Strollerderby : sleep

Working In Fitness

Amy Kuras — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:31:00 GMT

We all know that exercise is the magic bullet for so many maladies that plague the modern parent: stress, sleep deprivation, lack of stamina to keep up with these constantly moving little maniacs (okay, maybe that’s just me), but finding a way to stay active along with the 19 million other things you need to get done in a day can be difficult. And while kid chasing certainly keeps you going, it doesn’t really count as the 30 minutes of moderate exercise we’re supposed to get on most days.

Gaiam (the people who bring us those yummy Rodney Yee yoga videos as well as the best Pilates ones I have ever tried) offers up some interesting tips on their blog. What makes this different from the bajillion other pieces of advice out there is that it actually breaks it down by age instead of just giving vague advice like “Babies love sit-ups!”

For example, it suggests dancing with babies and toddlers (mine love this). If you’ve got school-age kids, they recommend keeping comfy clothes and shoes in your car so you can squeeze in a quick walk while you wait for a sports practice or lesson to be over. Such a no-brainer but not something I would have thought of (and quite honestly I am more likely to use the time to read or make a phone call, but I like the idea anyway!).

The only thing that’s allowed us to get regular workouts in, though, is free drop-in childcare at our local Y. They get to play with other kids, I get a break and we get some sweaty exercise in all at once.

They Say: Bedtime Routines=Sweet Dreams

KeriF — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:02:00 GMT

In our communal household, all the kids begin their bedtime routines around 7:30pm. My kids are asleep by 8pm. My sister's? Closer to 9pm. My bedtime routine is fairly brisk: bath, pjs, brush teeth, pee, pick out clothes for next day, two books, water, snuggle, lights out. I have no idea what my sister's routine actually entails to make it last a full hour longer, but I'm pretty sure it involves several books, a Japanese counting lesson, some very off-key songs, and one very demanding almost-3-year-old girl.

But according to a new study, all of our kids are sleeping just fine, thanks to their consistent bedtime routines.

The study, by Dr. Jodi A. Mindell at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, followed the bedtime routines of 405 mothers--about half with kids 7 to 18 months old, half 18 to 36 months old.

The mothers who followed a strict 30-minute bedtime routine that included a bath, massage, and a snuggle, along with other restful activity, had kids who fell asleep faster, woke less often, and slept more regularly. In addition, the toddlers in that group woke in a much better mood.

In fact, so did the mothers.

Parents have long been told that a consistent nightime routine is the key to getting your baby to fall asleep (and stay asleep) on her own; now there's proof that it works.

What's your bedtime routine? Is it quick and dirty, like mine? Or long and slow, like my sister's?

Source: Journal Sleep

Schools Start Later So Teens Can Sleep In

KeriF — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:30:00 GMT

It's tough to be a teenager these days. Between MySpace, Wii, texting, and the like, not to mention activities that actually require you to leave the house, it can be hard for a teen to get to bed before midnight. How, then, are they supposed to get up at the ungodly hour of 7am to go to school?

What? Go to bed earlier? No, that's not the right solution.

Why not have school start later instead?

For a handful of schools in Britain, that indeed is the solution. The Hugh Christie school in Kent has been running classes for 16- to 18-year-olds from 11am to 5pm, specifically so teens can sleep in. Here in the United States, schools in 19 states have delayed their start times. And apparently 100 more school districts are considering the move.

"There's a chagne in hormones in teenagers' brains that requires some rewiring in the brain," says Jim Horne, director of the Sleep Research Center at Loughborough University in England. "That rewiring can only be done in deep sleep," so teens need up to an hour more sleep each night than adults.

I need a lot of sleep too. That's why I go to bed around the same time as my 4-year-old most nights, so I know I'll be well-rested when my 10-month-old wakes up with the sun. And when I do stay up too late watching Grey's Anatomy, er, I mean Nova on PBS, my daughter doesn't sleep three hours later to accommodate me. (Though that would be nice once in a while.)

Is it just me, or is this move patently ridiculous?

"It's possible this could be solved with better parental control," says Horne. Okay, it's not just me.

Photo: HPIRC.com

I'm Not a Brat, I'm Autistic

Bedtime: Does Your Kid Have One?

Kate Tuttle — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:01:00 GMT

Do your kids have a regular bedtime, like Sasha and Malia Obama? (The first kids, aged seven and ten, are in bed by eight p.m., according to reports.) Or do they just keep going and going, exhausted little energizer bunnies, till late into the night? Growing up in the freewheeling 70s, I remember being smug about my family's lack of set bedtimes -- and I remember falling asleep in school all the time. In fact, my bedtime-free childhood seemed less and less fun as I got older, leading to mornings of scrambling out of bed, late as usual, and arriving at high school (college, work) with wacky hair and bleary eyes.

Most research now indicates that kids -- even tweens and teens -- need far more sleep than they get, and that their sleep needs don't change much as they grow up. Most adults, too, are chronically sleep-deprived, getting far less than the eight recommended hours (the number for school-aged kids is ten hours, for young teenagers at least nine).

As one pediatric sleep expert said in a recent column in the New York Times by Dr. Perri Klass, the problem comes when people underestimate their own sleep needs, and those of their kids:

“It’s a bell-shaped curve,” she said, with just 2.5 percent of the population needing significantly less sleep than average. “The problem,” she went on, “is that 95 percent of us think we’re in that 2.5 percent. You should assume until proven otherwise that your kid needs that much sleep.”

It's these night owls who end up nodding off during circle time, first period math class, and, later, morning meetings. So how to fix the problem? Set bedtimes, such as in the Obama household, are a good idea, according to researchers. And we all know, or should, to keep the TV out of the bedroom (for kids especially, but it's good for parents as well). Beyond that, simply understanding and trying to account for a child's changing sleep needs and routines can be extremely helpful. Teenagers' sleep needs scarcely change, but their circadian rhythms undergo a shift that pushes them -- biologically, not just through their lifestyle demands of homework, facebook, etc. -- toward later and later bedtimes. Some researchers are now calling for later high school start times to allow these weary teens to at least get some decent sleep -- but it seems unlikely to happen, especially in an era when many are pushing for more and more schooling, period.

Having grown up in a household bereft of healthy sleep habits, I'm trying to instill a slightly more organized routine for my kids -- the toddler's asleep by eight, the teen by eleven (still not enough sleep, but better than she would do on her own). What do you do in your house to ensure that everyone gets enough rest?

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New Rick Springfield CD For Kids

Brett Singer — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:33:00 GMT

Rick Springfield just released a new CD. But this time it's for your kids.

The guy who wondered why he couldn't find a woman as great as the one Jesse had eventually settled down and had two kids of his own. Turns out they weren't great sleepers. So Rick, being a songwriter, wrote them some lullabies. When he recently found the songs "stuck in the back of a drawer," he found that he liked them and decided to put them out for the world to hear.

In an interview, Rick (he lets me call him Rick) referred to the tunes as "baby pop songs." That's a good description, but they also feel deeply personal. Listening to the CD feels a little bit like eavesdropping. These are actually songs he wrote for his children, and by his own admission, they aren't as polished as some of his other work. That doesn't mean unprofessional; the sound and production values are fine. But since the songs weren't initially written for everyone to hear, they have an appealingly private quality.

Put simply, don't expect "Jesse's Girl" or "Love Somebody." These are lullabies, meant to help kids fall asleep. As such, they're calm, pleasant, and enjoyable to listen to. Unlike an artist who switches from his "real" music to kid stuff, this is an adult musician who also happened to write some kid-friendly songs years ago, and only just decided to release them. As a father, it's hard not to get a little misty-eyed listening to the disc. There's a lot of genuine emotion in the music and the lyrics. Like "I love to watch you sleep / In the quiet of the night" from the title track -- what parent doesn't understand that? It may not be deeply profound, but so what? For grown-up Rick fans (and there are many, as I found out when I interviewed him and my mother, wife, and babysitter all suddenly expressed a keen interest in my work), "My Precious Little One" is certainly different from what you're used to. Check out some preview tracks at RickSpringfield.com and see for yourself. This might be the only time when a musician won't be offended if you tell him you fell asleep listening to his songs.

"My Precious Little One" is now available at Amazon.com exclusively for eight weeks; after that it will be available at retail outlets everywhere.

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Morning News: Nominee Messes With Obama's Head

Madeline Holler — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:30:00 GMT

Another nominee for an Obama administration cabinet position has pulled out. This time, it's not about taxes or investigations, just disagreement -- a difference of opinion. Judd Gregg says he withdrew himself from consideration because he "couldn't be Judd Gregg."

Fine, but here's the weird part: According to Obama, the Republican Senator Gregg reached out to Obama and asked for the job. He told them differences didn't matter. Why the180, Gregg?

When not dealing with fickle New Hampshire governors, the White House worked on a plan to buy up risky mortgage loans to avoid millions of more foreclosures. We can never decide if this is a good idea or bad.

Not a good idea: claiming you swam across the Atlantic Ocean when really you sorta cruised around in the boat.

In an effort to get re-elected (and to get his constituents laid), the mayor of Mexico City has committed to providing poor men over the age of 60 with all the Viagra they want. For free!

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania think they've figured out why sleep is important to forming memories. We'd tell you exactly why, except we can't remember (we're realllly tired!).

Here's a fact that's not at all hard to remember: the youngest child in the family gets away with everything. Everything!

Photo: blog.cleveland.com

Desperate Parents Cry out for the Robocrib

Amy Kuras — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:32:00 GMT

The badge of parenthood, the thing we talk about all the time, the thing we crave the most, is sleep. And most new parents think it will never happen for them again.

That must be the need Japanese engineers at Kyuushuu University in Japan were trying to meet with the Suima crib. It contains a microphone that picks up the sound of a baby’s cries, and responds by swaying side to side about 10 centimeters every 1.8 second, or about the same as a parent’s heart rate.

Officially, I am horrified by this – I mean, babies cry to let us know they need us, and our job as a parent shouldn’t be outsourced to machinery. On the other hand, after nearly a year of frequent night wakeups by my little guy who is perfect in every way except he hates to sleep? I would have considered it. The baby in the video goes right back to sleep after a few minutes of rocking by the crib, while my kid (and I’d bet, most) would respond to a parent in the middle of the night by thinking “Hey!! Party time!” Some soothing by something that’s not you could be really verrrry tempting.

Organic Dreams or Toxic Nightmares? You Pick

JeanneSager — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:00:00 GMT

I wasn't sure if I should feel like a bad parent or a bit of a grinch when I read this New York Times piece on the plight of parents trying to green every bit of their baby's world.

Keeping this mom up at night wasn't SIDS or milk production. She wants to known what's lurking inside her son's "organic" mattress.

Breaking down the confusing world of just what qualifies as a "safe" mattress, the article explains the root of parents' fears: fire retardants used to protect families from fires in bed have been found to show up in breastmilk, and some (discontinued) foams lead to nervous and reproductive systems in animals in 2004 study. Today, the materials used to make mattresses are largely proprietary, and the term "organic" can refer simply to the use of some organic cotton in the batting. What's more, the memory foam that's purported to give you a great night's sleep is a petroleum product.

Scary stuff. Definitely enough to make you question your parenting prowess if the main criteria used for picking your kid's mattress was "will a diaper blow-out be easy to clean at 2 a.m.?" Because that, next to cost, topped my list when it came to picking my daughter's crib mattress.

To be fair, "phthalate" wasn't a buzzword in early 2005 when I registered for my baby shower. But even since it has been bandied about, I haven't rushed to her room to chuck her mattress and pile the bed with organic cotton blankets. And, frankly, after reading this, I'm no more inclined to do so.

The Times piece - like so much of what is coming out these days about toxins - makes for worthy, interesting (and in-depth) reading. But it provides no real answers. It doesn't say mattresses are good, but there's little to point to anything wrong with it either. So I'll focus my fears where I know they're founded for now - and when it comes time to buy a "big girl" mattress, I'll read up once again to see if newer news can shed light on my questions.

Image: New York Times

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Full of Hot Air?

NY Proposes Taxing Non-Diet Soda

Miriam Axel-Lute — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:00:00 GMT

OK Gov. Paterson: I know you've got a wicked budget hole, and we all have to "share the pain." I also know that this country has a severe health crisis with escalating rates of diabetes, heart disease, etc. and that soda and related sugar-water drinks (or, more specifically, high-fructose-corn-syrup drinks) are bad for us and our kids.

But can we work through a few of the logical problems with your proposed "obesity tax" here?

1. It only applies to "nondiet" sodas (and fake juice drinks), thereby giving the implicit healthy stamp of approval to "diet" drinks full of artificial sweeteners, which cause many people a wide range of health problems, from dizziness to migraines, while to others they just taste gross. They also interfere with efforts to adjust to a healthier, lower-sugar diet. Not to mention that carbonated diet sodas still are acidic enough to eat away at kids teeth and still don't hydrate like water or provide nutrients like milk. Remember also that soda—diet and nondiet—is also a major source of people's caffeine fixes (and young kids having caffeine worries me more than their having sugar, frankly).

Basically, this just shows the folly of trying to decide on high what's healthy for people: it varies. I have some extremely health-conscious friends whose son is super allergic to tons of things—so right now he's eating a lot of Fritos (all corn, no cross-contamination). If you tried to tax "junk food," for example, you'd be hitting them hard.

2. Like any sales tax, this going to fall most heavily on the poor, who buy a lot of soda often because it's what's sold at the corner store. Study after study has shown that living in a "food desert" is a primary cause of unhealthy eating choices. Without changing that, adding a tax is like raising the gas tax without investing in public transportaiton. (If the tax is high enough to make bodega owners stock healthier drinks instead, we might see some benefit, but I'm skeptical.)

3. Recent studies have shown that it's possible to be both fat and fit. You say you don't want to make kids feel bad for being overweight. So don't. Instead encourage the good stuff, which is what will really make the difference: access to healthy food and drink, enough sleep, and exercise (recess! later school start times! healthy foods in schools! walking and biking to school!). I know that won't balance the budget. I'm sorry.

Photo by Qfamily.

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Should Dads Cosleep?

Miriam Axel-Lute — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:00:00 GMT

Can dads sleep safely with their infants, or should that be left to moms and their "natural protective instincts"? The photo I posted with my report on the British study saying cosleeping doesn't increase risk of SIDS (reposted here) generated some passionate back and forth on this topic in the comments.

On the one hand, the official word from many cosleeping advocates is that it should only be the mom (and only a breastfeeding mom at that, yo). In fact, they even say that a cosleeping baby should not be placed between mom and dad, but between mom and a bedrail. Folks taking this position generally say that breastfeeding mothers are more "tuned in" to their babies, aware of their location, instinctually place them in a safe sleeping position, and wake in tandem with them throughout the night. Ccertainly if you are breastfeeding, one of the points of colseeping is having the breastfeeding mother right there to increase lactation and nursing frequency and duration.

On the other hand, I haven't actually seen any studies of specifically dads and cosleeping, but I've certainly known plenty of dads who describe for themselves perfectly my own experience of being hyper-aware of the presence and location and motion of their infants, even as they sleep. Is it possible that advocates on the defensive against "cosleeping = death" hysteria are being overcautious/biased on this one?

It's worth noting that dads, at least engaged ones, do actually go through hormonal changes themselves as they begin to parent, including modestly increased levels of prolactin, the lactation hormone. (I'd wager this probably also happens for non-bio moms in queer couples.) It's not like we're talking random person off the street here. But it's also not biological motherhood either.

What do you think? Is the only-moms-should-sleep-next-to-baby thing an acknowledgement of basic biology, or just more sexism trying to sneak in under the cloak of science?

Photo by davef3138, via Flickr.

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They Say: Cosleeping Doesn't Cause SIDS

Miriam Axel-Lute — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:32:00 GMT

A detailed four-year study in southwest Britain on bedsharing with infants has concluded that when known risk factors—such as alcohol, drugs, or extreme overtiredness—are excluded, cosleeping with an infant does not increase the risk of SIDS (known in Britain as "cot death").

Reactions across Britain included from relief from midwives who now feel they can stop telling parents who want to cosleep not to and enthusiasm from breastfeeding advocates, as well as caution from anti-SIDS advocates.

One point the researcher, Peter Blair of University of Bristol, made that I hadn't thought of is that since falling asleep with a kid on a sofa is quite dangerous (loose cushions, places to get wedged), there is a risk from parents who dutifully put a baby to sleep in a crib, get up to feed it on the couch, and fall asleep again by accident. The proportion of SIDS deaths occurring on a sofa has doubled in the past decade.

Meanwhile, the study has received little to no play in the American media. Local American papers are still churning out stories almost every day about rising rates of "cosleeping deaths," with few making the distinction between risky behaviors and cosleeping itself, or if they do, burying it under sensational headlines and leads. One paper even wrote "the problem, known as 'co-sleeping' or 'parent rollover.' " At least this appears to have been edited online since I first saw it.

Here's hoping some sense will wend its way across the pond.

Photo by davef3138, via Flickr.

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They Say: Get Some Sleep or Die

Brett Singer — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:00:00 GMT

CNN says that you need at least 7.5 hours of sleep every night. Otherwise you are "at greater risk of heart attack, stroke, and sudden cardiac death than their peers who get more shut-eye."

Do these people have kids?

In my case, I rarely get 7 hours every night. By the time the kids are asleep, I usually have other things to do, and then most mornings I need to get up and get everybody ready. Since I work at home, I can sometimes squeeze in a nap which helps to balance things out.

I'm not saying this is a good thing. I'm not one of these "I'll sleep when I'm dead" people. I like sleeping. I'd rather get more sleep but between parenting and working, 7.5 hours a night doesn't always happen.

How much sleep do you get? Is it enough?

source: CNN

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Shannon LC Cate — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:38:00 GMT

The Huffington Post reports a growing "trend" that married people with ordinarily healthy relationships are choosing to sleep separately. According to the article cited, folks just need a good night's sleep and have trouble getting it in the same bed with another person.

Marital pros and cons aside (pro: a well-rested spouse, con: less cuddle time), what really struck me about the article was the claim that home buyers were beginning to look for two master bedrooms in their houses. According to the National Association of Home Builders, by 2015, sixty percent of upscale custom homes will be built with two "owner suites."

Only in America could the need for a good night's sleep translate into outrageous real estate demands. After three weeks of condo hunting for a place with a large enough second bedroom for two children to share as they grow to teendom, I can't imagine the expense of a home with two master suites.

Then again, given this week's financial news, I have to wonder if these double-master-suite homes won't be turned into group houses for bankrupt builders by 2015.

The Best Parenting Advice EVER

Kelly Mills — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:13:00 GMT

A while back I went to a baby shower, and the host had everyone write down their best advice on parenting for the expectant couple in an album. When it was my turn to come up with some pearls, I paused. The truth was that the very best pieces of advice were rarely about whether or not to co-sleep or use a pacifier (um, for the baby, yo) or wait an extra year for kindergarten, though those are topics of much anxiety for parents. And the top words of wisdom I got almost never came from books or the doctor or even my closest people. Parenting is funny that way. You depend on the kindness of strangers for very general and life-saving stuff.

Now one of my closest friends is about to have a baby any day now (on her own, too---she got tired of waiting for a suitable life partner and knew she wanted kids) and I thought I'd again ask people I don't know for something helpful. Here's the best advice I got. Then you offer what worked for you, and we can share it with my friend.

1. It gets easier. When my baby was six weeks old and I was almost googling orphanages, I made a bleary trek to the grocery store. I must have looked like holy crap, because a woman I'd never met whispered to me: "It gets easier." "When?" I asked desparately, my eyes filling with tears. She thought for a moment, and said, "Two months. Then again at six months. Then again at a year..." She was right.

2. Along those lines, new parents should cry as much as they want. Now is not the time for stoicism. Basically the job of the new parent is to keep the baby and themselves alive, and that means you sleep whenever you can, you eat whatever you want, you drink tons of water, you live in a messy house, and you cry as much as you like. All of these work best when you have sympathetic people around, and the weeping thing lets people know you need help. I got this gem when I was in the emergency room three days postpartum with a horrible bladder infection. I began sobbing, and the nurse told me not to cry. From the curtained bed next to mine, a woman yelled, "Don't you tell her that! Honey, cry as much as you want. When I had a newborn I wept constantly." I don't even know what she looks like, but that woman was an angel.

3. Kids behave badly when they are going through a developmental phase. I tell everyone this, and I don't even know where I got it, but it's the best thing I know. Just when my child has been the devil for a month and a half and I'm sure I have really screwed up because I am raising a monster, she abruptly changes back into her sweet self and has some new skill to show for it. Crawling, walking, talking, social skills, reading...All were preceded by hell.

4. You probably won't know what to do until it happens. Plan all you want for how you'll teach your child to stand up to bullies, and then watch as your kid turns out to be more likely to pick on others. Choose a preschool when your kid is an infant, then realize your particular child is probably going to do better in a small home-based daycare. Vow to never use a pacifier. End up using a pacifier. Hey, most of what we do is on the fly, so it's best to just be flexible.

5. Lead by example, especially when you screw up. Because you will, you'll probably yell or realize you have been ignoring your kid or say something unkind and wish you could take it back. But think of this: Your kid is on a baseball team. They are a sucky player, they refuse to pracice, and then they drop the ball during a key moment. Do you tell them, "You stink, you aren't fit to be a player, you are screwing up baseball forever"? I sure hope not. Instead, you tell them to just do their best, to move on and have fun. Some of my finest moments have come after I messed up royally and lost it with my kid. I say I'm sorry, I practice doing it differently, I learn from it, and I just move on and do my best.

That last one I learned from my kid. Hey, now please, hit me with your best stuff.

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7 Ways to Make Your Baby to Sleep Tonight

Cole Gamble — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:00:00 GMT

For the first year and a half of his life, your little boy may have gone down with a bottle at a regular time every night. Oh how blessed those days were. But then one day a switch flipped in that slumbering angel and now the little man won’t sleep at all. It’s midnight and Johnny Wired is bounding through the house and yelling like he’s just realized his rushing for frat. By now, you’ve learned when baby don’t sleep, you don’t sleep. And when you don’t sleep, the earth stands still; zombies rise and walk the earth (and by zombies, we mean you). If you're going to survive you need to come up with a plan. You need to lay some strategery on that kid’s butt. Here are some tactics you can employ.

1) Wear them out during the day. Take them to the park. Run them hard.

2) Shorten or cut out the nap. Wait, you’re kid isn’t sleeping at night and you are still giving them a nap? Are you nuts?!

3) Stick to the rules. If you say “only one story and then bed,” it better only be one story. Or else you’ll spend countless hours every night bargaining.

4) Set up a consistent routine. For instance, do bath, teeth, story, bed. Do it the same way every night and they will learn to wind down with the routine.

5) Create a soothing environment. If you make your kid sleep on top of a running washing machine, now is the time to rethink that strategy.

6) Stay as close as he needs you to. Some children are happy to go to sleep after a quick goodnight kiss, while others prefer to snuggle, hold hands or go to sleep with an adult in a nearby chair. This will change as your child grows and becomes more self-confident, so don't worry ' you won't have to rock your teenager to sleep.

7) Let them know you’ll be there. Sometimes the root of the problem is nightmares or fear of the dark. Assure where you will be, install a nightlight and general remove the fear factor.

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10 Signs You Might Need a Childfree Vacation

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:01:00 GMT

Some of us are heading to the BlogHer Conference in San Francisco this week, (and if you can't make this one, don't miss the BlogHer Reach Out Tour coming to a city near you). As I fidget with joy at the prospect of waiting for my flight which departs in 2 hours, it occurs to me that staycations notwithstanding sometimes there is absolutely nothing as delicious as kid-free vacations of one kind or another.

Here are 10 signs you might be in similar straits:

1. Grocery shopping is your alone time.

2. Going to work is the highlight of your day.

3. You and your partner discuss poop and sleep more than you discuss daily news or getting it on.

4. You no longer remember the pure joy of reading the Sunday paper front to back in bed with strong coffee.

5. The last book you read was written by Dr. Seuss.

6. Dressing up means getting out of your sweats.

7. The sound of small children talking starts to sound less like a babbling brook and more like someone pouring acid in your ear.

8. You find yourself short-tempered and negative with anyone under age 20.

9. You think you might have at one time been an extrovert, but now you're definitely an introvert.

10. When people ask you what you do for fun, you have absolutely no idea what to say.

Never fear that the costs of a kid-free vacation make it impossible. Maybe you can swap with a friend or family member to watch your kids overnight so you and your partner (or just you) can get away. Even if it's one night in a Super 8, you'll relish every minute of it.

[Photo Credit: Bellingham Herald]

Sleep Burns Off Baby Weight

Cole Gamble — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Let me just start by saying my wife is Wonder Woman, or perhaps she just has tapeworm, for when Nicole got pregnant for the first time she lost all her baby weight in six months. And this was no cute couple of pounds. Nicole had put on 100 pounds (or about 75 kittens). Seriously, here is a picture at Christmas time when she was bigger than the tree:

(Picture deleted by blogger's wife. It is not clear why she has access to the blogging network.)

I'd pass along her weight-loss technique, but it's a safely guarded secret that involves cases of Diet Pepsi , nicotine and a fey, wish-granting miniature space alien named Frazoo. Now it turns out the aspartame-poisoning, smoker's hack and putting up with Frazoo's inability to wear even the most basic of clothing and conceal his space bits was all for not. Turns out Nicole could have lost all that weight by getting more sleep.

This study shows that women who get five hours of sleep or less a night retained an average of 11 pounds more than new mothers who got seven hours or more. Part of the reason is sleep deprivation causes your brain to send appetite-inducing chemicals making one feel constantly hungry.

Now, we all know why mom is not getting sleep; there is a little someone who wants to eat at all hours. As result, you want to eat at all hours. So maybe now you have the husband do the late-night feedings. Let him get fat. It's not like he has plans to wear a two-piece.

Mets player thanks wife by letting her have his baby

Brett Singer — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Ryan Church plays right field for the New York Mets. He's having a great year so far, with a .310 batting average, 8 home runs and 30 RBIs.

One reason is that, despite having just become a father a couple of months ago, he's getting enough sleep.

In an interview with the New York Times, Church seems to be saying that he figures letting his wife have his baby is thanks enough for getting up in the middle of night with the newborn. Maybe I'm interpreting this wrong. Here's the quote:

HOW ABOUT THE SLEEP? Well, I was expecting it, but I didn’t know it was going to be this bad. Actually, sleepwise, it’s been relatively easy for me. She’s been really good. He cries, she gets up and lets me try to stay there and try to sleep. Still, I wake up, and it’s one of those things where you hear a noise and you’re like, O.K., I have to go pick him up.
HOW DO YOU PLAN TO REPAY HER FOR LETTING YOU SLEEP? Having my kid. I’ve gotten her some gifts.

Maybe I'm just jealous. OK, no maybe about it. Because if I said to my wife, "Honey, thanks for getting up with the baby. To show my appreciation, I got you pregnant. Enjoy!" I think I might get a baseball bat upside my head. To be fair, Church is a baseball player, makes $2 million a year, and probably wouldn't be much good at the plate if he couldn't keep his eyes open. (Mets' fans booed Johann Santana, arguably the best pitcher in baseball, the first time he pitched for the Mets this year; I doubt they'd be forgiving of a guy nodding off in the outfield because junior kept him up all night.) Still, his phrasing leaves something to be desired. (Maybe he's been hanging out with Barack Obama.)

Church went on to say that he and the missus were "planning on going on a trip this off-season." When asked if the baby would stay home, he said, "Hopefully. We’ll see how that works."

Excuse me; I think I just fell down from laughing so hard. Okay, I'm back.

Church suffered a concussion during spring training. Maybe he's still a little dopey.

image: Yahoo Sports

3-year-old boy has never slept

Brett Singer — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:00:00 GMT

I don't know what to make of this story. I do know that I'm unlikely to ever complain about Thing 2 waking up in the middle of the night.

A little boy in St. Petersburg, Florida hasn't slept in 3 years. Not "oh, he woke up last night at midnight." No sleep. At all. For 3 years.

And… he's 3 years old. So he's never slept a wink in his entire life. No naps, nothing. Mom and dad sleep in shifts, since someone has to be with him all the time.

His parents have been to numerous doctors and gotten a variety of answers. The current theory is that the boy suffers from a rare condition known as chiari malformation (source). Their best hope seems to be surgery that has a 50% chance of being effective.

I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical when I first read this. He doesn't even look tired! But it appears this sort of thing has happened before. Here's a story about a Vietnamese man who hasn't slept in 33 years and is healthy. Me, I'm tired when I get less than 8 hours. Since that almost never happens, I'm tired, like, all the time. I feel like a big wimp.

Anyway, I hope the surgery does the job. Poor kid.

image: Local6 News

What We Do Wrong at Bedtime

Jen Chaney — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:04:00 GMT

My son is destined to become obese, anxious, wracked with low self-esteem and beset with emotional problems. At least this article in Time -- entitled "How Not to Get Baby to Sleep" -- certainly makes it seem that way.

The story, based on recent research on sleep patterns in infants and children, says that kids who develop poor slumber habits at an early age can expect to encounter health and wellness issues later in life, including the ones I describe above. Part of the problem is that we parents apparently do all the wrong things when our little ones can't fall asleep. Among our top offenses: Picking up the baby when he's crying, bringing him into the family bed or feeding him in the middle of the night. The key, apparently, is to teach our kids to self-soothe and find their own paths back to dreamland.

I agree with the concept in theory. My problem is adapting it to the real world. My son used to sleep fine until a couple of weeks ago, a change that may have come about due to the double-whammy of simultaneous ear infections. Now he wakes up in the middle of the night, every night, so he can present his latest performance of "Screamfest 2008: Get the Frak Up, Mom and Dad. And Please Hold Me." I know I should not pick him up or rock him or bring him into bed with us. But I have resorted to any and all of these options lately because, at 3 a.m., when you know you have to get up in three hours and go to work, Ferberization can pretty much shove it.

I was really hoping the Time article would offer some useful tidbits about other methods moms and dads can use instead of the "bad" ones. But all Dr. Elsie Tavares of Harvard Medical School suggests is, "Go to sleep at the same time every night. Remove things that will create a lot of stimulation before sleep — don't put a TV in the child's room." Um, thanks. I kinda figured that if my son is up watching "Letterman" he probably won't be able to get to sleep.

I take comfort in the fact that I can't possibly be the only parent who is "Night, night"-challenged. Assuming that's so, I look forward to introducing my poor, fat, neurotic, sleep-deprived child to yours' in a few short years.

Photo: Halosleep.com

Tired Toddlers Might Drive Moms to Yell --or Vice Versa

Amy Kuras — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:39:00 GMT

Which came first, the exhausted parent or the screechy parenting style that can accompany that level of tired?

That's the question raised by an Australian study that found mothers who yell or hit their kids are more likely to have toddlers with sleep difficulties.

Pediatrician Harriet Hiscock studied 4600 families and found that children were twice as likely to have sleep problems that persisted though the toddler years if their mothers had a hostile parenting style characterized by yelling and smacking than a more warm demeanor.

Children with chronic health problems were also much more likely to have sleep issues.

Let's be honest here though – does anyone parent optimally when they are exhausted? I know for me, combining my three-year-old's (age-appropriate) defiance and stubbornness with the fact her newborn brother has me up three to four times a night means Crabby Mommy makes an appearance more often than I would like, and the same was true when it was her keeping me up frequently as a teething, clingy toddler.

I've managed not to smack, but yelling? Happens more often than I'd like, no matter how warm and loving I am the rest of the time.

I think if anything the two feed on each other – parents who are typically more hostile may have kids who are nervous and unsettled and thus sleep worse, while even the sweetest parent may come unhinged if their little darling has them up several times a night. And those sleepless toddlers are no picnic either.

"It's always a cause-and-effect argument and you can't really conclude from this which one occurs first," Dr Hiscock said.

5 Parenting Hacks You Might Be Embarrassed to Admit You Use

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:16:00 GMT

Certain kinds of parents (ok, people like me) like to show off our successes and humorously and cleverly downplay our conundrums or heartaches. We chortle over school success, toddlers completing chores, and light but troubling sibling rivalry.

A magazine like Babble is a breath of fresh air because it provides an outlet to unconventional (sometimes controversial) approaches to parenting that many of us might be afraid to admit to others (without the relative safety of an alias or anonymous login).

Here are a few that may be embarrassing, but that definitely work:

1. Sleep - that elusive but ever important brick in the foundation of happy childhood. I know a family that has tried everything: Pediacare Nightrest, threats, cajoling, regular routines, even melatonin. But the only thing that works is the Bedtime Guardian. A parent sits in the room until the children sleep. How the mighty have fallen!!

2. Food - Yes they can eat nuggets, but sometimes there's nothing like bribing them with sugary treats to get that broccoli (or sushi or anything remotely adult-like) down. On the other hand, I've been known to buy Winnie-the-Pooh shaped pasta just to get my toddler to eat anything.

3. Fights - Sibling rivalry isn't all fun and games. When the kids brandish weapons (plastic Dora as head-smasher), it's time to call in the big guns. When time outs fail, taking away priviledges seems unkind, but usually works. For example, stop hitting or you won't be able to watch tv/go to grandma's for a week.

4. Television - Too much is bad, clearly, but sometimes it is the only way the little buggers can be quieted to let the adults finish a sentence (especially ones that begin, "You look hot today")

5. Threat of spanking - I've never spanked my kids, but I've used it as a last ditch threat, usually in a high pitched untempered angry voice. And it's not my finest moment as a mother, but it works.

[Photo Credit: www.birthoftv.org]

Snoring More Than Just Annoying

Amy S.F. Lutz — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:36:00 GMT

Is your spouse a loud snorer? Don't be shy, you're not alone - an estimated 40% of men and 24% of women are habitual snorers.

But instead of sending your honey to the guest room, maybe you should send him/her to a cardiologist.

In a new study published in the journal Sleep, Hungarian researchers interviewed more than 12,000 subjects about snoring and found that loud snorers with breathing pauses had a 34% higher risk of having a heart attack, and a 67% increased risk of stroke. Light snorers, on the other hand, weren't any more likely to suffer either of these conditions than people who didn't snore at all.

The researchers suggest that this extreme type of snoring might be used to help identify people at risk.

The study also uncovered a hopeful trend for women suffering through their husbands' bed-shaking snores: men are less likely to snore once they get past 70. So, hang in there!

Make Your Baby Sleep...At Night

Karen Murphy — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:31:00 GMT

Finding a baby who sleeps through the night is a lot like looking for the Holy Grail: no one expects you to really find it, and along the way you'll probably be beseiged by killer rabbits. And although I've swung wide swaths of the spectrum between attachment parenting and out-and-out Ferberizing, I've seen the light about the way to get babies to sleep at night, and this list of everything you need to know about getting your baby to sleep at night is it:

Do What You Have To, But Remember Everything Has Its Consequences.

Nursing a baby to sleep works every time, but there will come a day when you'll be reaching for the Baby-Halcion, wishing you had instead done everything in your power to get that baby to fall asleep on its own. I mean, holding a sleeping baby is lovely, but just give me my sleep, thank you. I rue the day I thought my baby needed me sooo much he couldn't be without me for one moment. But hey, if you don't plan on sleeping for the next few years and don't mind lying down with your kid every night to get him to sleep until he moves out of the house, why, go ahead and hold that baby until he falls asleep.

The rest of the list is dead-on, too. Like teaching babies that nighttime is for sleeping and daytime is for play. Sounds obvious, but it also includes exposure to as much natural light as possible in the afternoon, strongly thought to improve sleep. Infant massage can be good, too, as is LOTS of holding and cuddling through the day. Just not at night.

There's also a list of things that don't help. Like starting solids and decreasing daytime naps. Good to know. Had I known that one I could have had fewer Napless Days of Hell. Did I read the wrong books or something? [sigh]

Photo: www.growingkids.co.uk

Cell Phones Disrupt Sleep

Amy S.F. Lutz — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:05:00 GMT

I just read about a new study funded by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum that concludes cell phone use right before bed can disrupt sleep. Naturally, my first thought wasn't, "Maybe I shouldn't use my cell phone before bed," but, "Wow, a study funded by an industry that concludes using that industry's products might be bad for you. Who said there's no integrity in big business?"

But maybe I should take care to use a land line at night. Researchers announced that cell phones release enough radiation to affect both the amount of time required to enter deep sleep, and the amount of time spent in that necessary stage of sleep. Such altered sleep patterns can result in insomnia and headaches. The body's ability to heal itself, which happens during the deepest stages of sleep, can also be compromised.

The study's results directly contradict a 2007 study by the UK Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme, which reported that cell phone use caused no immediate harm to the brain.

Ahh, a study funded by an industry that concluded using that industry's products can't possibly be bad for you. Order has been restored to the universe.