she sleep in bed with us, but she had to put her fingers in my mouth and sort of dig at my mouth for the entire night."

An exhausted mom and dad turned to sleep expert Jodi Mindell, Ph.D., associate director of the Sleep Disorder Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, for help. She says, “The Abramowitzs are a perfect example of a family who’s trying to do the right thing, but it’s backfiring for them.”

Mindell says parents need to do three things to have a baby who sleeps through the night: "First of all, they need to have a set bedtime. The second is a bedtime routine, 20 to 30 minutes, calm and soothing. The third thing is putting your baby down drowsy but awake. You want your baby to fall asleep on his or her own so that when she naturally wakes during the night, she can put herself back to sleep."

Mindell set up a bedtime routine that includes reading the same book each night. Caryn says then they turn on her music, which is the same CD every night. Then they place her in her crib, say good night, and walk out. "And then we generally don’t hear from her again till the morning," Caryn says.

Chloe adjusted quickly, and both she and her parents are a lot happier. Caryn says, “We’re really glad that we did this whole process so that we could actually see her real personality come out now." And now sleep is more than just a dream for this family.

Mindell says if your baby starts crying after you put her down for the night, you can come in and check up on her as many times as you like. But do not stay in the room for more than one minute. Make it brief and boring. More information can be found in Mindell’s book "Sleep Through the Night: How Infants, Toddles and Their Parents can get a Good Night's Sleep."

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

If you would like more information, please contact:

The Sleep Disorders Center at The Children Hospital of Philadelphia
(215) 590-1000
http://www.chop.edu
http://www.sleepfoundation.org

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