Sleep Problems

Rachel Nunez :

In the United States alone, it estimated that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is responsible for 50 per 100,000 deaths of infants between 1 to 4 months old. Although the main cause of SIDS is still unknown, experts were able to identify those environmental stressors like type of bedding used, faulty design of cribs/beds, and overheating were major risk factors. Thus they recommend that mothers and caregivers must cautiously select safe baby sleeping gear.

Kids sleeping bags, also known as sleep sacks replace the traditional use of blankets to wrap babies and keep them warm. Sleep sacks avoids the unnecessary use of loose bedding that can bunch up around the infants’ mouth and nose that put them on the risk of suffocation. However, choosing a safe sleeping sack is an additional precaution. Generally, a safe infant sleeping sack must be designed in such a way that the baby cannot slip inside the bag so that the face will not be covered. The baby’s head should not pass through the neck hole.It is therefore important to choose the one with the correct size.

The sleep sack must allow the baby’s feet to move comfortably inside the bag. It must have a fitted neck, arm holes or sleeves. These features allow ventilation even inside the bag. There are sleep sacks designed in such a way that the bags can be worn only up until the baby’s underarm. In this case, the size must be of primary consideration. Do not use the ones with hoods.

The materials of kids sleeping bags must be considered for the baby’s safety. Generally, cotton fabric is recommended due to ventilation advantages. Since cotton fiber lets the air to circulate, the baby’s body heat can pass through the material thus leaving the baby warm and comfortable. However, mothers and caregivers must take into consideration the temperature around the baby. The baby’s comfort inside the sleep sack must be of primary concern. Fleece and acrylic fibers for instance are artificial fibers that limit air circulation inside the sleep bag. The baby’s sweat therefore stays inside that will make the baby feel hot and uncomfortable and thus are not recommended.

Choosing sleep sack made of cotton with at least three percent or more spandex material to allow stretching would be beneficial.

Sleep sack made of silk fibers may also be used without compromising safety and comfort. This is especially beneficial during cold weather. Sleep sacks with silk floss filling can add to your baby’s comfort. The material must however be 100% natural and hypoallergenic, like all other fabric materials for babies, to avoid skin rashes and allergies.

There are already available sleep sacks made of organic cotton, Merino wool and silk that mothers can choose from. Although they usually cost more, you may consider health reasons over few dollars. You should keep in mind that sleep sacks are not intended to be used as dressing gown so you should choose the simplest, most comfortable and safest ones.

Glynnis Yan :

First 9 Months Sleep Advice

The most dreadful thing about having a new baby is the lack of sleep resulting from the night feeds. But by six months most babies do not need a night time feed if they have fed well during the day and are not ill.

When your baby is a newborn, after spending 9 months in a nice snug place, sometimes the adjustment to the outside world can cause more night waking than just hunger. It is important to remember newborn babies cannot differentiate night or day, so it will take time for them to fall into a pattern. However, it is perfectly possible to have them sleeping through the night by six months.

Making sure your baby is ready to sleep is most important. With newborns, they will mostly drift off to sleep when they are ready but from around 3 months this can change and they may need you to notice the signs of tiredness and help them to settle.

Ready to Sleep Checklist

Is your baby well fed, clean and dry?

Is your baby not feeling well? It can either make babies sleep more or make them find it hard to sleep.

Watch out for the cue? Some babies yawn, rub their eyes or pull their ears when they are tired, watch for signs.

Is your baby too tired? If your baby is overtired, it is very hard for the baby to settle down due to too much stimulation and lack of sleep. A nice dim lighted room, soothing music and a massage can help your baby to drift off to sleep. Try to catch your baby before he/she becomes overtired will also help.

If your baby is most of these he or she will most likely be ready for a sleep.

Try to balance the amount of nap time your baby takes during the day so that its easier for him/her to fall asleep at night. If your baby is waking up a lot at night and you do not think its due to hunger, he/she may be sleeping too much in the day or the last nap time is too close to the night sleeping time. Make necessary adjustment.

Does your baby sleeping place help encourage a more settled sleep. Is the room warm but not too warm? Is the room very lighted? Is the room noisy?

Help your baby differentiate day and night. When baby take naps in the day, it is not necessary to close all certain or off the sound of the tv. At night, have a bedtime routine, dim the room and keep sounding sound soft. This will help the baby understand the different between a nap and night time sleeping.

Swaddling your baby or putting the baby in s baby sleeping bag sometimes help. The baby will feel more secure but not all babies like it. Some may refuse to be swaddled.

Having a bedtime routine can help as well. Giving your baby a nice lukewarm bath, a baby massage with some oil followed by a breastfeed or a warm bottle of milk in a dim lit room, perhaps even with some low music playing will help your baby realise that its sleeping time now.

Avoid rocking, petting or feeding the baby to sleep. Your baby can begin to rely on whichever as the only way he/she can settle to sleep, so whenever your baby wakes up, he/she would need you to provide whichever aid they are used to sleeping with. Place your baby in bed before they fall asleep and let them begins to learn how to settle off to sleep by themselves.

Caffeinated Content

Molly Ridenhour :


When it comes time to obtain baby bedding for the new arrival in your family, you may have well meaning family or friends encourage you to borrow the things that you need. There is no doubt that hand-me-downs are less expensive than purchasing new items for a new baby, but there are some other factors that you should be aware of before letting the lower price tag affect your decision to borrow the baby bedding you need for your baby. Even if you choose to borrow rather than buy, take the necessary steps to ensure the safety and health of your baby.

Safety

The safety of your baby is the primary concern for any product that you use, but especially for baby bedding since a newborn spends up to 70% of his or her time in contact with the bedding. when you use baby bedding that is borrowed, it may be older products that have had safety defects associated with them. It may use chemicals for fire retardants or chemical dyes that are less than desirable to be in contact with your baby. The donor of the products may not even be aware of safety issues associated with a specific item.

Quality

The quality of borrowed baby bedding may be top notch, but it may also have defects that render it less than ideal. For example, a cheap mattress that is used extensively may have deterioration so that the firmness is compromised. These mattresses can create poor spinal alignment in infants. Less than adequate quality can cause breathing problems if the baby bedding contains dust, spores or other irritants that upset your baby’s skin and breathing passages. Even good quality bedding can be subject to stains and contaminants that you can scarcely see. Are you willing to take the chance with the health of your baby?

Designs

When you borrow baby bedding, some of the designs that may be used in the products are out dated enough to be the subject of recalls. An example might be a crib bumper that has tie cords to hold it in place. Decorative baby pillows is another baby bedding design feature that has changed over the years to become less likely to have features that can come loose or cause suffocation of the baby. Decals on cribs, mattresses or bumpers tend to deteriorate. Of less importance is the fact that certain designs look dated, so if appearance of the items is important to you. you might be better to purchase the bedding rather than borrow it.

Durability

No matter how good the quality is on a borrowed or hand me down item, it has been used to some extent in most instances. Each time the baby bedding is used, it is inevitable that there is some wear and tear on the item. In the case of baby bedding this may not make any difference, but it may also make a great deal of difference. Fabric tears happen more easily in products that have been weakened by wear or washing.

Francis Frost :

Making sure that the baby is safe is probably the single biggest thing on a new parents mind.  When the hospital stay is over and the baby is brought home it is up to the parent to create the best possible nest for the newborn.  Some concerns on the new parents mind cannot be compartmentalized in the back brain because nature won’t allow it.  As new parents the baby’s health is always paramount.

There exists a fabric and method of bedding that can eliminate a few of the major concerns around keeping a baby safe, not only during the wake hours, but during the all-important sleep hours. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is something on the minds of nearly all parents.  Cases still remain where there is no explanation for the death, but some causes are known.

We have now seen studies that 25% (1) of babies are found with blankets over their faces. Using a sleep sack instead of blankets can almost totally eliminate the chances of a baby’s face getting covered when it wiggles around during sleep.  Blankets over a baby’s face can contribute to both suffocation and overheating.

Over heating is one of the culprits in causing SIDS.  Newborns can take up to a year to develop the ability to regulate their own temperature.  With only a small variation of room temperature fluctuation a baby can either wake up cold of worse over-heat and risk SIDS. To combat overheating the best defense is putting a baby to bed wearing merino.  Merino has the natural ability to regulate a baby’s temperature by capturing and circulating air to insulate your baby when the room temperature falls, and most importantly in relation to SIDS, merino releases excess heat and body moisture when the temperature rises.

The ultimate sleep garment for babies is a combination of both the baby sleep bag design and merino fabric.  The baby sleep bag with merino will eliminate some of the risks associated with SIDS. In many cases this is the piece of mind parents need when putting baby to bed.

The Merino Kids Baby Sleep Bag will provide hours of piece of mind for parents. Merino Kids have designed their baby sleep bags with providing comfort in mind.  With the finest and softest merino interior and soft durable cotton exterior it guaranties a good night sleep for the baby and with its benefits in relation to SIDS it provides parents with a good nights sleep too. Available through: babysleepbags.com for the USA and babysleepbags.co.uk for the rest of the northern hemisphere.

Kim S asked:


My baby absolutely refuses to sleep on his back. He basically did not sleep for his first 2 months of life unless he was being held because he cannot sleep in his crib on his back. I tried placing him on his side but that didn’t work either because he would accidentally roll over onto his back and wake up screaming. The wedges designed for side sleeping also didn’t work either. After 2 months of this we finally gave up and allowed him to sleep on his stomach. I know all about the risk of SIDS but it also seems very unhealthy and cruel to deprive your child of sleep or force him to sleep in a way that is uncomfortable for him. I don’t know what else to do because ever since I allowed him to sleep on his stomach he’s been sleeping wonderfully! Has anyone else dealt with this situation and if so did you allow your child to continue to sleep on his back? Did you worry about SIDS?

Robert Baird


What is this condition?

Also called crib death, sudden infant death syndrome is a medical mystery of early infancy. It kills apparently healthy infants, usually between ages 4 weeks and 7 months, for reasons that remain unexplained, even after an autopsy. Typically, parents put the infant to bed and later find him or her dead, often with no indications of a struggle or distress of any kind. Some infants may have had signs of a cold, but such symptoms are usually absent. Sudden infant death syndrome has occurred throughout history, allover the world, and in all climates.

What causes it?

Sudden infant death syndrome accounts for 7,500 to 8,000 deaths annually in the United States, making it one of the leading causes of infant death. Most of these deaths occur during the winter, in poor families, and among underweight babies and those born to mothers under age 20.

Although infants who die from this disorder often appear healthy, research suggests that many may have had undetected abnormalities, such as an immature respiratory system and respiratory dysfunction. In fact, the current thinking is that it may be caused by an abnormality in the control of breathing, which causes apnea (prolonged non­breathing periods) with profound hypoxemia (decreased oxygen in the blood) and irregular heartbeats. Bottle feeding, instead of breast­feeding, and advanced parental age don’t cause sudden infant death syndrome.

Although parents find some victims wedged in crib corners or with blankets wrapped around their heads, autopsies rule out suffocation as the cause of death. Even when blood-tinged sputum is found around the infant’s mouth or on the crib sheets, autopsy shows an open airway, so choking on vomit is not the cause of death. Typically, these infants don’t cry out and show no signs of having been disturbed in their sleep, although their positions or tangled blankets may suggest movement just before death, perhaps due to terminal spasm.

What are its symptoms?

Depending on how long the infant has been dead, the infant may have a mottled complexion with extreme bluish discoloration of the lips and fingertips, or pooling of blood in the legs and feet that looks like bruises. Pulse and respirations are absent, and the infant’s diaper is wet and full of stools.

How is it diagnosed?

Diagnosis of sudden infant death syndrome requires an autopsy to rule out other causes of death. Characteristic histologic Endings on autopsy include small or normal adrenal glands and petechiae over the visceral surfaces of the pleura, within the thymus (which is enlarged), and in the epicardium. Autopsy also reveals extremely well­preserved lymph structures and certain disease characteristics that suggest chronic hypoxemia, such as increased pulmonary artery smooth muscle. Examination also shows swollen, congestive lungs fully expanded in the pleural cavities, liquid (not clotted) blood in the heart, and curd from the stomach inside the windpipe.

How is it treated?

If the parents bring the infant to the emergency room, the doctor will decide whether to try to resuscitate him or her. In “aborted sudden infant death syndrome,” an infant who is not breathing is successfully resuscitated. Such an infant, or any infant who had a sibling stricken by this disorder, should be tested for infantile apnea. If tests are positive, a home apnea monitor may be recommended.

Because most infants cannot be resuscitated, however, treatment focuses on emotional support for the family.

Patrice Cosier :

Sleep. It refreshes, rejuvenates and restores. Though our bodies are, for the most part, quiet during sleep, there is actually a bustle of activity going on inside us. Getting baby to sleep and having your baby on a regular sleep schedule is so important, that it is worth exploring and discussing.

Not only is a proper and regular sleep schedule vitally important for your baby’s health, it also improves mood, function and physical development. Here are five major benefits that regular and sound sleep offer your child:

1. It helps your baby grow strong and develop quick reactions and coordination: studies show that babies who get regular sleep have improved reaction time, better reflexes and even better use of oxygen.

2. It helps keep baby’s mood even and happy: obviously, babies get cranky and cry longer and more often when they are tired, and if they are sleep deprived, or on an irregular schedule, they can be very challenging to deal with.

3. It helps with memory function and development: Dr. Nilesh Dave, medical director of the Sleep Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center says “During sleep, your brain will process a lot and turn it into long-term memory,” he says. “Memory is a function of what we think sleep does.”

4. It keeps baby from falling asleep at times that are not part of the planned schedule: I’m sure every parent has experienced times when their baby fell asleep in the car, or while out somewhere, only to have the baby wake up irritable and still tired. If a baby is well rested, and if the parents plan their activities to accommodate baby’s established sleep schedule, then more often than not, the baby will stay awake in the car, etc, because it’s during the established non – sleep time.

5. It keeps baby’s hormones balanced: Our bodies use sleep to release certain hormones, Dr. Davé says, including those essential for growth and development.

So, if sleep is so important, how do you ensure that your baby gets enough sleep? Getting baby to sleep does not have to be difficult. Here are some basics that might help:

1. Establish a bedtime routine: This helps your baby settle down, (and helps adults wind down after a long day as well). Allocate about thirty minutes before baby’s bedtime to soothe and relax your child. Read, sing or play lullabies, or just sit quietly in a rocking chair, holding your baby.

2. Only put your baby down when it’s time for sleep: Using the baby’s bed for anything other than sleep gives the child confusing messages about what the bed/ or bedtime really means. If it is clear to the baby that the bed is for sleeping, the chances of the baby settling down are better.

3. Make the baby’s bedroom dark, comfortable and quiet: limit distractions.

4. Don’t play actively with your baby before bedtime: this can over stimulate the baby and make it more difficult to calm down in time for the scheduled bedtime.

5. Stick with the schedule: babies very easily can get off schedule, and it can play havoc with their mood and with their health.

6. Calm and soothe yourself and your baby: take some deep breaths. Your baby will pick up on your own relaxed state and this will help you both get quiet and peaceful.

7. Know when to seek help: talk to your baby’s pediatrician for more ideas for establishing a regular sleep schedule for your baby.

I might add that getting baby to sleep and on a regular sleep schedule is important for the baby’s parents as well, for all of the above reasons. Everyone benefits from a regular sleep schedule!