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 Videotaped
and Live Appearance:
CNN
December 2002
From Dr. Sanjay Gupta
"When sleeping like a baby is just a dream"
Every parent knows-and dreads-the sound of a baby wailing, especially
in the middle of the night.
Andy and Melanie Berlin of Annapolis, Maryland, knew the sound better
than most.
Their 10-month-old son Benjamin would wake every hour throughout
the night.
"I was completely exhausted," Melanie Berlin says, "and it was very
hard to care for him. I was getting two or three hours of sleep
a night."
Sleepless nights are the norm for new parents, up to a point. According
to the American Academy of Pediatrics, babies need about six months
to develop mature sleeping habits; until that time many babies sleep
only one or two hours at a time.
At 10 months, however, Benjamin should have been sleeping about
11 hours at night, the average according to the National Sleep Foundation.
For help, the Berlins turned to clinical social worker and infant
sleep counselor Kim West, who is called "The Sleep Lady". West is
Coordinator of the Behavioral Sleep Program at Mt. Washington Pediatric
Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
"I work with parents to come up with a flexible routine and to learn
how to read the child's sleepy cues so that we can get them to bed
at the right time," she says, "and then allow a gentle approach
where the parent is present and can be supportive and nurturing
to help them learn to put themselves to sleep."
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