If you’re frustrated with sleep training, or your usual sleep aids just aren’t doing the trick to help your baby get enough sleep, you may want to give infant massage a try. Infant massage has many benefits, including time to relax and bond with your baby. How does infant massage help my baby sleep? [...]
At 6 months, you may have noticed your newborn has reached some important development milestones. Your baby is starting to become aware of their surroundings, particularly with communicating and speech. They may begin teething, and solid food will start entering their diet. They might start sitting up, standing, and taking their first steps. And sleepwise, [...]
You can read dozens of books on what to expect with your first child, but when that time finally comes, everything you thought you knew may go out the window. Maybe you had certain routines and expectations for putting Baby to sleep, but those didn’t work. And that’s okay. New parents often make these mistakes [...]
Getting your baby to sleep soundly and consistently can be very frustrating for new parents. Newborns sleep most of the day and wake to feed every few hours–daytime or nighttime. Plus, babies’ sleep cycles change as they get older: they begin sleeping for longer periods at night or take naps during the day. If you [...]
Establishing your baby’s sleeping habits is an important part of early development. Teaching him how to fall asleep and stay asleep through good practices will lay the foundation for how they sleep when they are older. With different methods and opinions of sleep training out there, parents can easily become overwhelmed by conflicting information. We’re [...]
If you’re an expecting mother or brand-new parent looking for a little help with your newborn, you might be thinking of hiring a nanny. A nanny can certainly help you care for your baby, but you might consider hiring a newborn care specialist for this special time. What is a newborn care specialist? A newborn [...]
We are inherently creatures of habit, so it’s no surprise our babies can benefit greatly from our implementing a schedule into their daily lives. Not everyone may agree on the importance of creating a schedule for infants and toddlers, but the statistics and experts still move to show that developing a routine for our children [...]
What Happens to the Mother’s Body in the Postpartum Period? What is considered postpartum care starts right after birth for about six weeks. During this time, a mother’s body goes through hormonal changes and her uterus returns to normal size. Other health changes during the postpartum period can include the forming of colostrum (that ooey [...]
Have you been co-sleeping and now want to know how to transition your baby to a crib? It’s a delicate move, but one that can be done very smoothly with some basic techniques and a lot of patience (or, just call us, but that’s another blog!). When you first get home after birth, you never [...]
How much does a night nanny cost for newborns? Looking for night nanny costs? Wondering how much it costs and whether it’s something you can afford? Night nannies for newborns can be surprisingly affordable. At Maternal Instincts, we have a sliding scale, based on the experience of the night nanny. Depending on your family’s needs, [...]