J&J;’s Camp Baby was such a great experience for me and I tried to take lots of notes to share with all of you. I do want to say what an honor it was to be included and to be among such amazing women. I made tons of new friends and enjoyed visiting with one my favorite blogging mommas, Jamie.

Our first speaker was Dr. Jodi Mindell, who shared with us tips for getting your infant to sleep. I kept thinking to myself how wonderful it would have been to have had this lecture when our Emily was born. This lady knew her stuff, but she was not preachy or condemning parents for not doing things the right way. She was matter-of-fact about it, and had excellent tips to offer us.

She stated that the three most important steps to getting your baby to sleep were:

1. Good sleep schedule
2. Bedtime routine- Which includes three to four quiet activities, bath/washing, a little baby massage, stories, and cuddle time.
3. Falling asleep independently- Nursing/feeding your little one early in bedtime and putting them to bed drowsy, but still awake.

For getting our older children to sleep (and stay in bed) she shared these ideas:

1. Making a bedtime chart or a sticker chart for going to bed nicely (We use the tickets for this one too!)
2. Employing a sleep fairy in your house- This was an idea that I believe that worked for one of her patients. They would tell the child that if they slept in their bed, that the sleep fairy would come and visit them. The sleep fairy would leave a penny under the pillow to let the child know that they had visited them, and would help encourage the child to stay in bed all night.
3. Using a good morning light- Setting a light on a timer in your child’s room that would come on when it would be an acceptable hour for them to get up. She said using a clock is too difficult for younger children, but a light is a great option to wake them at an appropriate time.

For separating children (twins) into separate beds/rooms:

1. Have a new bedroom party for the children with balloons and streamers! Celebrate that they are “so big” and ready for their new rooms.
2. Put a picture of their sibling in their room that they can look at.
3. Transitional objects like blankets or a special stuffed animal can help ease the absence.

One parent expressed the difficulties she was having with getting rid of the binky, and the doctor suggested letting the child keep it. The target age for transitioning your child off of a pacifier is by four. If your child is resisting this before they are four, just let them keep it. It is more worrisome if your child sucks their thumb because this damages their teeth.

Dr. Mindell is working with Johnson & Johnson to provide tools for parents to help them with sleep difficulties. You can go to their site and create a customized sleep profile with tips tailored to your child’s sleep issues (scroll to the bottom and this option is on the left in a purple cloud).

Dr. Mindell has also written a book called, “Sleep Deprived No More” that she gave to each of the bloggers. This is an autographed copy of her book sharing tips for getting pregnant mommies to sleep better and tips for early motherhood.

If you would like to win a copy of this autographed book, please leave me a comment by Friday (04/11) and I will include you in the giveaway. If you have a sleep tip you would like to include that has worked for you, please let us know!

More information from the numerous speakers to come…