Worried about getting your kids to sleep on time amid all the excitement of Christmas Eve. Don’t worry, says Emily Writes – it’s easy when you know how. A new tool has been created to help parents with when is safe to hand out the Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. No it’s not a prescription … Read more
It’s time to reveal the truth about co-sleepers. Emily Writes exposes the secret lives of families who bed share. I meet her in a dark alley. I hear her before I see her. She’s holding a shusher in her hand and it’s rhythmically shushing into the deep impenetrable blackness of the night. I assume she … Read more
Mum of two Emily Holdaway doesn’t sleep much, but she says she is thriving. Here’s her secret. It’s been two and a half years since our first child was born. Two and a half years since I’ve had a full night sleep. If you had told me this before motherhood I would have laughed at … Read more
Around the world parents pace hall ways and squeeze into bunk beds and sing songs and read books in an attempt to get their kids to go to sleep. At The Spinoff Parents we wanted to share all the ways we encourage children to fall asleep – methods that sometimes even work. Here’s a collection … Read more
Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes writes about co-sleeping and her long journey to self-acceptance about her style of parenting. The other day I said to my husband “I should really try to get the baby to sleep on his own tonight.” My husband smiled and gave me a hug. He knew that what I really … Read more
Sleep. We all need it. We all want it. Spinoff Parents scientist Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw explains the science behind infant sleep, and what works and what doesn’t. Content warning: This post talks about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, also known as Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy. When our first baby was about eight weeks old I … Read more
Almost every sleep-deprived parent is used to the ‘smile and nod’ when they’re given unsolicited advice. Linda Jane Keegan is over it. Here she tells us why. Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m just being overly sensitive to idle parenting-related chitchat or if people really are subtly pushing unsolicited advice. It feels like as parents … Read more
Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes hasn’t slept for a long time. If you’re as exhausted as she is, she has some tips for getting through. Having not slept for 800 years, I feel somewhat qualified to talk about survive severe sleep deprivation. For more than a year I (barely) survived on about three hours sleep, … Read more
Forget the floral hand lotion, the pointless kitchen gadget, the bunch of crappy supermarket flowers. Emily Writes has a few things that would really make her day on Sunday. Mother’s Day! Every store in the land has shop fronts full of shit to buy your mum (and some not shit – like my book, which … Read more
Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes has a message for parents whose kids don’t sleep: don’t fall into the same traps she did. There’s heaps of advice out there, and she took all of it. But did any of it work? Let me start by saying I’ve tried every single thing possible to get my children … Read more
Mum Michelle Coursey knows you have to look on the bright side when you’re getting no sleep. She shares the benefits she’s found from getting a solid two hours a night. So, you’re about to become a parent and all people seem to say to you these days is ‘get that sleep while you still … Read more
When it comes to sleep, identical twin babies might just hold the key to understanding what’s nature and what’s nurture – if twins have the same DNA and a mum who treats them the same, then surely it’s obvious: they’ll be two non-sleepers or two sleepers. If only it were that simple, says twin mum … Read more
Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes has not slept for a long time, but suddenly her son who hates sleep has started to sleep through the night. She explains how it happened. For the last almost two years my son has been exceptionally committed to never sleeping. It wasn’t just that he woke many, many times … Read more
‘A good mother would do this. A good mother would get her child sleeping through the night.’ Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes shares a wrenching account of life inside a chronically sleep-deprived household. At night my home is a horror film. Screams reverberate off the ceilings. There is no peace. My son came into the … Read more
Baby not sleeping? Feeling like you’re gradually going insane yourself through lack of shut-eye? Never fear, Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes is here to help. Getting your baby to go to sleep is quite simple. All you need to do is change your diet, their diet, your environment, your lifestyle, and be prepared to rid … Read more
An expert’s guide to getting your sweet darling cutie pies to go to bed. How many hours do children need to sleep? Although it depends on the age of the child, one general answer is now clear: more than you think. Sleep loss affects everyone, but the impact is far greater on children who are … Read more