Dad Blogs - Useful Parenting Tips for Dads » Sleep

Your best tooth fairy strategies and stories?

Paul Banas — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 08:40:58 +0000

My son woke up yesterday morning, despondent that the tooth fairy had missed him. This was only his second tooth, so he has illusions of hitting the lottery with a take that would keep him in new Lego sets from here until his next birthday. His faith was unbending on the existence of said fairy, but he needed a reason for her non-appearance. Like any dad trying to keep the magic of mystical creatures, including Santa, alive, I had to think quickly. Quizzing him, I discovered that he had been up since dawn waiting for a little flying creature to appear bearing banknotes to exchange for his “lost” tooth. The solution was easy. As man has done for millennia, the trick to maintaining faith in whatever is to embellish the story to make up for every exception. Faith isn’t created by belief, it’s created by the desire to believe. All I had to do was suggest that the Fairy only comes at dawn and would never appear if he/she knew that a little boy was sitting wide-eyed waiting for the guest appearance. With a quick “OK,” I bought myself another day. This time, I had my cash ready and I surveyed the position of the tooth before sleep so I could get at it early. Within 15 minutes after my little boy went to sleep, the fairy arrived. His existence was secured. And all was right with the world. If you have a child with at least two lost teeth, I bet you already have a tooth fairy story. Let’s hear ‘em! Share on Facebook

Eight Baby and kid sleep tricks your doctor will never tell you

Paul Banas — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:54:44 +0000

While moms and dads often can't resist a cuddle with the baby or even trying to get the baby to smile or laugh while changing and feeding, everyone will get back to sleep faster if you are calm and efficient in the semi-dark, getting the baby back in bed with as little distraction as possible. ... If you're so sleep-obsessed that you have to check on your baby every few minutes, you're going to end up teaching the baby that every gurgle or whimper gets mom or dad's attention. ... While it might be risky to wake up a baby for more stimulation, if you can accomplish the feeding to a half asleep baby, it might mean your baby remains full and satisfied all the way until morning This means you get some much needed baby sleep of your own.

Our intrepid mom and dad reviewers rate the Symmetry Sleep Positioner

Paul Banas — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:44:43 +0000

The challenge was, our active son actually rolled over by himself at 1 week, so was not likely to stay on his side. ... In the months before he was able to really move on his own, we place him in the SSP within his crib, and he slept comfortably. The device stopped being useful once he could roll himself off of it, but by then he was moving enough that the flat head syndrome was not an issue.