😴 Sleeping
Safe Sleep recommendations from the AAP
Infant sleepy & tired cues
“Newborn sleepy cues: Everything you need to know” - explains the difference between sleepy vs. tired/overtired.
Nap schedules
Sleep equipment
Co-sleeping, bed sharing and room sharing
“Bed sharing” (in English & Spanish)
Safe Infant Sleep: Expert Answers to Your Cosleeping Questions by James McKenna, PhD
Strategies for parents to share / cope with caregiving responsibilities at night
Taking “shifts” (e.g., parent #1 covers 9pm until 1am, parent #2 covers 1am until 5am)
It can be helpful for each parent to get at least a 4-hour stretch of sleep each night (a period that covers a couple sleep cycles)
Sleeping in separate areas can protect the sleep quality of the “off-shift” parent
Using red light lamps and avoiding blue lights (i.e. phone screens, laptops, tv) (more info here)
Using blackout curtains, sleep masks, and/or ear plugs to promote sleep quality
Sleep training / coaching
Books
The Happy Sleeper: The Science-Backed Guide to Helping Your Baby Get a Good Night's Sleep-Newborn to School Age — provides gentle sleep training approaches, including the “soothing ladder” and “sleep wave” methods.
The Helping Babies Sleep Method: The Art and Science of Teaching Your Baby to Sleep — provides a helpful overview of the range of sleep training approaches, their strengths & drawbacks, and offers a gentle approach to helping your baby sleep.
Dr. Sarah Mitchell, the author of this book, lives in the Bay Area and provides online classes and sleep training coaching to parents and caregivers
