Photo courtesy of The Benjamin Hotel
It’s National Sleep Awareness Week (goodnight to that!) and in
the lead-up to Daylight Savings Time this Sunday, we’ve gathered some great
resources on how parents and kids can catch some restful shuteye. —
LOCAL EXPERTS
Founded by two local moms, Dream Team Baby consists of a board of sleep professionals who
offer home visits for metro-area families, small group workshops, consultations
and webinars. dreamteambaby.com
In its eighth year, Mommywise
is helping parents throughout the city with its New Family Coaching which
focuses on sleep and other new parent concerns. Most of the coaching can be
done on the phone while unlimited email support is available between sessions. mommywise.com
Janet Kennedy, the NYC Sleep Doctor,
is an expert at treating sleep disorders in children and adults. A working
mother of two, Kennedy helps families to break bad sleep cycles and achieve
long-term successful slumber. nycsleepdoctor.com
Offering a wide variety of research-based guidance, SeedlingsGroup is a whole team of hospital-affiliated experts that
will guide parents to helping newborns develop healthy sleep patterns. seedlingsgroup.com
Smooth Parenting—a
sleep consulting and parent coaching service in the city that helps babies
sleep through the night—is lead by Diana Blanco who helps parents teach their little ones how to sleep. Not
only will moms and dads get more rest, they will become more confident parents.
smoothparenting.com
For more than 20 years, Soho
Parenting has placed the utmost importance on children’s sleep while
offering customized sleep plans for families. In addition to sleep help services
and their blog, the organization’s directors have written a book (see below). sohoparenting.com
Through
individual consultations, discussion groups and workshops, Swellbeing proposes “smart solutions and sympathetic support for
modern parents.” From pre-delivery through your child’s fourth year, Swellbeing
offers advice every step of the way. Plus, they offer gift certificates! swellbeing.com
RESTFUL READS
The famous Ferber method needs no introduction. For
sleep-minded parents, Dr. Richard Ferber’s
groundbreaking and widely published Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems will offer authoritative
tips on nighttime wakings, napping, co-sleeping and other bedtime issues.
Dr.
Harvey Karp has helped millions of parents navigate the demanding and
often difficult aspects of the baby years. With his Happiest Baby series of books and DVDs, the wise doctor teaches
parents how to successfully swaddle, shush and swing their babies into relaxed
bliss. happiestbaby.com
Distinguished pediatrician and father of four, Dr. Marc Weissbluth captures his unique
approach to toddler sleep in Healthy
Sleep Habits, Happy Child. His invaluable book covers topics ranging from
the importance of a nap schedule to the differences between daytime and
nighttime sleep.
Dream Team Baby (see above) has a new, The Dream
Sleeper: A Three-Part Plan For Getting Your Baby To Love Sleep,
available next week!
Plus, the Soho Parenting (also above) directors have written A Mother’s Circle: An Intimate Dialogue on Becoming a Mother with
an extended chapter including a sleep chart.
Intended for those looking for a
gentler way to teach their children good sleep habits, Elizabeth Pantley‘s The No-Cry Sleep Solution is a popular
choice among parents. Pantley offers great tips for how to utilize strategies that will change your baby’s habits associated with sleep and nighttime.
HELPFUL HINTS, IDEAS & ARTICLES
Woolly Boo—the
maker of chemical-free,
organic wool infant bedding—has recently partnered with The Benjamin
Hotel
in Midtown to bring restful sleep to children. The Benjamin will be
offering Woolly Boo’s toddler pillow
as part of their children’s sleep program (ages 2-12), adorably called
Winks’ Kidzzz Club. Alongside the hypo-allergenic pillow, the hotel will
be lending little ones bedtime books and pint-sized bathrobes. woollyboo.com and thebenjamin.com
Armed with research-based methods, NYC’s Dream Team is
helping little ones—and their weary parents—get a good night’s rest. Read how they helped one local family get into a nightly routine that meant more sleep for everyone in Sleep On It.
When new parents struggle to help their baby sleep, a
qualified professional can make all the difference. Read how one mother took matters into her hands and got the answers she was looking for in Sleepless In The City.
Finally, in spite of our knee-jerk reactions to associate how our babies sleep with how good of a job we are doing as parents, we all must accept that some things are largely out of our control. In one of our favorite Motherlode posts, Amy Julia Becker hits the nail on the head in describing how utterly differently her three children approached sleep and how a mother’s love has nothing to do with any of it.
