Alba Alves Doula Services

08/03/2024

The core mission of CPSM is to provide our students with the education needed to support families through whatever sleep struggles their children are facing.

10/14/2020

I hope you be curious and learn something new today!!

The lighting that your baby/child is exposed to in the run up to bedtime has a HUGE impact on their sleep. Recent research has shown that those exposed to bright light in the hour before bedtime release 88% less melatonin (the main sleep hormone) than those in a dim environment. The picture I have shared here is about the worst environment for sleep, not only is there a bright light next to the baby, but also a blue light - aka melatonin killer!

What does this mean practically?

1. No TV (or other screen exposure) for the hour before bedtime begins )eg if bedtime starts at 7 and they’re asleep at 8, then turn the TV off at 6).

2. Don’t use your main living area lights for the hour before the bedtime routine begins. Use a dim, low watt lamp (old style incandescent bulbs are much better than energy saving ones) or a Himalayan salt lamp (note these are NOT suitable for use in the bedroom or during the bedtime routine though!).

3. Don’t use your main bathroom light during baths/teethbrushing. Use battery operated fairy lights or fake candles instead.

4. In your child’s room, don’t use regular lighting at all (even a lamp unless it has a red bulb in it). My favourite bedtime light is the Lumie Bedbug, which has much lower levels of blue than any other nursery light and can be dimmed down to a warm peach and left on all night as a nightlight).

5. Throw out any nightlights/sleep trainer lights/thermometer lights/light projectors in your child’s room that use white, blue, green, purple or pink light (like the baby in the picture accompanying this post). They are all bad for sleep!

Lighting REALLY matters when it comes to sleep!

For my top pick of lights to use to aid sleep see:

https://sarahockwell-smith.com/sarah-recommends/

Read more about the scientific research here:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180305160151.htm

The brand new, fully updated, edition of ‘The Gentle Sleep Book’ is out now - if you’re looking to understand and improve your baby or child’s sleep *without* conventional sleep training: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gentle-Sleep-Book-toddlers-pre-schoolers/dp/0349405204/ref=zg_bs_270766_7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=FMRVT8SST49MSNRB7MKT

06/16/2020

05/11/2020

I hope you can read through it and may agree or disagree with however it add food for your thought today ...

Day 6 of European Babywearing Week
💖
Babies are born at just the right time; they are born expecting to continue their development in their parent’s arms. This helps them to become social beings, learn how to ask for and receive comfort, learn how to love and be loved.
🌈
An expansion of this short statement: Babies are sometimes described as being “born too early”, or “before they’re really ready”, as if women’s bodies weren’t good enough to grow their children fully. They absolutely are! Mothers and babies’ bodies have evolved together - to grow and develop and thrive together. It works just as it should, when mothers are cared for and nourished by the community around them.

It’s no surprise that if babies are indeed born premature, that being close to their mother’s body is still the place where they do best. In time, more and more NICUs will recognise this and work to increase skin to skin provision for the tiniest babies.

Did you carry your baby from birth?

03/08/2020

A new study confirms what many of us already know--most babies don't sleep through the night their first year, and that's completely normal.

12/24/2019

A year ago, the Levy family hired me as Postpartum Doula/ Baby Care Specialist( baby nurse). Today they invited me back to celebrate baby Zane 1st birthday 🍰. Thanks so much Dr Ja Hong and Dr Marc 😃. So great to see everyone and see how much Zane has grown !

12/22/2019

After you give birth, you tell your own birth story. What you say and how you say it matters more than you know. Why doesn't anyone tell the inspiring ones?

12/18/2019

So here are they! Usually when babies use.. Disengagement Cues they are telling you : they need a break from whatever activity he/she doing;
they need a rest;
change in activity;
or they may need your help! They may need help to stop eating, playing or paying attention. They may "take a rest" themselves.

Easy To See:

* Turning head away
* Crying/Fussiness
* Coughing/Choking
* Back arching
* Falling asleep
* Squirming or kicking
* Pulling away from you or breast
* Pale or red skin( color change)
* Spitting up/vomiting

Not As Easy To See

* Turning eyes away
* Fast breathing
* Yawning
* Wrinkled forehead
* Dull looking eyes
* Frowning
* Hand to mouth
* Hiccupsl

** NCAST Program, University of Washington , School of Nursing Booklets. Center for Human Development.

My hope is that the Infants Cues described here will shine a light on your understanding of why infants/babies do what they do and as a result facilitate a better/easy communication between infants and caregivers!

You may don't get "right" all the time however the more uninterrupted time you spend with he/she ...it will come easy to you to get what he/she is communicating!

xoalba

12/14/2019

Disengagement Cues! Coming up next week. Stay Tune