Profile - Sofia Axelrod

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PhD, Sleep Scientist

Sofia Axelrod

Sofia Axelrod, PhD, is a sleep researcher in the laboratory of Michael W. Young, the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, at the Rockefeller University in New York. She studied in Germany at Eberhard-Karls-University in Tübingen and at Humboldt University in Berlin, where she earned her PhD in biology in 2012. Her passion for the science of sleep and her personal experience using this method with her children and friends has inspired her to share the How Babies Sleep method with a wider audience through her book and app. When she is not investigating the molecular basis of sleep or spends time with her family, she enjoys singing and performing classical music and Jazz. For more information on setting the right schedule for baby and other science-based tips and tricks, drop in for my weekly expert corner here on Cluster, check out my book HOW BABIES SLEEP, and follow me on Instagram @kulalaland.

PhD, Sleep Scientist

Sofia Axelrod

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“"When my first baby was born, I started applying knowledge from being a sleep scientist to my baby’s sleep. Normal light suppresses the sleep hormone melatonin, so I only exposed my baby to red light at night. It worked not just for us, but for countless parents who I helped through my coaching and book HOW BABIES SLEEP."“
- Sofia Axelrod

My Mission

Using cutting-edge science I am able to solve most sleep problems in an innovative and gentle way.

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Newborn Nighttime Survival Guide

Would I ever sleep again? As my due date with baby #1 was getting closer, this was one of my biggest fears. A lifelong insomniac, sleep had always been elusive, and all the horror stories out there about parental sleep deprivation seemed to confirm my worst fears. However, as a sleep scientist, I had a unique advantage: I was intimately familiar with the subject. So, I used that knowledge and developed a science-based method to help babies—first my own, later many more—sleep at night. The general steps are outlined in my first Cluster moment (linked below!), but let's take a step back and talk about your first day home with your newborn, or even before then. What can you do to help baby sleep better from day one? Preparing a Sleep Environment Baby's circadian clock is not developed when they are born, and it's our job to help their bodies learn the difference between day and night. And though newborns are too young to impose a schedule on themselves, you can actually use light to help them distinguish the difference. This means to make the days bright and the nights dark, get red light bulbs for baby's bedroom, and only turn those on for nighttime feeds and diaper changes. The goal is to make day and night sleep as different as possible from each other, which is another cue for baby to understand what's what. For nighttime sleep: - Swaddle - Darkness/Red Light - Whisper - White Noise - Less interaction with baby For Daytime Sleep: - No Swaddling - Not Too Dark/No Red Light - Normal Voices - No White Noise - Interaction Encouraged Feed baby on a schedule, no more often than every 2 hours from start to start. We don't want to create a state of constant snacking, which leads to baby not getting a full portion at each feed. By making sure baby eats their full portion, their tummies are full enough to sleep for 2-3 hours before they eat again. If they only snack, they will wake up much sooner (sometimes every 30 minutes) which is hard on everyone involved. To keep baby awake, it's okay to take somewhat drastic measures if necessary: blow air on them, undress them, or even use a wet wash cloth to prevent them from falling asleep "on the job." Sleep When Baby Sleeps In those 2-3 hours between full meals, baby will sleep—and so should you. If you have trouble sleeping during the day, use a sleep mask. If you feel like doing other chores, don't. Make sleep a priority. It will make everything else much easier. While newborns are too young to be put on a schedule, you should keep at least 2 events consistent every day: morning wakeup and evening bedtime. To figure out what those are for your baby, use my Kulala app. Put baby to bed at the indicated time every day, and in the morning get up and feed them at the same time, no matter how the night went. This will help create a strong circadian rhythm for baby and set the stage for sleeping through the night when they are physiologically ready to do so. You got this, mama! For more help and useful resources, check out my website kulalaland.com, and sign up for my weekly office hours here on Cluster. Sofia Axelrod, PhD

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Getting your baby to sleep well!

What is really important when it comes to baby sleep? Mattress quality? No. Room temperature? Not really. Light? Very. Research shows that we can help babies sleep through the night by following just a few steps. 1. Light exposure. Babies are supremely sensitive to light, and light exposure at the wrong time wreaks havoc on baby's sleep. Conversely, light at the right time will tell your baby's body that it's time to be awake, and naturally set their inner body clock to know what is day and what is night. So what is a parent to do to achieve this? Easy: get blackout shades and use them at night and in the early morning, and during the evening and night keep it dark. If you need to see at night to change baby's diaper or soothe them, get a red light bulb and use it in a lamp in baby's room–red light naturally mimics darkness and does not affect baby's sleep or inner body clock. For a little more sophistication, check out the baby sleep lamp I created: it's beautiful and helps babies sleep. 2. Naps, bedtime and wake time. How do you establish a schedule, and is that even a good thing for baby? Research shows that babies with consistent routines sleep better and cry less, so putting baby on a schedule is the holy grail for everybody's happiness. How do you do that? Baby's sleep need rapidly declines from basically needing to sleep around the clock as a newborn to only about 12.5h in total as a one year old, and naps are what changes the most: they decrease rapidly during the first year of life, and many children don't need to nap at all when they turn three. "Really?", you might think, "don't babies need to nap a lot in order to sleep well at night?". Science has a clear answer here: the idea that sleep begets sleep is plain wrong, and daytime sleep negatively affects nighttime sleep, so limiting daytime sleep to what is developmentally appropriate is key for good sleep at night. But what is the right amount of sleep? This is actually a tricky question because baby's sleep need constantly changes. I created a special app which creates individualized schedules for your baby, so you always know what to do. You can find my Kulala app in the App Store and on Google Play. 3. Sleeping through the night. Establishing the correct schedule using the Kulala app and the right light conditions will vastly improve nighttime sleep in most babies, but sometimes a little more effort is required to teach babies putting themselves back to sleep when they wake up at night. Research shows that a slight delay of 90 seconds in responding to babies when they start crying at night actually teaches them that waking up is normal, and to listen to their body and put themselves back to sleep, without needing their parents' help. However this only should be attempted in babies who weigh more than 11lbs and have ever, even once, slept for at least 5 hours at night, which typically happens between 2 and 3 months of age. For more information on setting the right schedule for baby and other science-based tips and tricks, drop in for my weekly expert corner here on Cluster, check out my book HOW BABIES SLEEP, and follow me on Instagram. Happy sleeping!