Baby sleep: What to do when it does not go as planned

As all parents know very often babies don’t sleep as much as we would want them to! If you are in that situation, I am sure you will have friends, family and even random strangers telling you what to do: «let them cry», » you should never let them cry», «take them to bed with you», «never rock them to sleep»…. All this conflicting advice is not helpful, especially when you are sleep deprived, exhausted and your emotions are running high. In this masterclass, Dr Ayten Bilgin explains the good and the bad of sleep training and all the different techniques that you can use. This masterclass is of interest to parents of young babies and soon-to-be parents.

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About the expert

Dr Ayten Bilgin’s research is in the area of developmental psychopathology particularly focusing on the following topics: early regulatory problems (excessive crying, sleeping or feeding problems), preterm birth (i.e., birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy), infant-parent attachment, and parenting.

Ayten uses large-scale longitudinal data to investigate whether and how early regulatory problems have an impact on the development of mental health problems. In addition, she is interested in understanding the long-term outcomes of being born preterm, specifically regarding social relationship skills, well-being, and emotional and behavioral problems.

Dr. Ayten Bilgin is a lecturer at the University of Essex.