Mead - The 7pm to 7am sleeping baby routine: your no-cry plan to help baby sleep through the night

The early months with a new baby are exciting and magical, but can be very emotional and exhausting if sleep is disturbed night after night.

Baby sleep guru Charmian Meads flexible plan, developed from work with hundreds of families, is designed to encourage baby to sleep a full twelve hours a night, naturally, by as early as six weeks old without any tears. Shell show you gentle ways, whether you breastfeed or bottlefeed, to encourage your baby to:

• Take active and effective feeds during the day
• Stay awake and playful in the day (not night!)
• Feel full and content day and night
• Sleep twelve hour stretches at night with no dream feed

With 26 years experience working in childcare, Charmian Mead is a highly successful newborn sleep, routine and breast-feeding consultant and has been teaching her method for 20 years. She has worked all over the United Kingdom and internationally. During her years working with new parents, she has developed a sure-fire way of helping babies to sleep through the night from a very early age.

Praise for the 7pm to 7am Sleeping Baby Routine

To the mother and father of the baby who is not sleeping, I know how it can feel, having been in the situation three times myself. There are solutions and this book explains them in a succinct way, drawing on real science. Charmians practical advice deals with many of the common gut problems that babies experience, such as lactose intolerance, cows milk protein allergy and reflux. You discover ways to ensure your baby is happier and more comfortable so that you can get a good nights sleep. I would endorse it fully and wholeheartedly.

Professor Mike Thomson, Professor of Paediatric Gastroenterology at The Portland Hospital, London

A note from the author

My unique method for helping babies to get a full nights sleep is based on decades of experience working with babies and children. As you will see, at times my approach differs from general government advice in the UK. Throughout the book, I will explain how my method differs from current government recommendations and offer compromises, so that you can make your own decision about what is best for you and your child. For further guidance on my methods, see the video tutorials on my website: www.sleepingbabyroutine.co.uk.

WITH OVER 25 YEARS experience working with babies and children, my passion has led me to become a successful newborn sleep, routine and breastfeeding expert, which has allowed me to help parents get a great start with their newborns. I have helped parents all over the United Kingdom and internationally. I decided to write this book to offer anxious, tired parents an alternative to sleepless nights and inflexible, one-size-fits-all routines.

Many mothers Ive helped over the years have remarked that its a shame their little bundle of joy doesnt come with a user manual. (That, and an air valve for easy winding!) Clearly this is the result of a lack of planning on the part of the design department! The first three months with your baby, although exciting, can be a very emotional and exhausting time. This has not always been helped by health professionals, experts and other books on baby care offering advice that babies should be fed whenever they show signs of hunger and considering it normal for a baby to wake several times a night. A few weeks of continual, frequent night waking can leave even the most resilient parent frazzled. Its quite likely that you are reading this book because you, like so many other parents, are sleep-deprived and unable to decipher your new arrival. Perhaps your baby is having feeding or digestive issues. Or maybe she is unable to self-settle to sleep and wakes frequently during naps and at night.

In todays baby world, there are generally two main schools of thought: the baby-led, feed on demand, co-sleeping approach versus the strict routine, controlled crying method. I have been teaching my routine for 20 years now and, with my hands-on experience, I believe there is an urgent need for a more balanced, best of both worlds approach. The 7pm to 7am Sleeping Baby Routine focuses on your babys digestion and an understanding of how to meet her every need. A babys digestive comfort has an impact on how settled and relaxed she is, her ability to feed properly, sleep, stay awake and generally be happy in herself. My routine also teaches positive associations, for example sucking for food instead of for comfort or as an aid to falling asleep; self-settling instead of being rocked and cuddled to sleep; and learning the difference between night and day early on. My routine also encourages skin-on-skin cuddle naps as well as stimulating play.

The 7pm to 7am Sleeping Baby Routine can be followed from birth or introduced at a later stage if you need help after weeks, or even months, of night waking. For those of you reading this book before the birth, or in the first couple of weeks afterwards, you will be able to start as you mean to go on its much easier to establish good feeding and sleeping habits now, at the start of your babys life, than to break bad habits later on. And, by following the Sleeping Baby Routine, you could have your baby sleeping through the night for up to 12 hours as early as 68 weeks of age. How much of my routine you follow is up to you but, even if you apply just some of my 12 Steps for 12 Hours Sleep (), it will have a positive impact and you will have a greater understanding of your new baby.

My maternal instinct has driven my passion and my routine is based on over 25 years of experience helping hundreds of babies sleep at night, mothers successfully breastfeed and families adapt to a routine within an already busy family life. My routine has a newborns needs, well-being and digestive comfort at the heart of it and the results speak for themselves: babies on the Sleeping Baby Routine are happy and thriving, sleep through the night from an early age, and quickly learn the difference between night and day.

My method is based on decades of experience and, as you will see, at times goes against general government advice. Throughout the book I will explain my methodology and offer compromises as well as outlining the current government recommendations so you can make your own decision on what is best for your child.

We all live our lives by routine. Many of us get up in the morning, have breakfast, go to work, and eat lunch and dinner at around the same time each day. Routines help us to feel secure, and its no different for infants. For most babies who are fed on demand the baby-led approach the lack of structure means that they are essentially sorting out their own routine. As a result, your baby may well decide to sleep all day and be awake through the night, sleep while she is feeding or want to feed when you want her to sleep.

On a routine your baby will demand feeding every 34 hours, and often go longer between feeds during the day if left to her own accord. However, you will want to take advantage of these longer periods between feeds during the night so often you will need to wake your baby for her daytime feeds. In the first 68 weeks, if you feed your baby until she is naturally full, as my routine suggests, she will not need or want to be fed more frequently. You are not leaving your baby hungry, crying or waiting for feeds. If your baby is hungry, she is fed. You are merely making sure your baby feeds well and is wind-free at each feed period, encouraging some structured awake time to allow for digestion and to teach her the difference between night and day.