Dr. Harvey Karp: Answers to the top 5 questions from working parents about infant sleep

by
Jenna Vassallo
Nov 20, 2024
Parent napping with his sleeping infant

Over the years, we’ve conducted several parental leave policy audits to help companies understand where they shine and where they could improve.

In one of these audits, we came across a fascinating perk we hadn’t seen before: company-sponsored rentals of the SNOO Smart Sleeper, a responsive bassinet that quickly calms crying and increases infant sleep. 

Several new parents return to work when their child is not yet sleeping through the night. In fact, many parents bring this up as directly impacting their work in their return-to-work coaching sessions.

After learning about this offering, we connected with Dr. Harvey Karp, the creator of the SNOO, and child development and sleep expert with more than 25 years of pediatric experience.

He joined us for an “ask me anything” session so our community of working parents could ask all of their burning questions about infant sleep. 

Here are his responses to the top 5 topics our network asked about:

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Episode 31 of The False Tradeoff podcast: AMA with Dr. Harvey Karp
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EPISODE 31
The False Tradeoff

#31: Infant Sleep & The Connection To Working Parenthood

Listen to the episode

Are sleep regressions real? What is happening while an infant goes through one?

"Not every baby goes through it, but it's a real thing. And actually there are many sleep regressions that babies go through. Sleep regression just means that they were doing so much better last week, what happened? It can be teething, it can be growth spurts where they need more calories, it can be developmental change. The 3-4 month sleep progression is them waking up in the middle of the night feeling all alone. It's no baby's idea of a good time to be 12 hours on the back in a dark, silent room. They want to be held and rocked.”

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Why do babies cry and how should parents think about responding to it?

“Crying is a smoke alarm. It's a messaging system to get your attention. And it's very important for survival. That's why babies have it, that even premature babies can cry. And they cry at a pitch that our brains go, 'Uh-oh, I need to respond to this.' However, if you're in the shower and you get out of the shower and you think, 'My baby's been crying,' I don't know if they've been crying for five minutes,’ it’s not the worst thing in the world. I mean, they're going to survive that. But in general, when your baby cries, it's soliciting your attention and you do want to pay attention to it."

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What are your thoughts on white noise machines, and is there ever a need to stop using them?

"Why do you use white noise? Because the sound in the womb is a white noise. And so when babies hear that, they go into more of a sense of calm. Even adults sleep better with white noise. I recommend it at least for the first year, but many people use it beyond that. And nowadays it's pretty easy to bring white noise around with you. So it's a sleep association that's helpful rather than something that's unhelpful or interfering."

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When is it safe to move an infant out of their parent’s bedroom?

“In general, the Academy of Pediatrics says that they should be in the room with the parents for the first six months, which is pretty convenient anyway, if you're feeding and whatnot in the middle of the night. And then between six and 12 months, it's your choice about when you move them to a different room. By six months of age, the brain is doubled in size. And so babies are much better able to maintain their sleep patterns.” 

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Is swaddling too restrictive for babies’ movement?

“Babies need motion, they need to exercise their muscles, they need to do tummy time, but they're not doing that for 12 hours of sleep. They're sleeping. So they don't need freedom, they need security, they need confidence, they need trust, and they had that protection around them in the womb. And now the world is kind of too big and they startle themselves. And so studies have been showing that cultures that swaddle babies for the first six months, like around the clock swaddling, there's no change in the neurological development or their muscle development.”

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To celebrate all we’ve accomplished, our team shared what they’re most proud of since joining the team:

I'm most proud of how much we have done to improve the single hardest moment for women's careers (going on parental leave) ... one that is often shrouded in insecurity and fear. We've been able to help advocate for so many women (and men!) in a way that is empowering and truly life-changing.

Allison Whalen, CEO & Founder

What am I most proud of? Growth! Growing a category of support that didn't exist before Parentaly. Growing from a one-woman bootstrapped operation to a global team of 25+ employees and coaches. Growing our overall impact for working parents, with companies investing in our parental leave programming to support employees all over the world. And growing as humans: new babies, new friends, new life experiences... all while tackling new and exciting work challenges together.

Rich Burke, Head of Growth

When I reflect on what I am personally most proud of during my time here, it's working alongside a team where we constantly evolve and optimize everything that we do in order to deliver the best possible experience for the folks going through our programs. It sounds cheesy, but there are processes that my team and I used to do 100% manually that are now completely automated and systems in place that have become second nature to how we operate. Working with such thoughtful, smart, and creative people is incredible.

Sara Ophoff, Senior Program Manager

I’m most proud about doing work that makes parents feel confident and empowered about their careers during a time that can be overwhelming and challenging – not only for our clients and users who go through Parentaly’s programs, but also with our advocacy work on LinkedIn, through our podcast and other big campaigns that make a difference. It’s been pretty rewarding to build a brand people know and love because what we’re doing resonates with so many employees’ experiences in the workforce.

Jenna Vassallo, Head of Brand & Marketing

I am so proud of the way we've approached growth with such care and intentionality - with every adjustment we've made to our offerings, we've never lost sight of our goal to provide the most supportive and valuable experience for our users. I love looking back on the early stages of conversations and building that have led us to the experience we offer today. Personally, I am extremely proud of the work I've done to scale and automate our backend!

Rachel Andes, Program Associate

I am most proud of the work we do every single day to make a positive impact on working parents! Everyday I get to work with an amazing group of people…we work hard but we also have fun.

‍Sarah Gruber, Client Partner

I'm proud of scaling an employee experience that consistently delivers positive outcomes for new parents and their organizations. Our north star has always been the user, and we never sacrifice our high quality bar!

Mansi Kothari, VP of Product & Experience

I feel a sense of pride that I get to work behind the scenes supporting everyone. I’m proud to see all of the collaboration between the team and how Parentaly positively impacts employees.

Leo Manalo, Executive Assistant

I'm most proud of going through the Parentaly program myself! I'm so proud to work for and promote this company in a time where parental leave and supportive policies are at the forefront of a national conversation. But beyond this, I'm most proud to call myself a participant.

Emmy Carragher, Enterprise Partnerships

I’m really proud of the work I did to expand our coaching bench globally at Parentaly. It was so rewarding, not to mention insightful, to connect with talented coaches from around the globe. This expansion not only enriched our coaching offerings but also strengthened our commitment to making a meaningful impact on families all over the world.

‍Nicole Hagemann-Bex, Senior Coaching Operations Manager

I have tremendous pride in the knowledge that what I am doing will change the career landscape for new parents, particularly mothers. This will make it more likely that my daughter can have a career AND a family without worrying about the unintentional negative impact of taking parental leave. Nothing makes me prouder than that.

Mindy Himmel-Brown, Strategic Partnerships

In my short time at Parentaly, I'm proudest of the work we're doing with our clients' ERG groups to elevate the stories and advice of actual working parents. It's such an impactful way to spread the word about Parentaly as an essential resource for all people growing their families, and the managers who support them!

Alex Diskin, Enterprise Account Manager

I'm most proud about using LinkedIn to connect with others. I was recently able to share a helpful return to work doc with 50+ new people looking to make a difference at their company. Was pretty cool that people from Chewy, McDonald's, Honda, Cisco, AWS, Walmart and more want to integrate just a piece of what we have to offer. Also...I'm so proud of the way I feel as an employee at Parentaly. For the first time in my career my personal interests align with my professional interests and I've never felt more motivated.

Jenny Hurwitz, Strategic Partnerships

I'm really proud of being able to help the Experience team by handling the supportive functions so they can focus on the bigger picture. It feels great to know that I’m making things easier for them and contributing to the team’s success.

James Mango, Executive Assistant
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Working parenthood
Podcast recap
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Want to hear the whole interview about infant sleep & the ##connection## to working parenthood?

Listen to the replay on The False Tradeoff!

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