I am so very happy and proud to reveal the cover of my newest children’s book Together We Sleep.
This is a book I not only wrote and illustrated, but I lived.
Though parenting books written by Dr. Sears and other attachment parenting leaders are full of advice on co-sleeping, there isn’t one single picture book that you could read aloud to your child about the natural beauty of sleep sharing.
Until today.
This book is gentle and beautiful and peaceful… filled with hand painted images of people and animals all around the world… animals in nature in every habitat sleeping in groups and litters and clans and packs. And all over the world, people sharing sleep with their littles… in apartments and neighborhoods and villages and tents and RV’s and more… it is one of the most natural and effortless things for us mammals to do but something that doesn’t get illustrated often.
My favorite part of the book is that in the back of the book there is a letter from me, Dr. Laura 🙂 talking a bit more about how sleep time is soul time, a time to integrate the days events, release them, and renew.
Nighttime can be a time for soul connections and for growth. It is a very active time and the perfect time to nurture your little one. Beyond co-sleeping, there are lots and LOTS of ways to nurture a nighttime bond with your child… there are lots of other great ideas for new parents and seasoned parents alike who would like some creative ideas on how to ease the nighttime transition and make the most out of the special time we have with our children at night.
Ideas that you can use right away, to start easing your nighttime routine into a time of peace and connectedness for your child.
As I wrote in my blog post about painting the images for the book: (where you can see a sneak peek of the cover being painted…)
“No, you don’t have to share the same bed to foster a nighttime connection with your littles. There are lots of things you can do as a parent to make sure nighttime is a time to reinforce your family bonds and help your little one feel secure as they sleep.
Restorative sleep is so important to the cuties who are growing and learning all day long… allowing their bodies to fully relax and their brains to cement the neuronal connections they’ve made during the day ensures that the next day begins as a fresh start, a new platform on which to leap forward. Part of falling into that deep restorative sleep involves creating a safe and supportive sleep arrangement that benefits everyone. It doesn’t have to be in the same bed, or even in the same room, although it could be. In my book I talk about my very favorite ways to strengthen a nighttime bond with your child, regardless of where you sleep.
It’s not about sleep. It’s about connection.
After all, night-time is soul time.
This is a great book to support any parent who seeks to strengthen their child’s restorative sleep and is a lovely picture book to read to every baby. All babies intuitively love to see pictures of animals snuggled up as a family and people snuggled up with their children. This book fills a much needed void in the gentle world of heart centered parenting.“
I’ll be sharing more details with you next week about how you can get on of the very first edition, hand signed books directly from me! Stay tuned… xoxo, Laura
PS — the winner of last weeks Intuition Card Deck drawing is…. drum roll… Gabrielle!!! Congrats Gabrielle, my son picked your name! I’ll be sending you the card deck this week!