Many parents wonder if they should introduce a pacifier to their baby. Will it become a bad habit? Is it safe? Will it mess up my baby’s teeth? Does it ultimately help or hinder sleep? How will I remove it? These are questions I get all the time. There are many benefits to pacifier use: reduced risk of SIDS, it satisfies the non-nutritive sucking need (the sucking reflex that is not associated with hunger), ease of soothing and comfort in times of…
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Ellie Lindenmayer is the founder of Joyful Birthing & Beyond. She is a childbirth educator, HypnoBirthing Practitioner, birth doula, lactation counselor and sleep consultant. She is a mother of three and passionate about all things birth & baby!While some newborns take easily to the bottle, it may take a bit of effort to get others to accept the bottle. Ideally you wait until baby is at least 4 weeks old before introducing the bottle as this helps to ensure that your milk supply is well-established and that baby can transition easily between the bottle and the breast. Topics this article will cover: Tips for getting a breastfed baby to take a bottle How the manage bottle refusal Recommended bottles…
Read MoreMany parents find themselves in an unsustainable sleep situation due to lack of sleep from nighttime parenting. Unfortunately, there is no cry-free solution that yields effective, quick results (if there was, someone would be very, very wealthy!). No parent likes to hear their baby cry. It feels counter-intuitive to willingly allow your baby to cry and many parents worry that the crying involved in many sleep training methods will harm their baby. With buzzing social media feeds, endless google searches, and conflicting…
Read MoreThe golden rule of writing an effective birth plan is to to include only non-routine preferences or those that are of great importance to you. This is your opportunity to get educated on your options, determine the path to a positive birth experience, and to communicate your wishes with your medical care team. Topics this article will cover: What to include in your birth plan Understanding your options for birth How to best communicate your preferences How to ensure your birth plan is…
Read MoreSleep can be tough to come by during the first 3 months of a baby’s life. These tips will help to establish a healthy foundation to optimize your baby’s sleep (and yours!) during this sensitive time. Topics in this article: How to maximize your newborn’s sleep How to establish the optimal conditions for newborn sleep How to set a healthy foundation of good sleep for the future I get asked all the time about what you can do to get better nights…
Read MoreYour brand-new baby needs a lot of sleep but does not know the difference between daytime and nighttime and will likely need help falling (and staying!) asleep. Below are three tips to help optimize your 1-month-old’s sleep! Topics this article will cover: What is normal for newborn sleep/what to expect How to make sure your newborn is sleeping their best Tips to establish a healthy foundation for your newborn’s sleep A newborn’s sleep cycle interacts with their need to be fed (babies…
Read MoreAs a birth and baby worker, I often get asked about the best baby items to have on hand. Prior to having my third baby (as I write this she is 4 weeks old), I would often come up blank as my older children are 7 and 9 years old and so much has changed in the baby industry since then. Now that I am a mother to a newborn once again, I can pass along my recommendations for my top 15…
Read MoreWhen does teething impact sleep? While teething can occasionally disrupt sleep… it’s far less the cause of sleep a disturbance than most people think. For babies who follow an age-appropriate schedule, meet their daily sleep needs, and are able to put themselves to sleep, teething will likely go unnoticed or may cause a minor sleep disruption. We tend to see teething have a more dramatic impact for those children who are overtired and/or don’t know how to put themselves to sleep. Most…
Read MoreAs we approach “Spring Forward” for Daylight Savings Time (DST), many parents worry about the change of schedule impacting their little one’s sleep. The fear of the loss of progress we have made in getting our kids to sleep feels threatened- you are not in alone in feeling like this but FEAR NOT! Most children will adjust naturally based on the changes to daylight and darkness (our bodies are quite adept at adjusting to time changes!). Here are a few strategies for…
Read MoreThere is a magic in the dark silent hours of the night Somehow it is an honor to be one of the few awake The rest of the world slumbers as we witness the minutes become hours, the moon tracing across the sky Hands pulsate with vibrations of love Release. Relax. Open. Find the softness. Trust. Few words are spoken but they all brim with love We work to create the space for life to move in The key that only she…
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