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<\/a><\/p>\nWhen our babies don\u2019t sleep well, we tend to look for an explanation. We think it might be teething or gas. We worry that she\u2019s too small and she needs to eat in the night, or he\u2019s too big and he needs to eat more or he won\u2019t feel full. The list goes on and on.<\/p>\n
Are any of these explanations the real truth? Sometimes. But barring those times when your child has a burning fever or a new tooth coming in, the real reason most babies won\u2019t sleep or stay asleep is that they just haven\u2019t learned how.<\/p>\n
We all have strategies that help us make the journey into sleep each night. We have bedtime routines that we tend to do without really thinking about it, and we do these things because they help us transition from the busyness of our day to a restful sleep.<\/p>\n
Most of us have a favorite position on the bed that we turn to when we feel sleep about to come. Some of us need a glass of water beside the bed, some need white noise or music, others can\u2019t sleep without the window open. Some need a cup of herbal tea, and some have to read for ten minutes\u2026Whatever the differences might be, these are all sleep strategies, and without them we\u2019d have trouble drifting off.<\/p>\n
The same goes for babies. Many parents who haven\u2019t developed a sleeping strategy for their babies will complain that their child can only fall asleep with the bottle, or while breastfeeding, or while being rocked or patted.<\/p>\n
While this might be true, the trouble is, by offering these props, parents are creating a situation where their babies are dependent on something external to help them sleep. And that\u2019s why they don\u2019t sleep well.<\/p>\n
Night waking is very common in babies who have not learned to sleep properly and are relying on a prop. When they wake up and the prop isn\u2019t there to put them back to sleep, they have to wake up fully and cry in order to be soothed back to sleep. It\u2019s not personal, Mom and Dad\u2026 they haven\u2019t made it their personal mission to wake you up ten times a night. They just have no idea how to go to sleep without your help.<\/p>\n
Luckily there is hope. There are lots of ways to give your child the tools she needs to be able to sleep independently, even from a very young age. Babies are capable of sleeping through the night, and learning those skills young will help make bedtimes and night times relatively hassle-free. <\/p>\n
A well-rested child is a happier, healthier child. And a well-rested parent is healthier and happier too!<\/p>\n
More information about Jo Anna Inks and the Sleep Sense program are available at www.joannainkssleepsolutions.com. To book a consultation or enquire about the next group seminar, contact Jo Anna directly at (209) 813-0609.<\/p>\n
About Jo Anna Inks:\u00a0Jo Anna has been personally trained by Dana Obleman, the creator of The Sleep Sense\u2122 Program, whose methods have been used worldwide by more than 30,000 families to solve their children\u2019s sleep problems. \u00a0She offers one-on-one sessions and group seminars for parents, and is available to lead workshops at drop-in groups or for public appearances at a reduced or pro-bono rate. She can be reached at (209) 813-0609, joannainks@gmail.com and www.joannainkssleepsolutions.com <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Murphys, CA…This is a question I often asked my first son when he was an infant. I asked it in a sweet voice, I asked it in a pleading voice, I asked it in an angry voice, but no matter how many times I asked, he never gave me the answer. I can remember the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,4,18,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-life-style","category-murphys","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Fullscreen-capture-9242015-12645-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}