Search Results for: parenting

We all know that having a baby leads to less sleep by the parents.  But, a new study has quantified just how much for both the father and the mother, and the numbers are staggering.  The birth of a child has drastic short-term effects on new mothers’ sleep, particularly during the first three months after…
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According to new research, getting the proper amount of sleep starting in early childhood can lead to healthier weight in a child’s teenaged years. Researchers at Penn State identified groups of children by bedtime and sleep routines.  What they found suggests that childhood bedtime and sleep routine groups predict adolescent sleep patterns and weight. In a…
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It’s a well known parenting trick: if your kid won’t sleep, take them for a ride in the car.  There’s something about the vibrations of a car ride that just helps children sleep.  The problem is, new research indicates those vibrations are doing the same thing to the driver. With about 20-percent of fatal road…
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Moms have a job that’s not easy.  During the summer months in particular, it can be a lot of work keeping the kids happy and busy.  This juggling act can lead to a number of problems that keep moms from sleeping well.  Below is a list of tips, with help from British parenting website JuggleMum, to help moms…
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Infant sleep machines, or white noise machines, are a godsend for parents of light-sleeping children or children who have to sleep in a noisy environment.  But, a new study is warning about their use. The popular devices promise to help infants stay asleep by lulling them with white noise, such as flowing water, a heartbeat,…
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Longtime visitors to SleepBetter will recall that in the summer of 2009 we worked on a great project in the town of Stephenville, Texas.  The project, called Sleep Better, Dream Bigger, charted the hopes and dreams of an entire small town.  Singer and songwriter Jewel, whose hometown is Stephenville, worked with us on the project….
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It can be difficult parenting a teenager.  But, if you’re struggling with troublesome teen behavior, you might want to take a close look at why the teen is acting the way he is. A new study released from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that teens who get less than 8 hours of…
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A recent survey by NBC’s TODAY Show and Parenting.com uncovered a startling finding — that one in five moms responding to the survey admitted to drugging their children. The moms admitted they’d used medications like Benadryl to keep kids asleep or calm through special events such as plane rides. One in 12 responding moms, meanwhile,…
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Add one more problem to the long list of childhood issues that can be caused by a hostile home environment.  A recent study published in the Journal of Child Development says that feuding parents can cause their babies to lose sleep. In order to come to this conclusion the researchers from Pennsylvania State University studied…
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SleepBetter Article Collections put a series of related articles in one easy-to-find place.  We’ve selected the collection topics because we think you, our visitors, will find them particularly useful.  If you’d like to suggest an article collection, please contact us! This collection lists a series of articles that cover how important sleep is for your…
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We’ve discussed it at length here at SleepBetter.org, but it bears repeating — if you want healthy children who are successful in school, one of the biggest things you can do as a parent is try to ensure they get a good night’s sleep.  New York Times’ Personal Health Reporter Jane Brody took up the…
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There is a great new article out this week from CNN.com that gives advice for school-age children who are having more serious sleep problems. The article gives tips for six different ailments that could be causing your child to lose sleep hours. Some of these include: Apnea & Snoring: A study showed that one quarter…
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There was a great segment on the CBS Early Show this week with tips on helping parents soothe their children to sleep.  If you missed it, it featured parenting expert Shannon Els.  She gave suggestions on products, books, and strategies primarily aimed at helping children who have been sleepwalking or awakened by nightmares.  The advice…
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Infants are so adorable. All shiny and new, they hold all the promise of their parents in those little eyes. But infants refusing to sleep or infants who don’t sleep can throw parents into a sleepless trance that can be difficult to get out of. Newborn sleep is unlike any other sleep pattern though a…
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New research published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine and highlighted on U.S. News & World Report’s Health Blog shows that a child’s sleep problems aren’t just a headache for his or her parents … they’re also linked to headaches as well as stomach pain for the child. Children who have trouble falling asleep…
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For some time now there has been a debate on the best way to get your baby to sleep. Some mothers prefer to tend to their babies when they begin to cry in their crib, while others believe that it is best to let the baby soothe themselves (or “cry it out”) in order to…
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