Sleep

Loving Babies Without Wearing Them

If bloggers got year-end bonuses, this would be mine. In this note, a new mother shares her discovery of infant expert Magda Gerber’s child care approach and the profound effects it has had on her family… Dear Janet, I stumbled on your blog through the guest post on “tummy time” when my daughter, now six months, was about two months old.  I was totally captivated by the video of Baby Liv and then spent...

Helping Babies Sleep (With Empathy And Compassion) Guest Post by Eileen Henry

Hi Janet, My baby boy is 6 months old, and we do all we can to make sure he is happy and healthy. We realize how important good, uninterrupted, restorative sleep is – both night sleep and daytime naps – and I wonder how you might respond to the philosophy of Dr. Marc Weissbluth (“Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child”), who advocates letting a baby over 4 months cry up to one hour for naps and an unlimited time...

The Truth About Infant Self-Soothing

Infant self-soothing is often misrepresented by descriptive terms like tough love, crying it out, leaving babies to “deal with it” on their own, and even neglect. Apparently there are people who misunderstand the concept, or use it as an excuse to ignore a child. Perhaps it’s in reaction to those people, real or imagined, that others have wholly rejected the idea, shutting the door on the possibility that...

How To Help Your Baby To Sleep (Without Rocking)

Hi Janet, I am an ardent follower of your blog and always look forward to your posts!  My name is Mandy and I am a stay-at-home-mom to an 11 month old son who is extremely intelligent and aware.  He is able to play by himself for long periods of time and is generally a very happy little man.  Unfortunately, we have had some major sleep issues since he was 3 or 4 months old.  He typically needs 3 – 4...

Parenting Without The Labels

Here’s an understatement: first-time parenting can be daunting. The overwhelming responsibility many of us feel to “get it right” motivates us to seek child care information and advice.  The good news there is that we’ve already proven we have the basic requirement for good parenting – we care enough to ask questions. Then we discover the work of child care experts or methodologies like Attachment...

Weaning A Toddler

Hi Janet, I am really enjoying your site. The RIE philosophy fits so well with the way my husband and I are trying to parent, and I am learning so much. One issue that we are facing now, however, is weaning from the breast, and I couldn’t find much on your site that gave any strategies of the best way to approach this with a toddler. My son is 19 months and still nursing frequently. For many months, the...

A Toddler’s Night Waking – A Mother’s Anger, Guilt, Confusion (Response by Eileen Henry)

I am growing so angry and tired from lack of sleep. I didn’t mind getting up during the night when my son was a newborn, but he’s almost 14 MONTHS, and we’re still up 2-4 times a night. Usually it’s 2-3. I have to rock him to sleep for naptime. It doesn’t sound so bad if all you know are other attachment parents, but most of my friends and family follow the Babywise cult and remark how...

Breastfeeding For Comfort (The All-Night Diner)

A discussion I had with Annie from “PHD In Parenting” a while back (Attachment Parenting Debate – For Crying Out Loud!) sparked some interesting commentary. A couple of days ago I received this new comment and question… I am beyond excited to have found your blog Janet, and this debate has been so revealing for me. My daughter is almost 1 year old and I have been practicing Attachment Parenting because it...