Babies are not miniature adults.

Sometimes we expect an awful lot of these immature little humans whose brains take 25 years to fully mature. And probably the area we have the least realistic expectation is how we think they should sleep.

To hear some people talk about sleep in infancy, you would think that sleep was a behavioural problem and parents need to take control and correct the habits of their child whose waking is manipulative and intentional!

Reality check: adults cannot control their own sleep, let alone their baby’s!

The safest place for a baby to sleep in the first 6-12 months is in the same room as their mother. Day and night.

Many parents understand the need for a bedside nursery to make nighttime parenting easier when their baby cosleeps at night. However, learning the safest place for daytime sleep is not the room they prepared for the baby can come as a shock! (When exactly will this child be sleeping in their nursery?)

Your baby will be hanging out where you are so you might as well set up your space to work for you.

During pregnancy, a woman finds herself the centre of attention. Even total strangers care about her comfort and well-being. She is urged to eat well, get enough rest and take care of herself.

Labour and birth change everything - most significantly, the new mother must share the limelight with the new kid in town.

Breastfeeding is a relationship between a baby and their mother. But it is also a relationship between a baby and the breasts. A complex system of hormones guides your baby in many ways which might surprise you.

One of the biggest barriers to successfully establishing breastfeeding is the use of routines or schedules.

From the innocent-sounding “feed, play, sleep” to the extreme regimes favoured by some sleep training advocates, using the clock to structure babies feeding patterns is not compatible with the natural relationship between baby and breasts.

Babies are always safer if they sleep in the presence of an adult caregiver compared to sleeping in a room on their own, so during the day your baby is safest if they are sleeping near to an adult who is looking after them.

It is a mistake to confuse lack of language with lack of communication skills.

Although human babies do not begin to speak recognisable words until around the second year, they very clearly communicate their needs and feelings from the moment of birth. However parents can’t download a translation app so learning what babies are telling us takes a bit of time.

Resenting your child's contact naps because you are wasting time that could be better spent does you no good at all. You might have intentionally chosen this pathway or stumbled across it on your journey. Here you are, practicing the gentle attachment style of parenting which appealed so much ... and wishing your child would just lie down in the cot and fall asleep by themselves like all the other babies.

Around 30 years ago, a significant change in baby sleep advice was made and the death rate from Sudden Infant Death (SIDS) was consequently halved. Parents were no longer advised to lay their babies on their tummies to sleep, instead to lay them on their backs. The “Back To Sleep Campaign” has been recognised for its role in educating parents and saving lives.

There are probably more myths and misconceptions about infant sleep than any other aspect of raising a child – and you can’t believe everything you hear! In fact, as many as one-third of parents admit to lying about their babies sleep patterns in an effort to conform with societies beliefs about what is normal!

In the womb, your baby shares your natural body clock. It takes at least 3 months for infants to develop their own circadian rhythm.

It is normal and natural then for your baby to have no discernible day/night pattern to feeding and sleeping. They lack the hormonal control to establish one. And it is not something they can be taught, no matter how much parents try and self-styled "sleep trainers" promise. What is more likely to occur is various techniques and programs are tried until one "magically" works coincidentally as the natural development stage is reached and circadian rhythm begins to function. Most babies naturally begin sleeping longer stretches at night around 3 months.