Once the miracle of birth produces a live, tiny baby, for many parents a journey to self exploration begins. Sleepless nights is one of them. A pregnancy miracle book review  that focuses on becoming pregnant may not  prepare parents well for what comes after.

Stepping back from any challenge allows a larger image to emerge that may in fact provide tools not to only reach the first step which for many women is to become pregnant but also to help parents to live a dream relationship (no pun intended) with their children.

One of the first challenges for new parents is their own sleepless nights as well as their baby’s. So how important is sleep and dreaming?

For thousands of years, we as a species have shown incredible curiosity in sleep and dreams. Still we know little about either.

What we do know is that sleep and dreams, especially deep sleep, plays a significant role in our mental, emotion and physical well being. We also know what interrupts dreams may be a sign that something serious may be going on with our mental, emotional or physical health.

For babies everything is magnified. They need more sleep than adults to allow their incredibly rapid growth as well as regenerate their cellular structure and refresh their brain.

The visible signs of regeneration during sleep is clear in hair and nail growth. A man can shave before going to sleep at night and wake up in the morning in need of another shave.

When you realize that body remains active during sleep and sleep by no means is a passive state, you also realize that there are necessary steps you can take to help the sleep cycle.

The steps you can take while awake for yourself are similar to the steps you can take for your baby to assist a restful and restorative sleep.

Again everything is magnified for babies. You need your sleep to allow your tired muscles to recuperate, and babies need even more to allow muscle tissue to grow at an exponential rate. Sleep allows their brain to focus more on growth.

The basic steps for a good night sleep begin with the bedding.  Is the bedding comfortable and safe for them?

The criteria for comfortable may not be as clear as you may think.

Since 1996, The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended against, that is right, against placing infants on soft surfaces or use soft objects that might trap air.

According to Carrie Shapiro-Mendoza, a senior scientist in the Maternal and Infant Health Branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Soft bedding has been shown to increase the risk of SIDS. Soft objects and loose bedding — such as thick blankets, quilts and pillows — can obstruct an infant’s airway and impose suffocation risk.”

Just like the dreamers of old proposed a systematic and deep approach to dream interpretation, we should also have a systematic and deep approach to exploring what is beneficial.

In this case, a marketing piece of information promoting softness may lead you to purchase a “soft” and dangerous bedding.

In-depth approach is not as hard as it may seem. The first step is to go to the authority on the subject and not a product manufacturer.