Last month I posted the following on Facebook: “If you could ask an expert in children’s sleep one question – what would it be?” A number of you shared your questions and concerns, which surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly) were along the same lines: “How can I help my baby sleep longer?” and “How can I help my baby self-soothe?” I am thrilled to have teamed up with the Founder and Senior Sleep Consultant of The Cradle Coach, Melissa Perry. She will answer the sleep questions you posted on my Facebook page – and I am sure we can get more advice out of her, if we ask nicely!
Melissa is somewhat of a “baby whisperer” here in our local South Florida community. Several of my friends have used her services and they all rant and rave about her knowledge, kindness and understanding. I recently met up with Melissa to find out exactly what her philosophy is – just to make sure that I can stand behind her methods – and recommend her whole-heartedly. (P.S. She will not tell you to shut the door and leave your baby crying in a dark room all alone for hours – I checked!) 🙂
I get unsolicited questions from readers several times a week about infant and toddler sleep issues. We currently have our two youngest sleeping in our bed every night, so I am clearly not the right person to answer sleep questions, unless you wish to co-sleep or bed-share. This is why I was thrilled to meet Melissa and have her help me address your family’s sleep issues! I am a firm believer that each family should have the sleeping arrangements that work for them, without any considering to what their friends or relatives did with their own children.
Your Questions Answered:
Mattea F: Why are they up for the day at 5:30am? Later bedtime or normal, it’s still the same wake up time.
Rachel L: How do I get my 11 month old to sleep past 5:30am in the morning? I’ve tried earlier bedtimes and later bedtimes. Same result.
Jennifer F: How can I get them to sleep in, LOL? My youngest (10 months) is up every morning at 5am. Sometimes I can convince her to go back to sleep, but only for an hour.
Before we dive into the hard hitting question of how to get your baby to sleep later then 4 or 5am, lets make sure we are giving our child the proper expectations! Let’s define what waking up “too early” should mean. A baby has to have less than 10.5 hours of overnight sleep for the waking to be considered an early one. When parents ask me how to help their babies sleep later in the morning, and I ask them what time their baby goes to bed, most of the time I hear 6pm (which is completely fine!). But right there is the reason… Continue reading Melissa’s answer by clicking right here.
Katrina P: How I can help my 6 month old learn to self-soothe?
Your baby isn’t sleeping and neither are you! Your child can’t seem to fall asleep on their own, or they wake up 6 times throughout the night…every single night. Routine in the day? Ha ya right, you just do whatever you think your baby needs at that moment. And don’t even get started with naps…20 minutes if you are lucky! If this sounds like you, there is only one solution to this madness…create a sleep plan!… Continue reading Melissa’s answer by clicking right here.
What question would you ask The Cradle Coach?
The Cradle Coach recently released a book you want and need: The Sleep Regression Survival Guide!
Melissa is a true professional, licensed to educate families on sleep issues and a mother herself, so she has an incredibly intuitive understanding of how parents feel (especially when they are sleep deprived). Her services are not just available in the South Florida area, through Skype, email and other electronic communication she has (repeat) clients throughout the country.
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Let her know that you read about her on “Mama in the Now”.
Don’t miss Melissa’s other Q & A session with our readers where she helped toddlers sleep like babies, again!
i just read your advice on mamainthe now, and just wanted to say, so many mothers need this. my daughter just went through the sllp problem for 8 months, he would not sleep more than 4 hours, they ended up just doing ‘tough love’ and letting him cry it out. it worked, butthey felt bad about him crying.
I used a sleep training service out of New York, we did cry it out and it works! Great tips though…wish I had heard of her!
Hi, I want to get my DS to sleep on his own. He will sleep only with a bottle and me patting/rocking him in my lap. He will nap only 20 minutes unless I’m sleeping beside him, once he wakes up even if after 10 minutes and no matter how sleepy he is. He will not sleep unless I do the entire patting/rocking routine again. Please help!!
I will be sure to forward your question to “The Cradle Coach” – so she can reply directly to you!!!
The link to the answer to Katrina P.’s question says “page not found” and I’m dying to know!