Saturday, July 10, 2010

Sleeping Like A Baby by Pinky McKay

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Pinky McKay is an Australian parenting expert. She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Certified Infant Massage Instructor. Pinky is also a mother to five children.

In her book Sleeping Like a Baby, she provides down to earth, realistic advice which is based on scientific evidence. She advocates a more natural and intuitive way of raising children such as co-sleeping, and breast feeding. Her advice goes against current trends of raising babies, which seems to advocate going against your instincts, and forcing the baby to do what you want (like the crying it out method). Her advice to me makes sense and seems right. However at no time do you feel lectured or pressured.

Lots of subjects regarding babies are covered in this book such as communication, sleep, feeding, and sleep environments. It talks about issues from newborn to toddler. The focus is on sleep and the factors that can effect sleeping habits.

Pinky discusses baby body language and the different stages of sleep and wakefulness. Each stage is fully discussed and some basic indicators of each stage are provided. She also gives advice on what you should do with your baby in these stages. For instance Quiet Alert stage is the best time to play with your baby. Some basic signs your baby is quiet alert are wide, bright eyes, looking at you directly, and 'cooing' noises. This section to me was very helpful in fully understanding a babies body language which is one of the few ways they can communicate.

Another point covered is sleep issues. She breaks down by age what can cause a baby to wake in the night, such as new development milestones or teething. This section was interesting to read as she explains what are the main causes of sleeplessness in that age bracket. She also suggests strategies to combat it. Though she points out that a baby is constantly growing and changing and so too is it's sleep patterns, and this is perfectly natural.

Pinky has clearly done a lot of research and has many studies to back up her advice. The end of her book also has lots of useful Internet sites and contact numbers for organisations that deal with various subjects like breastfeeding, SIDS, Depression, and Safety.

The biggest thing Pinky teaches in her book is that it's ok to let baby set the routine. It also teaches you that all those things we find natural to do with a baby (such as rocking to sleep) feel natural for a reason, they are natural. Also, finally, that we as parents can not completely control their babies sleeping habits. That while he might sleep perfectly now, in a week, fortnight, or months time it could all change again, and it is perfectly normal for this to happen. Her approach certainly helps you drop the guilt and stress about doing things "wrong".

I will definitely be purchasing her book Toddler Tactics.

1 comment:

  1. Looks like one I need to get before my first little one arrives in the fall. I'm nervous about the natural part kicking in ;)

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