You’ve probably heard people saying that sleep can be a hard-to-get luxury for new parents. Unfortunately, that’s fairly true and many new moms and dads struggle a lot in the first few months of their baby’s arrival. But, don’t get discouraged just yet because there are people there to help, called sleep specialists. Here, we have gathered five of their best tips on how to get your bundle of joy sleeping so you can get some shut-eye time, too!

Invest in Blackout Blinds or Curtains

Although some newborn babies don’t mind sleeping in bright sunlight and lots of noise, the older the child gets, the better you should prepare their sleep environment. Save yourself the hustle of putting a child to sleep during the day in a bright sunny room by getting nice blackout curtains or blinds. By making the room dark, you will limit stimulation for your baby. The darkness will also increase their melatonin levels, which will help them calm down and go to sleep much easier.

Buy a White Noise Machine

White noise is a great helper to all parents! It calms babies down easily and can help isolate other noises from your environment which can prevent them from falling asleep or may wake them up from their nap or night sleep earlier. Do yourself and your partner a favor and get a white noise machine. You may find out that you too sleep better with it turned on!

Watch the Wake Windows for Better Sleep

If you haven’t heard about wake windows before, you will be surprised to find out how important and helpful they are for both babies and parents. In the first three to four months of a baby’s life, their wake windows should be no more than 30-60 minutes. Usually, when the time to put the baby down for a nap comes, they will start showing signs of tiredness. Some of them include not showing interest in toys and the person talking to them, arching backward, being fussy, trying to suck their thumb, and more.

Diaper Changes Make a Difference

Make sure to change your baby’s diaper before you put them down for a nap or for the night. If they feel uncomfortable and wet, they may have a really hard time calming down and going to sleep. Try doing that in dim lighting while talking calmly to them. This may become a ritual later on and help you show them it’s time for bed, which will make going to sleep much easier.

Don’t Put the Lights On During Night Feeds

When your baby wakes up for a night feed, you should not turn on the lights. Try using a small night light and quietly and calmly try to do all you have to do so you don’t wake them up completely. It will be much easier to put them down again if you haven’t turned on bright lights and if you were as quiet as possible.

Experts dig into the trend known as “sharenting” which is the act of parents oversharing pictures of their kids on social media. While it may sound like something sweet, let’s take a look at how it may be dangerous and why people do it in the first place.

Why Do Parents Share?

Statistics show that more than ¾ of parents nowadays share photos of their children on social media. While some may be curating the perfect image, having the desire to show their children (and family life in general) in perfect light, some couples show the struggle of being a parent.

Social media is taking a turn and while there are still middle-class people who try to present their lifestyle as roses and flowers, many people take the opportunity to share the opposite. As we’re speaking of parents, the infamous #parentlife hashtag has grown into a movement that shows the not-so-glamorous side of being a parent. This is exactly why this movement is successful as people see an opportunity to relate to their everyday parenting issues with everyday normal people.

The Issues of Social Media & Parenting

Connecting with like-minded people has never been easier with the power of social media. However, though sharenting helps parents communicate and bond with their similar problems, there are also safety issues that no one seems to be considering before they hit that “share” button.

A child’s digital footprint begins the day they are born as parents want to introduce their child to their circle of social media friends. Often, such photos include the kid’s full name and birthday but parents rarely think about the chances of their children’s identity being stolen. However, statistics show that about 14% of parents report their children to have their identities stolen.

Other Risks of Sharenting

Not only does sharenting expose children to predators, but nearly 60% of teens have also been a victim of cyberbullying. Oversharing teenagers is a whole other topic but when anyone can trace down a person to their first photos of a human being (we’re talking about a random picture of a child, sleeping in the car with their mouth open), they can put that kid at risk of bullying later on.

So, here’s some advice for new parents: it shouldn’t be an issue to share a photo of a newborn, but just be careful with the information provided and think about the long-term consequences of such photos being exposed to anyone on the World Wide Web.