The No-cry Sleep Solution (63 page)

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• Avoid putting baby in a sitting position that could result in her becoming slumped over (such as in an infant seat) directly after eating.

• Elevate the head of your baby’s bed by using a higher setting on the crib mattress, by placing something stable under the legs of the bed or crib, or by placing a block of wood or books under the mattress.

• For a bottle-fed baby, switch to a different brand of formula, or try a thicker variety. Experiment with different bottle types and nipple styles to reduce excess air.

• For a breastfed baby, give frequent, smaller feedings. If your baby is ready for solid food, add a small serving of rice cereal after nursing.

• Avoid putting the baby in clothing that is tight around the belly.

• Avoid letting your baby cry for any length of time, as crying can make reflux worse. Carry your baby as much as possible to decrease crying.

• Avoid any exposure to secondhand smoke.

If reflux is severe, talk to your doctor about medical remedies, such as using a children’s antacid.

Allergies and Asthma

If a baby has a condition that affects his breathing, it usually affects his sleeping too. Parents may be struggling with a baby who wakes frequently at night and they might not be aware that the cause is allergies or asthma.

Symptoms of Allergies and Asthma

Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between a common cold and a more serious condition. Here are the signs of allergies and asthma to look for:

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• Runny nose

• Coughing, especially at night

• Sniffling

• Sneezing

• Stuffy nose, especially upon waking

• Itchy eyes, ears, or nose

• Watery eyes

• Sore throat

• Difficulty breathing

• Skin rash

• Diarrhea

• Cold symptoms that last more than two weeks

• Persistent, chronic ear infections

• An increase in these symptoms after contact with animals or being outside near plants and flowers

Only a doctor can tell if your child truly has allergies or asthma, because many of the symptoms resemble those we normally attrib-ute to a cold, respiratory congestion, or other normal childhood conditions, like teething. If you suspect that your child may have either condition, it’s important to talk to your doctor about your concerns.

Nightmares, Night Terrors, and Sleepwalking or Talking
Older babies may have their sleep interrupted by a variety of common sleep disturbances. Your baby may occasionally wake up crying or talking in her sleep, or she may move around, sit up, or even crawl or walk in her sleep. The majority of these incidents are infrequent and short-lived.

The best option for parents in these situations is to calm your baby as best you can and help her to go back to sleep. If any sleep disturbance persists, talk to your doctor about your concerns.

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Snoring and Sleep Apnea

If your baby is a very restless, noisy sleeper; breathes through his mouth; and snores or snorts loudly, he may be suffering from sleep apnea.
Apnea
means “absence of breath.” The most disturbing symptom of this sleep disorder is that the sleeper actually stops breathing for up to thirty seconds, occasionally longer. This is very frightening for a parent to witness and should be taken very seriously, but in general, it is not life threatening and can be treated.

Up to 10 percent of children have significant sleep apnea. The main causes include a narrow throat or airway, enlarged tonsils or lymph nodes, obesity, and facial abnormalities. Additional symptoms that may appear in older children are daytime sleepiness, nightmares, bed-wetting, sleep terrors, sleepwalking, sweating pro-fusely while asleep, and morning headaches.

Not every child who snores has sleep apnea. However, if snoring is loud or is combined with the other symptoms, apnea could be the problem. Conversely, not all children with narrow airways, enlarged tonsils, or excess weight have sleep apnea.

Untreated
apnea can cause heart problems and high blood pressure, in addition to significant sleep deprivation. Studies have been unable to link sleep apnea to the incidence of SIDS.

What Is the Cure?

The most common remedy for childhood sleep apnea is removal or reduction of the tonsils or adenoids. Other typical treatments are enlarging the air passage, holding the passage open during sleep, or (when the condition is caused by obesity) weight loss.

Checking Baby for Sleep Apnea

All parents should check their sleeping babies from time to time.

In a quiet room, your baby’s breathing should be barely audible; it should be through his nose and appear effortless and regular. (This does not hold true if your baby has a cold or stuffy nose, although

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it’s important to know that children with sleep apnea often have exaggerated symptoms when they have colds.)

If your baby’s breathing during sleep is through his mouth, loud, accompanied by snoring or wheezing, or if he appears to be struggling to breathe, talk to your pediatrician; an ear, nose, and throat specialist; or a sleep disorders clinic about the possibility of sleep apnea. If your baby is a newborn, these signs can be extremely serious and should be reported immediately.

Moving Forward with Your Sleep Plan

Now that you’ve analyzed your baby’s current sleep situation and uncovered any possible problems, it’s the time to tweak your plan.

Reread the ideas section, polish up your plan, and follow it for ten more days. At that time, you’ll do another log, and, if you do your work, I know that you’ll be sleeping like a baby—
your
baby, the one who sleeps all night long.

9

Follow Your Plan for

Ten More Days

At this point in your sleep plan, it’s important that you’ve followed the steps in Chapters 7 and 8. Those sections will help you figure out how to best use your plan for the next ten days. You may have discovered that you need to change a few of the parts of your plan. You may have realized that your baby’s sleep habits are different from what you first suspected, and you need to add or even remove a few of your original ideas. Or, you may have determined that your plan is the right one, and you just need to recommit to another ten days.

Now that you’ve had some time to live with these new ideas you’ll begin to understand more of what you’ve read and how to apply the concepts. You might have had a few “aha!” moments, when something your baby does clicks with something you’ve read, and you suddenly have a deeper understanding of the rationale behind the solutions.

Every Baby Is Different; Every Family

Is Different

I’m always a bit suspicious of those charts about baby development and milestones that tell you exactly what to expect at every week of age. Babies are as different from one another as we adults 205

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Jim and Lauren, nine months old

are different from each other, and to assume that all babies do the exact same things at the exact same time is simply not reasonable. As the mother of four children, I
know
that babies develop on extremely different time lines. My children demonstrated the uniqueness of their own development as they all passed the major milestones at very different times. Vanessa was only eighteen months old when she used her first sentence,

“Cookie Mommy please,” while Angela waited to begin talking in full sentences until she was nearly two and a half. David walked at ten months, and ran soon after that, while Coleton was content to crawl and be carried until he was sixteen months old.

As you already know, Angela didn’t sleep through the night until she was two, while Vanessa managed that feat all on her own at six weeks of age. What’s most interesting about these comparisons is that now, at ages two, ten, twelve, and fourteen all of my children talk and walk perfectly, and they all sleep through the night. My point here is that babies are unique. There are things