Infant Sleep

How Sleep Can be Helped With Music

Key Message: Research shows that music can help improve sleep quality

Action Point: Listen to certain types of music before bedtime to help you fall asleep quicker and improve your sleep quality
There’s nothing quite like a good night’s sleep. It paves the way for the day ahead, improving energy levels and mental performance.

Unfortunately, there are many out there who don’t get to enjoy the luxury of having a full eight hours of sleep. These unlucky individuals have to make do with lethargy and a type of sluggishness that they just can’t shake off.

Thankfully though, help may be at hand. Research has shown that music can actually help improve sleep quality and speed up the rate in which somebody dozes off. If you have issues with your slumber, it’s time to grab your iPod and continue reading. You might be about to discover the answer to your woes.
How Music Can Help You Sleep
The British Academy of Sound, a prestigious institution based in Great Britain, has found that certain types of songs can increase the chances of you falling and staying asleep.

Certain songs have the ability to relax the brain, which promotes rest.
What to Look for in a Song?
According to researchers, rhyme and repetition help people cross over into the land of nod. Not only this, but low tones and slow tempos help, too.

If you’re a fan of pulsating techno music, that’s unlikely to do the job, at least according to Lazlo Harmat, a German researcher tasked with understanding how music affects sleep.

Your best bet is to look for a tune that has around 60 beats per minute. If you’re wondering how to figure out a song’s BPM, simply search online, or count the beats in your […]

By |November 1st, 2015|Children, Health & Wellbeing, Infant Sleep, Research|0 Comments
Read More

Mumma’s – Do you want your sanity back?

 A study released in the Journal of Pediatrics in January this year has shown that specific probiotics can improve colic in babies. I don’t know about you, but when a baby cries endlessly and you are doing everything in your power to help them, it is awful. Your heart breaks, tears roll down your face and you feel so damn helpless.
Colic affects nearly 40% of babies and is defined as crying for more than three hours (OMG!!) each day or more than three days in a week. I think I would go insane if my newborn was crying this much – oh that’s right, I DID!!!
This study looked at 52 breast fed bubbas – half were given the probiotic strain Lactobacillus reutieri and half were given placebo for 21 days. By the end of the 21 days, the bubs receiving the probiotics had 50% reduction in crying time compared to the placebo group. UNBELIEVABLE!!!
I don’t want to sound dramatic, but that 50% improvement could be the difference between totally losing the plot and getting post natal depression or not. I work with so many tired, exhausted mummas and I know this research will now be part of my clinical protocols. It will make an enormous difference to their experience of motherhood. My early motherhood days are clouded with darkness, bone aching fatigue and loneliness. If Sophia had cried 50% less I think it would have be so incredibly different.
Please pass this blog onto any Mumma you know!
Reference:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25444531

Receive Emma’s healthy recommendations straight to your inbox!
Email Address

By |March 12th, 2015|Health & Wellbeing, Infant Sleep, Preconception & Pregnancy, Research|0 Comments
Read More

Emma’s Book Booster: For the health conscious parent

Child Health Guide
I have used this guide for a number of years now and find it irreplaceable. It is a manual on holistic pediatrics and Dr Neustaedter provides so much information that you can implement. Preventative medicine is always the best, especially when it comes to our children. Learn how to strengthen their immune system naturally, as well as treat both acute and chronic childhood illnesses.
Ideal for parents-to-be and parents.

Healthy Child, Healthy World
This tip-filled book helps you negotiate the world of toxins in your home and environment. To help green your environment, there are sections on body care, children’s toys, outdoor spaces, water, air, cleaning products and more. With plenty of easy to implement tips, I loved this book.
Ideal for pregnant women and parents of small children.

No Drama Discipline
Written by one of my favourite authors on neuroscience, this book is written to help parents negotiate the topic of discipline. Highlighting the link between a child’s neurological development and the way a parent reacts to misbehaviour, this book provides brilliant practical strategies for win – win disciplining. Anything that can help me navigate the early childhood years is perfect!
Ideal for parents, nannies, godparents and grandparents.

The Holistic Baby Guide
Written by one of my favorite acupuncturist and Chinese medicine doctors, Dr Neustaedter goes through all the most common childhood ills and describes natural medicine, nutritional information and much more to strengthen immunity. As a naturopath, I love this book as it’s a fantastic guide for parents to use at home.
Ideal for parents-to-be and parents.

Receive Emma’s healthy recommendations straight to your inbox!
Email Address

By |January 21st, 2015|Children, Fertility, Health & Wellbeing, Hormones, Hypnobirthing, Infant Sleep|0 Comments
Read More

My Most Used Essential Oil

I adore lavender essential oil and use it every single day. Did you know it takes 27 kilos of lavender tops to produce just 450ml of therapeutic grade essential oil? As a naturopath and herbalist I am constantly amazed at how herbs can heal – not just physically but also emotionally and mentally. Often we overlook the more gentle and subtle therapies such as aromatherapy and head straight to liquid herbs and nutritionals.
My love of essential oils began as a teenager when I began using them for perfume – the heady scent of jasmine, the grounding effect of lavender to the uplifting notes of lemongrass. In fact I stumbled across Lemongrass House in Phuket and nearly exploded with excitement! They hand make a huge range of products all based on lemongrass essential oil and supply many of the worlds leading spas.
Let me tell you about the most frequently used essential oil in my house – lavender. It’s been used for thousands of years for it’s calming and relaxing effect. I remember being in hospital when Sophia was born and I sprinkled drops on the floor under our bed. Research shows that pain scores are lower after having a C-section when you smell lavender essential oil regularly, it is a natural analgesic!
Every midwife that came in to our room would literally stop, take a deep breath and visibly relax. In fact, a study involving nurses and workplace stress showed that their stress symptoms reduced by over 55 % when they used lavender essential oil. Check out the study as it makes great evidence for adding a few drops of lavender to your workplace!
Every single day of Sophia’s life I have added lavender essential oil to […]

By |February 24th, 2014|Children, Health & Wellbeing, Infant Sleep, Naturopathy, Research|0 Comments
Read More

Modern Day Mothers and their Stone Age Babies

I have been studying Infant Sleep Consultancy over the last 3 months and have delved into dozens of parenting books as well as what the research has to say about this confusing topic. As a mother of a 20 month old who never slept through until 14 months, I often wondered what was the “norm” for babies and if what we were doing “was working”.
The recent Paleo push on the diet front got me thinking about Paleo babies – they were wired the same way as our modern babies yet were raised very differently. For thousands of years, babies were carried until they could crawl, shared a family bed, their cries received quick responses and parents had the support of a wider community. Jean Ledlioff discusses this in her enlightening book The Continuum Concept.
That made me think – was I parenting according to my child’s biological needs or was my parenting style revolving around the modern cultural “norm”? Let’s delve into the world of self regulation and hormones for more explanation.
When we are tired it is easy to want your child to fit around your needs, and to a certain extent this needs to happen. But imagine if we had an extended network of family and friends that could fill the gaps when we were too exhausted? As a single mum with family interstate and overseas, it would make an enormous difference to my day-to-day life.
Paleo babies had the very same biological needs as our modern babies – to be touched and reassured frequently. Babies and young children need to learn how to self regulate and they learn this survival skill through the responsive care of their caregivers.
Dr. Allen Schore is one of the […]

By |August 17th, 2013|Children, Infant Sleep|0 Comments
Read More
How to Heal Your Adrenals Naturally

How to Heal Your Adrenals Naturally

Adrenal fatigue is one of the most under diagnosed illnesses in western society. Download a copy of my free ebook to learn about the symptoms and how to heal your Adrenals naturally.

Great! Your ebook is being sent to your inbox...