Makes a great baby shower gift!

The Sleepbaby cd was created after my son Luke was born. I felt completely helpless when he would cry at night, every night, for 4 hours straight. It broke my heart that I was doing all I could to help him and still he cried. When he was a toddler, Luke had trouble with settling down to sleep and then staying asleep. On a busy street with car alarms and delivery trucks surprising us at anytime, it was a battle to get through a nap without being disturbed.

I thought, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a solution to these problems?" I looked into it and found that there has been much scientific research done on white noise and sleep. What glorious discovery!
Studies have shown that babies (as well as adults and animals) are calmed by certain sounds. Sleepbaby is composed of these soothing sounds specially designed to comfort your newborn baby and calm your toddler. We use white noise and the sound of a mother's heartbeat to calm your baby and aid sleep. White noise helps mask ambient noises inside or outside the house that wake baby up. With Sleepbaby playing in the background, my son now sleeps soundly through the noises of the day and the soothing sounds enable him to find his way back to sleep when he does wake.

I also use it at night when it's time to settle down to sleep. It works like a charm! There's no more crying at bedtime.

-Diana Extein, B.A. Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Harvey Karp, author of the popular parenting book, "The Happiest Baby on the Block", suggests that babies cry because they miss the comforting sounds of the womb. He highly recommends the use of white noise to calm your baby. Why does white noise work? It simulates the sound of a mother's body and pulsing blood... the sounds your baby knew well just a little while back. Does any white noise work? No way! We tested many white noise cds that were harsh and scary. Do not subject your baby to these awful sounds! Read more on our Learn More and Frequently Asked Questions page about why our white noise is most effective and gentle.
Bedtime Routines - Why you need one
Sleepbaby is a great addition to your bedtime routine. Experts agree that you should start with a bedtime routine as early in your child's life as possible. This is so that your baby can start to recognize the actions that signal night time is coming and it will soon be time to sleep. Having a bedtime routine often helps babies settle down to sleep more easily. Here's our tips on setting a bedtime routine. You don't have to follow all of the steps. You can take or leave what you feel would work for your unique situation. The most important thing is that whatever you choose to do, do it the same way, in the same order, every night that you possibly can. Babies love/want/need consistency to feel safe and secure.

#1 Eat
Babies who are breast or bottle fed:
Make sure they have a little to eat before they are too tired so that they can get through the next steps without feeling hungry. Hungry oftens equals cranky and cranky makes for an unpleasant bedtime routine. If they are too tired at this point and doze off while eating, try setting your start point earlier.

Babies or toddlers eating solids:
Dinner time! Set dinner at a resonable time when baby will not be tired yet and is in good spirits. Have toys or books available as a distraction to keep them happy in their seats longer. Make dinner time pleasant by using encouraging praise when they eat. If baby chooses to not eat, do not force the issue. Try dinner again after step 2. Do not make them feel guilty or bad. Believe it or not, babies do know how to follow their hunger signals. If only we could do this so well as adults!

#2 Bath
Keep the temperature at 100 degrees F or less. Check the temperature with one of the many wonderful bath thermometers out there. Baby's skin is very sensitive to heat but a too cold bath isn't very pleasant either. The warm water often induces sleepy feelings... a good thing at night! If your baby is one of the few that finds bathtime to be very stimulating, try it at a different point in the day.
#3 Sleepbaby!
Play your Sleepbaby cd softly in the background while you are going through the next steps. Your baby will start to relax to the soothing heartbeat and soon come to recognize these sounds as a signal to settle down to sleep.

#4 Massage
Some parents swear by the relaxing effects of baby massage. Massage helps promote circulation, relaxation, and bonding with parents. Use a good natural oil like almond (not for anyone with family history of nut allergies!) or olive. There are great books on baby massage techniques that you can find at your library, local bookstore, or Amazon.com.

#5 Books
Start reading to your baby as early as possible. They love to hear the rhythm of the words and to see the colorful pictures. They love this close, quiet time with their parents and it fosters a love of reading later on. This is not the time for the firetruck book! Pick out a few quiet books about bedtime or love. Read in a gentle voice.

#6 Say night night!
With the Sleepbaby cd still on, take your baby around the room saying night night to everyday and favorite objects. Night night lamp (turn off the lamp), night night door (close the door), night night teddy bear, night night window (close the drapes). Not only does your baby start to recognize that this is time to go to sleep, they are learning the words that correspond to the objects they see all the time. Let the soothing sounds of Sleepbaby lull your baby into blissful sleep as you rock, nurse, cuddle, say goodnight, or whatever works for you. You can keep your Sleepbaby cd playing for as long as you wish. Wait until at least 20 minutes of sleep before turning down and then off. If your baby has trouble with too many night wakings or trouble sleeping through noises in the house or outside, try keeping it on softly while she sleeps. Sweet dreams!

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