Listen to a recent RCH podcast episode featuring CCCH paediatrician Dr Valerie Sung, who talks through common experiences for parents with unsettled babies and when and where to find help.
Up to 20 per cent of parents report problems with their baby’s crying in the first few months of life whilst up to 30 per cent report problems with sleep including difficulties settling their baby to sleep at the start of the night and re-settling them overnight.
Many parents feel exhausted and sometimes frustrated by these issues which may or may not have a medical cause.
A recent RCH Kids Health Info podcast episode featured CCCH paediatrician, Dr Valerie Sung, who works in the CCCH Unsettled babies clinic, to go through the common experiences for parents with unsettled babies and when and where to find help.
Unsettled babies clinic
The Unsettled babies clinic at the Centre for Community Child Health was established to support parents and infants aged 6 months or younger with common infant concerns including crying and sleeping difficulties. Patients are bulk billed for their consultations and therefore will need a referral from their general practitioner. The clinic provides one-on-one consultations but does not provide day stay or overnight stays.
The clinic aims to identify and treat medical causes of infant crying, discuss normal infant sleep and crying patterns, offer parents management strategies to encourage infant settling, help parents to better cope with infant crying, mobilise support for parents and screen for postnatal depression.