Read here first if you are in a baby sleep emergency
It's awful to be so sleep deprived that you've had to come to the sleep emergency articles first! Not only are your days full to overflowing with the physical and emotional demands of caring for a little one (so that paid work, if you're doing it, often feels like a break), but you're not sleeping at night. Sometimes it can seem like your baby never sleeps at all.
Please talk with your local doctor if you think either yourself or your baby might have a medical condition or health problem which is affecting sleep. Babies may have very disrupted sleep if they have a fever or viral infection, for instance. A baby who isn’t gaining weight adequately might have very broken sleep, too, although if your baby is tracking along his or her percentile line on the growth chart, then feeds usually aren't the problem. Some little ones snore at night and wake a lot because they have enlarged tonsils and adenoids. Also, some primary carers are in such severe sleep crisis that they are best receiving hospital or residential support.
Sometimes, you might be coming to these sleep emergency pages because you're worrying that you're not doing things right with your baby's sleep. Since you care so much about your baby's well-being, you find it's in your mind all the time!
You’ll find strategies in these sleep emergency pages for when you're extremely sleep deprived, and also for when you're very upset and worried about your baby’s sleep. You can start these straight away, then move on to the comprehensive information in The Possums Sleep Program.
It can be helpful to know that for many parents, what feels like a sleep emergency right now is no longer an emergency after just a week or two of trying out these ideas.
These six topics in the It's an emergency section of The Possums Sleep Program are the place to start if you're in a baby sleep crisis. To really turn things around over the next couple of weeks, so that the days and nights are as enjoyable as possible, and you're no longer so utterly exhausted and sleep-deprived, please go to the whole of The Possums Baby Sleep Program, starting here. Or you might ike to go to the Brief & simple version first, starting here.
