Sleep for baby and family

by Norma Tracey, Beulah Warren
& Lorraine Rose

Paperback, 52 pages.

Introduction

Sleep is worked out between babies and parents. Baby's sleeping
cannot be separated from family relationships. these relationships
will be our focus in each section of the book. Being a parent
requires, thought and attention; and space and time free from
other concerns.

You need real support to spend time developing a relationship
with your new baby and coming to grips with the changes this
creates in your other relationships. Parenting in our society
in undervalued, and the support you need may often be absent
in your community.

This book is in three parts.

Lorraine rose is the author of the first section of
this book. Her area of experitse is the relational environment
in which the mother, father and baby interact and affect each
other's emotions and thoughts. With this in mind, she brings
to life the sensitive, intimate bonding of those first precious
days and weeks as mother, father and baby get to know each
other and the parents discover the meaning of sleep for themselves
and for their baby.

Beulah Warren has speng many years working in the
practical area of developmental interaction between mother
and father and baby. In the second section she brings a refreshing
practical understanding of the biological basis of sleep for
baby. She sees sleep as a process in which you as mother or
father follow baby's cues in establishing a rhythm of sleeping
and waking cycles. Beulah's vivid material demonstrates that
as baby develops, his or her sleep patterns and needs change
over the first twelve months, and how mother and father adjust
to this.

Norma Tracey in the third section discusses what things
can disturb sleeping for mother and for baby. Mothers and
fathers know only too well that when they are desperately
overtired small things become exaggerated; fragmented sleep
is torture. Parents may feel out of control and lose confidence.
The overtired, exhausted parent would like to open a book
and find answers. Sometimes they feel they cannot think at
all and if they could, they no longer trust their own thinking.
Other people's ideas, for example, their mother's, neighbour's,
or the lady in the corner shop's, do not seem to work. In
desperation, anxious parents will try anything, but will anything
do? Not if it doesn't give parents a confidence in their role
to find a solution that fits for them. Our challenge in this
booklet is to help that happen.

In each section, there is information and discussion about
sleep behaviour, with key points highlighted and reports from
mothers and nurses of their experiences.

Contents

Introduction
1 - Relationships and sleep
Preparing
Where will the baby sleep?
A baby's inner world
Feeling for your baby
Being outside the womb
Together but separate
Giving and receiving cues
Developmental challenge: the first three months

2 - What you can expect
Newborns
The first few weeks
Differences between babies
Getting support
Getting older - three to four months
Developmental challenge: four to
six months
Developing a sleep routine
Sleep after six months
Developmental challenge: six to
twelve months
Tackling sleep problems

3 - How the present and the past affect sleep
Normal adult sleep
Sleep deprivation
Father
Influences: past and present
Not knowing
Having time and space to be with your baby
Going to work or staying home
Your own expectations
High needs infant
Physical discomfort
Developmental stages
Serious concerns in your baby's health
Lingering fears and traumas from childhood
Loss or trauma to parents
Mothers' stories
Relationship issues
Previous miscarriage or death of an infant
Separation fears
Depression
What can good professional help do for you?
What can I do?
Some final words