Glossary of Words, Acronyms and Phrases

Here is an ever growing list of words, acronyms and phrases you will come across on my blog as well as likely many others on similar subjects. Please check back often. Some entries are in more than one list to offer more detail where applicable. Hope it helps to clarify a lot of jargon!

Acronyms

SAHM - Stay At Home Mom
BF - Breast Fed/Breast Feeding
EBF - Exclusively Breast Fed
FF  - Formula Fed
W/E/P/S - Wake Eat Play Sleep
STTN - Sleeping Through The Night
OT - Over Tired
WT - Wake Time
OS - Over Stimulated
NCSS - No Cry Sleep Solutions
CIO - Cry It Out


Words and Phrases

Exclusively Breast Fed - Means the baby has not yet started solid foods of any kind, nor does he drink anything other than breast milk

Sleeping Through The Night (STTN) - Has different meanings both to parent and depending on the babies age/stage of development. You may call it STTN as soon as your baby begins sleeping 5+ hour stretches, or you may reserve the term for when your baby is able to sleep from the time you put her to bed, until a reasonable hour in the morning.

Over Tired - Means your baby has gotten past the point of being able to easily fall asleep. Cortisol has kicked in and he is going to have trouble winding back down.

Wake Time - This is the total amount of time that your baby is awake before she is asleep again. This means you time from the moment she wakes up until the time she is actually asleep for her next nap or bedtime. This calculation should include all activities, changing, feeding, burping, bathing, etc. And should consider a window of time it may take for baby to fall asleep either in arms or in crib.

Bed Time Routine - A series of rituals that begin a predetermined time before your baby needs to be asleep for the night. For example, if your baby needs to be asleep by 6:30pm based on his last nap and tired cues, bedtime routine should begin by about 6:00pm and/or should allow enough time to prepare him for bed, wind him down, and feed him. Plus 10-15 minutes to fall asleep in arms or in crib.

Nap Time Routine - Is typically an abbreviated version of the bed time routine. Depending on the age/stage of your baby, the nap time routine may like the bedtime routine include nursing or bottle, so plan time accordingly so baby does not get OT for naptime if routine is started too late.

W/E/P/S - A scheduling acronym which stands for Wake, Eat, Play, Sleep, and is embraced by parents who believe that feeding your baby upon waking, rather than allowing them to fall asleep while eating may prevent a suck to sleep association. It is important to note that most parents who follow this guideline indeed nurse or bottle feed their baby for bedtime.

Sleep Association - A term used to describe something a baby needs in order to fall asleep and/or stay asleep. Some of the most common sleep associations are: motion (rocking, swing, etc.), sucking (breast, bottle, pacifier) and parental presence (cuddling, patting, bed sharing, etc.) 

Witching Hour - The general definition of the witching hour is a period of time during evening hours that your baby cries inconsolably and is unable to sleep for all his crying. It is noted to generally begin around 2-3 weeks of age, peak around 6-8 weeks of age, and disappear by 3-4 months. It is also most often noted to occur between the hours of 6pm-10pm. It may happen every night, or less often. It might start in the early weeks and last a few months, or start later and last only a few weeks. It may be just a couple hours each time or it may be several hours. Some babies don't experience it at all-lucky baby, lucky parents!

Colic - True colic is defined by most pediatricians as 'the unexplained crying in infants between the age of 2 weeks and 4 months that occurs at least 3 hours a day, 3 days a week, for 3 weeks or more.' The crying typically occurs in the late afternoon and early evening hours.

Common Fussy - A label used by Dr. Marc Weisbluth for 80% of babies who exhibit 'normal' non-colic fussiness and crying.

Extreme Fussy/Colic - A label used by Dr. Marc Weisbluth for 20% of babies who exhibit colic behavior and above average amounts of fussiness and crying.

Post-Colic - A label used by Dr. Marc Weisbluth for the 20% of babies who were Extreme Fussy/Colic babies in their early weeks/months.