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Hi! I’m Jen, Internationally Certified Infant and Child Sleep Consultant, Registered Nurse for over 13 years and Mother to three beautiful children. I absolutely love supporting families to thrive and develop sleep confidence for themselves and their babies.
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3 of the quickest tips on how to improve your baby’s sleep
Taking a holistic approach to your baby’s sleep can support long term improvements without the stress and effort! I don’t know about you but having as many ducks lined up in a row to make my parenting journey as easy and enjoyable as possible is where I am at! Check out my three tips below that can do wonders in optimising sleep for you and your baby.
Complex Contributors to Early Rising & Troubleshooting Options!
My last blog was all about early rising, what it is and some quick and easy fixes to try if your bub is waking earlier than ideal. You might recall that early waking can arise from a disturbance in any of the body processes that control sleep. But what happens when you’ve exhausted all of those quick fix solutions – you’ve adjusted for light, noise, temperature and hunger – but your little one is still waking early what now!?
Early Rising
Is your baby waking up at 4 or 5am, happy and ready to start the day? While this might be a routine that works well for parents who are also early birds, it isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea. So before we accept this as just the norm in your household , I love to do a bit of investigating!
Restorative sleep – can it be achieved without self-settling!?
Studies have shown that children who regularly get an adequate amount of sleep have improved attention, behaviour, learning, memory, and overall mental and physical health. Over time, not getting enough quality sleep each night can produce a range of behavioural, cognitive (mental) and emotional symptoms that can flow on into adulthood.
How naps help our children to learn
Running around all day with a busy schedule can make the entire family tired, especially if your child still relies on naps during the day. It can sometimes be tempting to skip nap time when we are in the middle of running errands, or it is inconvenient for us to head home for a nap. But hindering our children’s sleep can actually have more consequences than just a tired and cranky kid.
Considerations For A Healthy Nap Transition
he most important thing to note with a nap transition is that most of the time your child will not just wake up one day requiring one less nap, just because they fall into the appropriate age range. Lots of factors can influence when it happens, including how well your child naps in the first place and how much day sleep they are actually achieving for their age. Check out my how much day sleep post on Instagram for recommendations. Transitions can be smooth, or they can be super messy and disorganised for a few weeks! I have personally had the pleasure of going through 9 separate nap transitions as a mother, as well as helping clients figure out if their own child is ready.⠀
S.T.G’s Complete Guide To Sleep Clocks
A sleep clock is another tool that can be really effective when it comes to children’s sleep. It can help us as the parents, to positively reinforce some healthy boundaries surrounding sleep, in a child friendly way. Sleep clocks are designed as a visual cue, that is simple for toddlers to understand. Just like any tool, they need to be used correctly in order to see any results and help to solve the problem!
Growth Spurts Affect on Sleep
Have you ever woken up one morning thinking your baby just looked bigger or they felt heavier? Suddenly your baby’s toes are curling over at the end of their onesie or they seem to have less room in their bassinet? This is not just the effects of sleep deprivation playing all sorts of tricks on your mind, this can actually be something you will genuinely notice! Growth spurts in babies typically occur between 1-3 weeks, 6-8 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and 9 months of age. Don’t worry if you are not seeing any signs of a growth spurt, it doesn’t mean to your baby isn’t growing, just that all babies develop at different rates and some babies show no obvious signs of going through one at all!
When it is okay to wake up a sleeping baby
‘Never wake a sleeping baby’ is certainly a statement that I feel needs a bit of an update! A sleeping baby is something we all want, which means it can throw us off the thought of ever needing to wake them up! If no one in your household is achieving long stretches of sleep, then waking your baby short term to improve on the quality of sleep where it matters the most, may be the best and easiest solution!
My baby can roll but now they won’t sleep!
When your baby learns a new skill, it is initially very exciting! Then reality hits, your baby may start to have disrupted sleep or goes through what is commonly referred to as a sleep regression.