Sleep is for the weak, or is it?

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Today's post is from Natalie Wiles, mom of two and sleep guru. If you don't think sleep is important, a few minutes on the phone with her is sure to change your mind--and help you get more sleep! I highly value

Understanding Sleep

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Understanding Sleep
Yuck! What a boring topic. I bet you're not exactly dying to read about this. But trust me, it's important and worth knowing about. When you understand sleep basics, it helps you understand how to prevent and solve sleep problems.

Biological Rhythms and Sleep
Nightly Sleep Phase
Partial Awakenings
Sleep Inertia
Sleep is for the weak, or is it?
Sleep Transitions
Understanding Sleep Stages
Why Sleep is Way Important - Effects of Inadequate Sleep
Why sleep is Way Important - Benefits of Adequate Sleep


Related Indexes:
Naps
Night Sleep
Sleep Safety
Sleep - General Information and problem solving
Sleep Environment

Nightly Sleep Phase

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A child's sleep phase begins when he easily falls asleep at night and ends when he naturally wakes up in the morning.

If a child is on a good routine this phase is pretty easy to determine. Start with determining what time your child goes to bed. Make sure when determining this that you do not include any

Sleep Transitions

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Children normally have partial awakenings between sleep cycles. It is during this transition from one stage of sleep to the next where some of the main sleep problems occur because a child is not able to put himself back to sleep on his own. Why? This is often because a child has learned to associate something with falling to

Partial Awakenings

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During partial awakenings children may move around, sit up, cry, speak etc. These awakenings aren't usually remembered and last from a few seconds to a few minutes as long as an important stimulus doesn't wake him up (including mom and dad running into

Transitional Objects and Loveys

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My daughter, Stella, sucking her thumb while holding onto her lovey

Transitional objects are a great sleep association to use because they are a condition that doesn't change while baby is sleeping and has partial awakenings. It acts as an object that gives your child comfort and a sense of control when you are not able to be with them. Research has shown it to be a totally healthy practice. Geroge Askey, MD (a pediatrician at Zero to Three, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the healthy development of infants and toddlers) states that use of a transitional object is often a sign of a

Biological Rhythms and Sleep

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We all have a biological clock that keeps us on a 24 hour sleep/wake cycle (well, technically about 11 minutes longer than this but exposure to light each morning helps keep us on a 24 hour routine). This is called our circadian rhythm and affects all of our physiological systems like hunger, body temperature and hormone levels. If we try to sleep at a time that is not in sync with our circadian rhythm we will have more difficulty

Understanding Sleep Stages

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You probably remember learning in school about the two sleep states, non-REM sleep and REM (rapid eye movement).

Non-REM or deep sleep is the most restoring of the two and we have a regular heart rate and breathing and sleep quietly. In newborns, this is called "quiet sleep", although babies still have occasional body jerks (which may cause brief wakings, especially before 6 months of age) and make sucking motions. Around 2-3 months non-REM develops into

Sleep Inertia

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You know that groggy and general crappy feeling you have sometimes when you wake up? Well that is sleep inertia and it occurs with babies too. It is worse when a baby (or adult) is overtired or has just taken a long nap, and occurs most often with naps. In fact, sometimes your child may awaken from a nap, which might be extra long, and scream as if

Why Sleep is Way Important- Effects of Inadequate Sleep

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A baby who doesn’t get enough sleep will be either tired or hyperalert--and let's face it, more work for mom to take care of.  Overtired children are fatigued and they fight the fatigue by producing stimulating chemicals (resulting in a "second wind") and going into a hypervigilant state. This is why extreme fatigue often appears as

Why Sleep is Way Important- Benefits of Adequate Sleep

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Let me first start off by saying that sleep is important for a healthy physical body, brain, immune system, behavior--the list goes on. It is that important. Just like feeding a child junk food all day long will be bad for his body, unhealthy sleep will be bad for his body. You need healthy sleep to function at your best, especially when you are young and