Happiest Baby on the Block Author Talks Sleep

Sleep issues plague most new parents. How to get your child to sleep and keep them there? Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support nonprofit, interviews Dr. Harvey Karp, bestselling author of the wildly popular The Happiest Baby on the Block and The Happiest Toddler on the Block, talks about his new book Happiest Baby on the Block Guide to Sleep. Dr. Karp is a pediatrician, child development specialist, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the USC School of Medicine.

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Sleep issues are the number one frustration of parents with kids under the age of 5.
What is the science of sleep? Why do babies and young children wake more often at night than adults?
How does the REM sleep of babies and young children differ from adults?
Do we all automatically wake up when we hit a certain cycle of our sleep?
How can we help our kids learn to put themselves back to sleep?
How does a child’s personality or temperament affect how they sleep and how they go to sleep?
For those who are just starting out and haven’t established habits yet, what would you recommend that they do at the beginning to establish good sleep habits with their children?
Where do you recommend newborns sleep?
At what age is a baby physically ready to sleep through the night and what do you mean by sleep through the night?
Should you wake a child before putting them to bed?
Should you wake a child to feed her?
Does the separation from a birth mother affect the adopted child’s sleep habits?
What is the best way to calm fussy or colicky babies? The 5 S’s.
Should you rock or nurse your baby to sleep?
Do you recommend pacifiers?
What type of white noise is effective at soothing infants to sleep?
How loud does the white noise need to be for bedtime for babies?
How long should parents continue to use white noise at bedtime?
How long should parents continue to swaddle their infant?
How should nap time and bedtime routines differ?
How can parents of newly adopted children establish good bedtime routines while still encouraging bonding and attachment?
What if you’ve already got a child that is used to waking up at night to feed or to have mom or dad come to them to put them back to sleep? What can parents do to establish good sleep habits with older babies and toddlers?
Is it sometimes necessary to let a baby cry?
If you decide to let your child cry it out, what technique should you use?
Should you allow a baby to take a bottle to bed with them?
Will letting a baby cry cause psychological damage?
How does your technique fit with attachment which is on the forefront of many adoptive parents’ brains?
Should parents use The Family Bed?