Early Childhood Australia has many print and online resources to help parents and carers in understanding and dealing with sleeping patterns of young children, and common sleeping problems that may arise with babies and toddlers.
These links and resources on baby and toddler sleeping are quality-assured by Early Childhood Australia.
Click on one of the categories below for free online resources on baby and toddler sleeping issues:
- Babies: Crying and settling
- Babies: Feeding, teething, sleeping
- Babies: Safe sleep, SIDS
- Toddlers: Feeding and sleeping
- Fears, phobias and nightmares
The Supporting Best Practice web directory contains links to excellent early childhood information available online. All links have been hand-picked and quality-assured by Early Childhood Australia.
All books are quality-assured by Early Childhood Australia.
Helping your baby to sleep: Why gentle techniques work best offers gentle sleep techniques that take into account a baby's natural sleep habits. This type of parenting helps build a powerful bond between baby and parent.
Safe sleep space: A gentle, loving approach for helping infants and children find sleep offers a gentle, loving way of promoting feelings of safety and security in infants and young children. 'A real alternative to controlled crying/comforting.'
- Sleep in early childhood
An excellent overview on sleep in early childhood, covering issues such as: types of sleep for babies and young children, sleeping rituals, controlled crying, night-waking and wrapping. - Sleep - children and naps
Helpful parenting information about signs of tiredness and suggestions for baby daytime naps. - Sleep problems - babies
'Around one-third of babies experience excessive disrupted sleep.' This page contains a list of possible causes of disrupted sleep and ideas for relaxing the baby, as well as tips on how parents and carers can handle their own stress!
- SIDS and Kids
The National SIDS Council of Australia, also known as SIDS and Kids, has been instrumental in reducing the infant mortality rate by around 84 percent in the past 14 years. Red Nose Day is the cornerstone of SIDS and Kids fundraising Australia wide. - National Sleep Foundation (US)
Sydney Morning Herald 'Number of SIDS deaths rise'
'A sharp rise in the number of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) deaths has left experts worried in the lead-up to the annual Red Nose Day fund-raiser. ... To fight SIDS parents are urged to sleep their babies on their backs, not smoke near their babies and not to cover the heads of babies while they are asleep.'Sydney Morning Herald 'Kids get no sleep these days'
'Children aged 10 to 15 years are sleeping at least 30 minutes less every night compared with a generation ago, a study has found.'Transcript from ABC Radio's AM program, 'Modern children sleep less'
'Loss of sleep could be linked to weight levels. ... the problem may be self-reinforcing, because children with weight problems are often more prone to sleeping problems.'
