Are Short Naps Bad For Babies?

baby dressed in santa costume grumpy

As a parent of a newborn, you’re definitely grateful for any amount of time that your baby is sleeping, however, when your child is sleeping restlessly or sleeping for only 30 to 45 minutes at a time between wake windows, then there may be another issue at hand. Short naps are very common during the … Read more

First Foods. When And How To Start Feeding Your Infant Solid Foods

baby surrounded by vegetables and other great first foods

There’s a lot of different opinions out there concerning the best times to introduce your baby to solid (non-breastmilk) foods. We’d like to take some time today to give our thoughts and recommend some tips and best practices to help you best onboard your little one to the world of solid foods. There’s a lot … Read more

Infant Pacifier Usage, Philosophy, & Best Practices

baby lying down with binkie

The pacifier. No, we’re not talking about the critically panned 2005 Vin Diesel film, we’re talking about something much more controversial, divisive, and important: actual pacifiers for babies. They say that if you want to get into an argument with friends or family these days then all you have to do is bring up religion … Read more

Top 3 Ways An In-Home Newborn Care Specialist Can Help Your Family

baby sleeping in dark night

There are many ways in which an in-home newborn care specialist can help your family. As the parent of a newborn, there are so many things that need your urgent attention at just about every hour of the day. It’s difficult to get sleep and other pressures like work and finances can just pile on … Read more

How to Help Baby With Colic

Baby with Colic

Colic is one of those newborn baby topics that nearly every new parent on the planet has heard of. Either themselves or their friends or family members have experienced it with their babies. Your pediatrician may have told you “hang in there. Your baby will grow out of it in 3-4 months”. As a new … Read more

Fun, Quick, Easy, And Low Cost Arts And Crafts For Young Children

baby's hand painting on paper

Arts and crafts. They are so much more than a way to entertain and have fun with your little ones. They help your child develop critical thinking and creative expression skills at a much faster rate and can even help them academically and intellectually. There really is only one downside to doing arts and crafts … Read more

Spring Forward And Your Child’s Sleep. What You Can Do To Help.

baby sleeping next to clock

Spring Forward. If you’re a rabbit and you hear those words, then you are probably just going to think, “yeah, i do that all the time.” However, if you’re a person and you hear those words, you’ll probably think “oh no, not THAT again!” Unfortunately for just about everyone reading these words, we are negatively … Read more

What Is A Postpartum Doula?

Katie Bishop Pediatric Sleep Consultant

With pregnancy comes many challenges and with birth and caring for a newborn come many more. Some people opt to hire a birth doula to help guide them through the time just before and during childbirth. The doula will help you with many of the questions you may have before the birth and will be … Read more

Co-Sleeping: Transitioning A Toddler To Their Own Bed

toddler sleep in bed

So you want your bed back? It’s perfectly normal. Your bed was once a place where you could get a full night’s rest without fear of being kicked in the face by a toddler or having your pillow and blanket stolen by the same. Co-sleeping is a joy, don’t get the wrong idea, but there … Read more

New Year’s Sleep Resolution Guide For New Parents

three babies with party hats on

Sleep. One of the most valuable resources the world over, yet so scarce for new parents and parents of young children. If there was only a magic button we could press that would make us feel rested! Until that day comes, we are on our own to get the rest we need as parents and … Read more

Christmas Tree Decorating, Toddler Edition

toddler decorating christmas tree

The holidays are such a fun time of year, especially if you have a toddler or two at home. In most homes, decorating the Christmas tree is a much looked forward to annual event and may involve multiple Christmas festivities including music, a big dinner, and lots of eggnog!   Although fun and family inclusive, … Read more

Is your Child Overtired? How to Know if Your Child is Overtired & Preventing Overtiredness in Your Child

crying baby near toys

This time of year it’s easy to miss a few hours of sleep here and there, especially when wrangling the holidays, the in-laws, and especially the little ones. When mom or dad miss a few good nights of sleep, we can be a little cranky or drowsy, but coffee can help with that, yet when … Read more

Why An Earache Can Derail Your Child’s Sleep

Mom holding baby while Doctor inspects ear

Ear infections are no fun for both parent and child. They are unfortunately rather common as nearly five out of every six children will have one before the age of three in the U.S. according to the NIH. An earache can have many causes, which include cold and flu viruses, and bacterial infections among others. … Read more

Tips For Surviving Thanksgiving With A Newborn

baby asleep in tub holiday decorations around

Even at the best of times, Thanksgiving is an overwhelming and stressful time. These days, it can be even more so, especially with a newborn infant in tow. Luckily, we have come up with a few time honored expert tips and strategies that you can use to help you and your partner navigate this holiday … Read more

All About Tummy Time For You And Your Newborn

Baby In Tummy Time Crawling

Tummy time is an important activity for you and your baby and can lead to many health benefits like developing early motor skills, muscle strength and endurance, and so much more. It is a great time to both bond with your little one and to help them experience something slightly different albeit challenging in their … Read more

The Benefits Of Hiring Household Employees

household employee holding infant

A household employee like a nanny, gardener, or newborn care specialist can make life so much easier in today’s busy world. They can make a huge impact on the quality of our lives and the lives of our children by allowing us to provide the close hands on care for them while being able to … Read more

Daylight savings, “Falling Back” & Your Baby / Child

Toddler and daylight savings

It’s that time of year where we start getting calls and emails from clients in a bit of a worry or slight panic. “How do we adjust for the time change?” “Is this going to be as awful as we think it will be?” “What is the best way for us to prepare Daylight Savings!?” … Read more

Swaddling In The Early Days & Weeks

A few days ago, I received a call from a new dad. It was late at night and he and his wife were struggling with their 5 day old baby. Neither of them were getting more than 20-30 minutes of sleep at a time and neither was their newborn baby. “We don’t know if he’s … Read more

The Truth About Reflux

  Reflux in infancy is all too common these days. Roughly 50% of the babies we have the pleasure of working with, have some degree of reflux ranging from mild to severe.   What Causes Reflux? There are a number of reasons that contribute to a baby having reflux. Common triggers can be: Food sensitivities … Read more

Forcing Naps Or Assisting Baby To Sleep

Sleeping baby in carrier

Today, I wanted to post briefly about the importance of daytime sleep and why it’s helpful to help facilitate, by “forcing a nap” when needed. Daytime sleep for babies (and toddlers) is incredibly important. Without proper sleep many things happen: Short naps of 30-45 minutes Lack of REM sleep Baby doesn’t feed well because they … Read more

Happy Holidays!

Cute christmas baby boy

    2020 has been a year for the books! It will be forever remembered as a year of struggle, loss, chaos and uncertainty. Relentless is a great word for you, 2020! However, it’s also been a great year! In the midst of the pandemic, it seems most of us have embraced all the changes … Read more

Earaches and Your Child’s Sleep

young baby with an ear infection

Recently a few sleep consulting client’s have experienced earaches and the resulting sleep disturbances with their little one’s. Being that 5 out of 6 children will have an earache before their third birthday and it’s currently peak cold and flu season, it seemed appropriate to do a post about this very topic. The peak window … Read more

Best Gifts for New Parents 

christmas baby as gift with santa hat

The holidays are upon us and most would agree; this year has been quite the rollercoaster ride! We thought we would help take some of the stress and pressure off of your shoulders and put together this gift guide for all of those new parents on your shopping list. After all, gift giving should be … Read more

Top 4 Tips for New Grandparents

Grandparents with newborn

    If You’re reading this, you’re likely an Expecting New Grandparent and congratulations are in order! Congratulations on your new little grandbaby!  The beauty of being a grandparent is that you can be as involved as much or as little as you want in your grand child’s life. If your relationship is solid with … Read more

14 Signs Baby Has A Tongue Tie

Baby tongue tie

I am so happy to have the opportunity to do this guest post from Melanie Henstrom IBCLC, BS. I have known Melanie for several years now and have learned a tremendous amount from her about tongue and lip ties. I see tongue and lip ties in a VERY HIGH percentage of my sleep and consulting … Read more

3 Daytime Tips to Help Your Baby Sleep Better

Tired and frustrated dad baby won't sleep

If you’re reading this, you’re probably a new parent and learning really fast how challenging it can be to get your little one to sleep. The good news is that while there is a lot that goes into how well your baby sleeps and for how long, there is a lot YOU can do to … Read more

WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK!

newborn baby preparing for sleep

In honor of world breastfeeding week I wanted to do a quick post for all you mamas out there currently expecting or already breastfeeding your tiny humans. The journey for every diad or triad (#twins) to breastfeed is different. Some struggle tremendously and others take to it right away. Wherever you’re at, here are a few … Read more

Pets & Your Baby’s Sleep

two kittens in baby bassinet catnapping

Last week I was doing an in-home meeting with my clients expecting their first baby mid-August. As we walked into the parents bedroom, mom was showing me the Nuna bassinet for the baby.  While approaching the bassinet, I saw their sweet fur child (kitty), snuggled up in a ball, soaking up the sun, cozy as … Read more

Is White Noise Safe?

newborn baby sleeping on back without swaddle

The topic of whether or not white noise is safe has come up regularly. Most often it is new parents inquiring, as they have read, or heard from a friend or family member that it’s important to use for babies. In today’s post, I will answer the question of whether or not it is safe … Read more

Top 3 Reasons to Swaddle Your Baby

5 newborn babies sleeping in swaddle me swaddles

Swaddling is like a universal truth here in the United States. If you’re a new or expectant parent, chances are you have read or been told by a trusted friend or family member that you need to swaddle your new bundle of joy. If you’ve attended a new parent or birth education class, it’s surely … Read more

Is Belly Sleeping Safe?

newborn baby bell sleeping

My most recent sleep training client was at the perfect age for a lot of things. At 5 months old and over the course of two weeks, we worked through a lot! Teething, the introduction of solids, a mysterious cheek rash, consolidated and longer naps, sleeping through the night, a leap, and you guessed it, … Read more

Long Distance Postpartum Support

new parents holding newborn baby

For local friends and family, supporting new parents after the birth of a baby is a little easier. You may offer to drop off dinner, take an older sibling out for a play date or pick up a few items at the grocery store. But friends and family out of state don’t have this luxury. … Read more

Plea from your Newborn Care Specialist

new parents holding naked newborn

Recently, I had the privilege of working with a struggling new mom. Immediately upon my arrival, I noticed the dark circles under her eyes and that of her accompanying 3.5 month old. She had reached out to me about 8 weeks prior at the recommendation of a mutual friend. We chatted then, but she held … Read more