Basic lessons for newborns

COSENTINO, THE LOST TREASURE

An exciting adventure as Cosentino the grand illusionist is about to perform a great escape when he gets caught up in a major mission. Easy to read with cartoon illustrations and great use of fonts.

WEIRDO 10: MESSY WEIRD

By Anh Do and illustrated by Jules Faber, these super funny stories about the Do family will have readers laughing out loud. Follow the Do kids as they try to clean up to earn extra pocket money. A real page turner.

THE 1,000 YEAR OLD BOY

Written by Ross Welford, this is a mysterious book with a beautiful theme and great story telling. Alfie Monk is like any other nearly teenage boy, except he’s 1,000 years old. This is one book that’s hard to put down. CHERYL Fingleson, known to her patients as the Sleep Coach, says the fact women are having babies later in life these days makes it harder for them to cope with sleep deprivation.

“A big thing for us to remember is that a lot of new mums are having their babies later in life so they are used to having control of their own life for longer,” she says.

“They can choose which time they go to bed and wake up, so a newborn baby is a real shock to their system and sleep deprivation hits them like a tonne of bricks when they’re feeding every few hours throughout the night.”

Fingleson agrees with baby sleep expert Dr Harvey Karp’s theory on the fourth trimester – a belief that babies should be in utero a further three to four months longer, but are born early otherwise they would be too big to fit through the birth canal.

Both experts agree that the job of a new parent therefore is to mimic the environment of the womb for at least the first three months of its life.

“When the baby is in your womb, they have the opposite sleep patterns to you in that they are awake during the night when you sleep and are swayed to sleep during the day as you move and walk around,” Fingleson says.

“The first thing a new parent needs to do is teach a baby day from night and the best way to do this is to get them out in the sun during the day. But one of the main things that happens when a baby is born is people come to visit regularly and the sleeping baby is woken and passed around from person to person.

“I tell new mothers to make their baby’s sleep their number one priority because an overtired baby finds it difficult to sleep.

“Visitors need to understand the mother has been through a trauma, even if it was an easy delivery.

“Then, consider the fact their milk is coming in, their hormones are in disarray and they’re having to navigate a new relationship with their partner.

“New mothers need to use those first few months to nurture themselves and be brave to tell well-meaning friends that it is not a good time to visit.”

The Dream Start Baby survey also found 53 per cent of new mothers claimed sleep deprivation caused tension with their partners and 46 per cent said being tired made it hard for them to perform everyday tasks.

I TELL NEW MOTHERS TO MAKE THEIR BABY’S SLEEP THEIR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY BECAUSE AN OVER TIRED BABY FINDS IT DIFFICULT TO SLEEP