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Teach Your Child to Sleep Through the Night: The No-Nonsense Baby and Toddler Sleep Solution
Teach Your Child to Sleep Through the Night: The No-Nonsense Baby and Toddler Sleep Solution
Teach Your Child to Sleep Through the Night: The No-Nonsense Baby and Toddler Sleep Solution
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Teach Your Child to Sleep Through the Night: The No-Nonsense Baby and Toddler Sleep Solution

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In just ONE WEEK, you can teach your child to sleep through the night! In this easy-to-read guide, Dr Annemarie Christie shows you a proven system to get your child sleeping through the night and taking long restful naps in the day. Packed with useful tips, tools and techniques to ensure you and your child get a good night’s sleep. This book will change your life and help your child to reach their potential!

Using the ACE Parent philosophy, Dr Christie will show you how to become an Affirmative, Confident and Empowered parent. Inside this book, you’ll discover:
- the 4 key steps in parenting
- the secret truth about crying
- 10 essential tips to help your child to settle
- sample guides of normal sleep patterns for age
- and much, much more!
LanguageEnglish
PublisherBookBaby
Release dateMay 22, 2014
ISBN9781925171198
Teach Your Child to Sleep Through the Night: The No-Nonsense Baby and Toddler Sleep Solution

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    Teach Your Child to Sleep Through the Night - Dr Annemarie Christie

    Conclusion

    Acknowledgements

    I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who inspired me, encouraged me and helped me to write this book.

    To my mother, Kaye, who showed me how to parent with effectiveness. Her strength and persistence in the face of adversity inspires me always to do more and be more.

    To Dr Phil McGraw, who’s straight-shooting advice has helped me to grow and develop as a person and as a parent.

    To Leah, without whom this book simply would not exist.

    To Pat Mesiti, who inspired me to reach for the stars and have the courage to grasp them.

    To Rebecca, who tolerated my crazy ideas and without whom I would no longer be in business.

    To Alison K, Louise, Alison M, Jo, Elesa and all the staff at TCD, thank you for your ongoing support. I am blessed to have such an awesome team working with me.

    To Yasmin and her friends at Vivid Publishing, without you this book would not have happened. Thank you for your clear advice and help with the production of my book!

    To Alli, who kept me focused and organised.

    To my husband, Ben, who is the most tolerant and supportive man in the world! You continue to encourage me to strive to achieve my potential. You give me strength and never let me give up.

    To Olivia, Liam, Dominic and Finn, who have helped me to truly understand both the trials and the tribulations of parenting. All of you are different with your own strengths and abilities. You amaze me every day and I love you to bits.

    To all parents, who astound me every day with your courage, strength and commitment to your children. You have the most important job in the world with the power to change the future. Don’t underestimate your impact!

    About the Author

    Dr. Annemarie Christie

    MBBS BSc(Med) Dip Child Health

    Founder and Director of The Children’s Doctor

    In 1995, Dr. Annemarie Christie graduated from the University of New South Wales prior to participating in a paediatric training program at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. It was there that she completed her Diploma of Child Health.

    Dr. Christie went on to spend many years working within the medical and surgical wards of the hospital, serving as a crucial member of the Neonatal Support Unit and Emergency Department teams. After passing her Paediatric exams, she realised that there was a great need for a primary paediatric service in her community. She opened The Children’s Doctor in 2005 and expanded to new, larger premises in 2010.

    Working in conjunction with many Allied Health professionals, Dr. Christie provides a comprehensive paediatric service. She has spent years educating parents within her community about effective parenting and child health, and is regularly invited to be a guest speaker at conferences to educate other primary care physicians around Australia. In 2014, Dr. Christie was invited to join the team at Sydney University in providing effective and practical paediatric medical education to physicians within Australia and around the world, including many countries where medical care is limited. Her passion is providing better health care for children both locally and globally.

    Annemarie is the mother of 4 children, which gives her an intimate understanding of both the joys and the perils of parenting.

    Introduction

    It’s late at night. You spent your day changing nappies, folding onesies and rocking your newest little love; thinking to yourself how lucky you truly are. It was only after the sun began to set that your little one started to fuss, and now, hours have gone by without a reprieve from the crying.

    You are tired.

    Your spouse is exhausted.

    And neither of you know what to do to soothe the newest addition to your family to sleep.

    In your desperation for answers, you have found yourselves here, reading this book and hoping for a miracle. I hope to help you accomplish just that, but first – I want to assure you that you are not alone. The number one reason infants are brought into the paediatricians office is irritability and poor sleep. By the time parents usually get to me, they have already consulted their mother, mother-in-law, friend up the street, mummy and me group, workmates, community nurse, and at least five baby books and the internet. Essentially, they have looked everywhere, asking everyone they know who has ever reproduced and even some who haven’t!

    After receiving a variety of differing opinions, and attempting nearly every technique recommended to them, these overtired and frustrated parents show up at my office absolutely convinced that there is something wrong with their baby. They are distraught, exhausted and terrified that their little one must truly be suffering. This same scenario plays out in my professional life multiple times a day, but I can tell you that each parent believes their baby is the only one who could possibly be this irritable. Sometimes I wish that I could place all of these parents in the same room, solely so that they could turn to each other for support and realise just how common an issue this really is.

    So take heart, because you are not the only parent who has ever endured the sleep deprivation that only a new baby can supply.

    Still, for many parents, it doesn’t matter how common this issue may be. They simply want to know why their own child is not sleeping. And I understand that. It is part of our innate desire to recognise problems and solve them. Particularly when it comes to those we care about most, like our children, we want to pinpoint the issue so that we can create a plan for tackling it.

    This is precisely why so many parents become convinced that there is something medically wrong with their infants. They want to find a reason for why this baby they love so deeply seems to be suffering in such a dramatic fashion. Surely, they think, there must be some sort of medical explanation. The reality, however, is that there is rarely a medical cause for this restlessness you are now witnessing for yourselves. If the sleep disturbance and irritability has been present for more than 1 month, and your baby is continuing to gain weight and appears to otherwise have happy times throughout the day; it is very unlikely that there is any medical explanation for your rough nights. Of course, it is always advisable to have your paediatrician do a medical workup prior to conducting any sleep training program, but the reality is: your baby may just be a poor sleeper.

    I know there is nothing comforting about that statement, but it is the most likely explanation for exhaustion you are currently experiencing.

    The good news is:

    WE CAN FIX THIS!

    I’m going to allow you to let that settle in for a minute. Peaceful nights. Hours of sleep back to back. No more dark circles staring back at you in the mirror. You can, and will, sleep again. And I am going to show you exactly how to make that happen.

    In your fragile, emotional and sleep-deprived state, I already know what your next question is:

    How long will this take?

    It is important to recognise that all babies are different. Some are stubborn, and some are not. Some babies will sort this whole sleeping thing out very quickly, whilst others may take a bit longer to adjust. But if you follow the advice I am about to lay out for you in the pages to come, the majority of babies will be giving your entire family the sleep you all need within about one week. Older babies, and particularly stubborn babies, may take a little longer – but using one week as your give or take barometer is a fairly safe bet.

    I would generally advise that if you have not seen improvements after one week, then you should seek additional advice. Check out our website www.aceparent.com for more information and tips that may help.

    NOTE: If you are happy with your baby’s current sleep routines and habits, and both you and your baby are sleeping well, then there is no need to change anything. You don’t need to read any further – this book is not for you.

    BUT…

    If you are overtired, frazzled and frustrated, and your baby is irritable, restless and exhausted, then I can help you.

    You could be getting the sleep you have been craving in just one week’s time.

    And it all starts with simply turning the page…

    A.C.E. Parenting

    So often, we enter into the role of parenthood with this idea of exactly the kind of parents we will be. We will never raise our voices, never spank, never make mistakes or leave our children feeling unloved in any way. In our minds, we picture perfection. Because anyone who chooses to become a parent does so with the desire to be the best possible parent they can be.

    The perfect parent.

    Unfortunately, I have a hard truth for you. You are not a perfect parent. Neither is your seemingly put together neighbour down the street, or your hyper-competitive sister-in-law, or even your own parents. I am not a perfect parent either. No one is.

    The perfect parent is a myth.

    And it is with that knowledge in mind that we should move forward, still striving to be the best possible parents we can be, while recognising the unattainability of perfection.

    Julie and Travis are first-time parents. They have been married for three years and conceived after approximately six months of trying. Their little boy is now 2 months old, and motherhood has already taken its toll on Julie. In her drive towards perfection, she has opted for cloth diapering and eating only organic foods while she exclusively breastfeeds. She is avoiding many foods in her own diet for fear of her child developing allergies. She is always worrying about germs and spends all of her time cleaning the house. She is avoiding crowds and public outings for fear that her little one might fall ill.

    Mission and Principles

    Most of Julie’s inclinations are fairly normal at this stage, and are choices I see new parents embracing all the time. In Julie’s case, however, the stress is clearly starting to get to her. As an exclusively breastfeeding mother who has avoided the use of bottles up to now, she is the only one who is able to get up with her son throughout the night, still every three to four hours at this point. Her fear of outside germs has also relegated her to a fairly isolated existence, as Travis leaves his little family behind each day for work. She is tired and stretched thin, as many new mothers often are, but in her desire to be the perfect parent, she has started neglecting some of her own needs in a pretty major way. As her stress levels rise, her son also seems to becoming more irritable, creating a cycle of tears and frustration throughout the day, with Travis often coming home to a wife struggling to cope and a son who spends the rest of the night fussy.

    Julie is not a unique case. According to recent research, the number of parents suffering from anxiety is rapidly increasing. One could theorise this may be due, at least in part, to the pressure we have begun putting upon ourselves to be perfect. What we know for sure, however is that parental anxiety and depression have a negative effect on the development of our children and our relationships with them. Babies especially are tiny little sponges, feeding off our emotions and taking their cues from us. When we are anxious or spread too thin, they feel it. The result is actually a detriment to their own self-esteem and confidence. In the end, it leads to an increase in anxiety for the little ones we are so desperate to protect.

    The ACE Parenting Mission is to help all parents learn to be affirmative and confident in their parenting skills. This starts with recognising that we are not perfect. I want you to feel empowered to make the decisions that you need to make when it comes to raising your family. Sometimes those decisions will come easily to you, and sometimes they will be more challenging. There will be occasions when you will do what you know is right for your child, and then there will be times when you will have to do the best that you can within your means. You will strive to provide exactly what your child needs all on your own, but sometimes you will have to ask for help, understanding that it is perfectly acceptable to do just that.

    Each child within a family has different physical and emotional needs. These varied dynamics are exactly why there is no one size fits all parenting guide. We need to be able to observe and adjust our styles in order to best parent each individual child. I want to help you to find the most effective parenting techniques for your family. I want to give you the tools and tips that will guide you in making those hard decisions. My goal will always be to help you dissect the most currently available information, finding ways to apply that knowledge to your own life. I want parenting to be a positive experience for you, so that your children may meet their greatest potential, and so that you may enjoy these years to the best of your ability as well!

    I do not claim to be the perfect parent myself. I recognise that there is no such thing. But I do believe that we all want our children to grow up knowing they are loved and respected. We want them to develop responsibility and independence, as well as a strong system of values so that they can be confident in their own beliefs and abilities. I know that as a parent myself, I want to see my children contribute to our world in ways that I couldn’t have imagined on my own, and I want them to make this planet of ours an even better place!

    Sure, my dreams for my kids may be lofty, but I would bet that yours are as well. Helping them to achieve those dreams starts with giving them the confidence to be empowered and affirmative in life.

    Which starts with you mirroring the same.

    The 4 Stages of Effective Parenting

    (Otherwise Known as the 4 Stages of ACE Parenting)

    The ACE Parenting Philosophy revolves around 4 key stages, the cornerstones of effective parenting. In raising a confident and inspired child, attention needs to

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