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Ask Raquel Tara: Baby & Toddler Sleep Advice Inspired by RIE
If there’s one thing new parents need, its baby sleep support.
A new baby in the household is one of the purest joys life has to offer. But it’s also fraught with anxiety and confusion. Conflicting messages send you into spasms of stress. At times, you may not know who to turn to or trust.
I have two pieces of advice for getting the infant sleep and wellbeing support you need:
- Subscribe to a philosophy that speaks to you. For me, that’s the RIE approach to infant care.
- Find your village. I am blessed to have a beautiful, supportive tribe of mothers in my group named Baby & Toddler Sleep Advice Australia, which I invite you to join. It’s free.
What is the RIE approach to infant care?
RIE stands for Resources for Infant Educarers.
It was founded in 1978 by infant specialist and educator Magda Gerber, whose compassionate, human-centred approach to baby rearing saw the RIE movement become a global organisation.
What I love about RIE is that it honours your baby as an equal player in the parent-child dynamic. By understanding your baby’s communication cues, you can understand and respect her needs and thus respond based on what your baby is telling you, not what all the mixed messages are trying to force on you.
The RIE approach encourages you to use the maternal instincts you were given, which in modern times is often squashed and silenced by the many “experts” who claim to know what your baby needs.
I prefer this baby-led approach because it encourages parents to be accepting of their child, and allowing the child’s natural development to unfold. I’ve seen so many parents become panicked and distressed if their baby is not “operating” as the manual says they should. What I love about RIE is that it respects the individuality of babies by encouraging parents to really tune in to and try to understand what their baby needs to communicate before they react. To think, first and foremost, about your baby’s perspective, rather than what others think you should or shouldn’t do. This helps to guide parents to the best decision for their child. But mostly, I LOVE how RIE respects how capable our children are – rather than viewing them as poor, helpless creatures.
The RIE vision:
“Our work is inspired by the natural integrity of infants and the formative power of relationships in their lives. When allowed to unfold in their own way and in their own time, children discover, manifest and inspire the best in themselves and in others.”
What happens in the Baby & Toddler Sleep Advice Inspired by RIE group?
It’s true that it takes a village to raise a child.
In modern Western society, we have lost so much of the community-based support network that human beings naturally evolved within. If we’re lucky, we have a loving partner and perhaps our parents, in-laws or grandparents nearby. But it’s nothing like it once was, with the entire extended clan all living together in one village.
Yet we so badly need that support. And so we must create our own villages – including the digital variety.
That’s why I created Baby & Toddler Sleep Advice Australia group. Mothers submit questions in there to get help with their baby’s sleep issues, and I answer them on my Q & A nights which are presented online in my private group.
My answers are based on my 20+ years of experience as a mothercraft Maternity Nanny and baby sleep consultant.
In my regular Facebook Live Q&A sessions, you can get your questions answered directly.
It’s a private group and membership is free. I invite you to join so that you can get advice on baby sleep and offer your support to other mothers.
