Day & Night Sleep Consulting

07/02/2024

One of the best. Go see her for all your fertility needs.

Collaborative approaches to optimize your fertility through naturopathic medicine in Winnipeg. Book your appointment today.

03/24/2024

📝TAKE THE QUIZ📝

03/24/2024

03/24/2024

📦 WHAT I OFFER📦

💤 60 Minute Consultation $65.00 CAD

- Questionnaire will be sent prior to consultation.

- During the consultation, I will troubleshoot your child's schedule and routine. I will offer supportive suggestions and decide if a full sleep plan is needed.

- This consultation is a great option if you're looking for help but not wanting a formal sleep plan in place.

💤 2 Week Support - $595.00 CAD

- Questionnaire

- 60 Minute Consultation

- Custom Sleep Plan

- 2 Weeks Email/Text Support

- Daily Sleep Tracking

- Two 20 Minute Phone Check-ins

💤 Monthly Subscription - $50.00 CAD

- Unlimited sleep trouble shooting via text/email

- Monday - Friday 8am - 4pm (CST)

03/24/2024

Hello everyone, I am currently in the stage of moving all my stuff from website to Facebook and Instagram. Here you will find all my blog posts from the website, as well as new ones going forward. Just click on "photos" then find the album that says "Blog Posts".

I always try to cross post Instagram posts to Facebook but if you're looking for something specific (sometimes created in a video), head over to Instagram to find it all. Or send a message and we can chat about it.

If you want to send an email, my NEW email address is:

[email protected]

Hopefully you find all the answers you need here, but if not, never hesitate to send a message or email to chat!!

03/24/2024

🏫SLEEP & LEARNING (SCHOOL ADDITION)🏫

Everyone acknowledges sleep needs for the younger age group and this is fantastic, but overall, sleep is important for EVERYONE. Not just babies, toddlers and preschoolers, but also those school-agers and teens. They need proper sleep just as much as a baby does. So this is why I wanted to talk about what sleep should look like, the benefits of a good nights sleep, how the brain functions with sleep, and much more when it comes to our school-age children.

What is Sleep?

Sleep is a complete state of reduced mental and physical activity. It is where our bodies take the opportunity to repair and rejuvenate cells, organs and muscles. It is where our mind gets to relax, store new information, get rid of toxic waste and the cells communicate to reorganize. This supports a healthy brain function. As those cells are repairing, the body is restoring energy and releasing molecules, such as, hormones and protein.

The body does such amazing things for us, while we’re awake but also when we sleep. Our immune system also depends on sleep. Being able to repair and boost our immunity, helps us fight off illnesses faster and even at times, being able to avoid the illness all together.

Sleep is not a luxury, it is a necessity!

What causes us to sleep and stay awake?

There are 2 hormones that are produced in our body. One is melatonin. This hormone starts producing in the early evening and is what causes us to get tired, fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night. Darkness is what helps ramp up the production and keeps it stabilized. Melatonin lasts roughly 4-8 hours.

The second is cortisol (the stress hormone). This hormone starts to produce in the early morning and is what flows through our brain all day, keeping us awake and alert.

Without melatonin, we would not sleep. Without cortisol, we would not be able to stay awake.

Let’s Talk About Melatonin Melatonin is produced in the pineal gland. This gland let’s in light and darkness. It is the melatonin-secreting neuroendocrine organ containing light sensitive cells that control the circadian rhythm. Without the pineal gland, your body wouldn’t be able to sleep or wake at the same time. Your body would also struggle to respond between changes in light levels. So maintaining a consistent schedule is key for a healthy pineal gland.

Some healthy foods that contain melatonin are:

- eggs

- fish

- nuts

- tart cherries

- goji berries

- milk

Eggs and fish are the higher melatonin containing foods from the animal food group, whereas in plant-based foods, nuts have the highest content.

Tart cherry juice is supposedly a “best-known” sleep aid. Some additional foods that contain melatonin are:

- mushrooms

- cereals

- germinated legumes

- seeds

Some things that can actually hinder the production of melatonin, other then bright lights late into the night, are the colours of lights.

Which light colour do you think is the worst?

That’s right, BLUE light! Blue light actually blocks the production of melatonin.

Where is blue light illuminated from?

- TVs

- cell phones

- Ipads/tablets

- light bulbs

- computers

Blue light is found is fluorescent and LED lights. They may illuminate as a white light to look at, but is actually producing the blue light.

While lights during the day, whether at home or in the classroom, are not going to hinder your melatonin production, continuing to use bright lights or any of the devices listed above right before bed will.

This also includes night lights. So what colour is best?

RED light.

Removing screen time 1 hour or more before bed will allow for that melatonin to produce quicker and more efficiently.

What’s better then screen time before bed, getting outside for a nice walk in the fresh air. Catching the dimming sun and setting that circadian clock.

What is a Circadian Clock or Circadian Rhythm?

Your sleep-wake circadian rhythm is an internal clock (circadian clock) that runs constantly. It cycles between alertness and sleepiness. It’s what helps our bodies regulate sleep patterns.

This is where having a consistent bedtime routine and schedule come in very handy.

Keeping your body on a regular wake up time and regular bedtime, will help regulate that circadian rhythm. Eventually, you will internally set the circadian clock where you will naturally wake at a regular time and be ready for bed at a regular time.

But what happens if we don’t have a consistent schedule?

We can fall into being overtired.

And what happens when we’re overtired?

Our brains don’t want to function properly. They get a “brain fog”. This is where we tend to not pay as much attention to detail, we forget things, our concentration is low, even end up with headaches.

Something very common, especially with children, is when we become overtired, we end up having nightmares and/or night terrors.

The Difference Between Nightmare & Night Terror

Both can be caused from being overtired. Ways to tell the difference are:

Nightmares

- your dreams revolve around threats to your safety, survival or something disturbing

- you sweat

- your heart pounds

- you remember having a bad dream

- you have a hard time falling back asleep

Night Terrors

- you might sit up in bed and look scared

- you might stare/be wide-eye even though you are not awake

- you may sweat and breath heavy

- you have a flushed face

- you may be inconsolable

- you may wake up and have no recollection of the event

Night terrors occur more often in children then adults. Whereas, 50-85% of people report having a nightmare.

Nightmares occur during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

Night terrors typically happen during non-REM sleep, more specifically stage 3 sleep (deep sleep).

What are Sleep Stages?

Sleep happens in 2 cycles. A sleep cycle can last anywhere from 90 to 110 minutes.

There is rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, this stage happens after the first hour of sleep but before the second hour. This is your first stage of sleep. It’s usually when you have vivid dreams.

Then there is NON-REM sleep. It has 3 stages, the last 2 stages are where you’re in a deep sleep and hard to wake up.

What happens in REM-sleep?

This is where your brain activity picks up pace again. You may experience faster breathing, increased heart rate and blood pressure and rapid eye movement. As night progresses, you have more REM-sleep. Most of the time we are able to self soothe and fall back asleep, so any wake ups during this time can be less memorable.

What happens during NON-REM sleep?

Stage 1: everything slows down (muscles, eye movement, etc). If you were woken up, you may not even know you had been sleeping.

Stage 2: your heart rate slows, body temperature drops and your body prepares for deep sleep.

Stage 3: this is deep sleep, everything is relaxed, you’re harder to wake up and if you are woken, you may feel groggy.

During this time your body builds bone and muscle, repairs and regenerates tissues and strengthens your immune system.

Being able to get these good, well rested sleep cycles, involve having a well established circadian rhythm, with a good production of melatonin and a healthy sleep foundation.

What is a Sleep Foundation?

A healthy sleep foundation is establishing a bedtime routine, a bedtime, self-soothing abilities, expectations around bedtime and a desire sleep environment.

Here are some important elements for sleep environment.

- blackout curtains

- noise machine (especially for younger children)

- cooler temperature then the rest of the house

- appropriate sleep wear/blankets

- an appropriate bedtime

An Appropriate Daytime Schedule For children 6 and older, an appropriate schedule during the school could look like this:

6-7am wake up

7-8am breakfast, get ready for school, pack backpack

9am-3:30pm most children are in school and run on the school schedule

4-5pm homework with the opportunity to get outside one last time

5-6pm dinner

7 or 7:30pm start bedtime routine (this can depend on routine length, a good routine should take 30-45 mins)

8pm bedtime

During summer months, something more along the lines of:

6-7am wake up

9am outdoor time

10am activities/academics

11am creativity

12pm lunch

1pm quiet time

2pm screen time

3pm snack

4pm outdoor time

5-6pm dinner

7 or 7:30pm start bedtime routine (again, depending on routine length)

8pm bedtime

It is important to stick to the same schedule during summer break as you would during the school year. This helps keep the circadian rhythm functioning the same and melatonin producing at the correct times.

A simple bedtime routine to follow could be:

- bath

- pajams

- snack

- book

- brush teeth

- bathroom break

- into bed

Some good sleep habits are:

- daily exercise, stimulation, outdoor time, play time, etc

- having a good sleep schedule

- quiet activities before bed

- good sleep environment

How Much Sleep Does My Child Need?

Children are all so very different. Some children need more sleep, whereas others need a little less. Here is a guide of how much sleep a child might need by age.

6 – 12 years old: 9-12 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period

13 – 18 years old: 8-12 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period

So you can adjust your typical schedule to meet the needs of your child by age. It is understandable that most children have extra curricular activities throughout the year. This is where I highly recommend choosing the activity wisely and sticking to 1 or 2 per year/season. Filling your child’s schedule full of stimulation and finding there be a lack of sleep, can be detrimental in the long run.

Having a full plate can cause that cortisol to rise and last longer, making the melatonin production start later, meaning your child is having a hard time getting to bed at a decent time. This will become a constant cycle and your child can end up in sleep debt.

Sleep debt is not something we can get back or catch up on. When we lose sleep, it’s gone forever.

Sleep is an important element for a healthy functioning body.

Linking It Back To Education

So, how does sleep link in with learning and education?

Getting the proper amount of sleep and having quality sleep is what’s going to help our children retain information, be alert and ready to learn, have healthy functioning brains and bodies, be able to regulate social and emotional skills, over-all mood will be better, their interests in learning will rise, their imaginations and creativity will flow more smooth, and so much more.

It’s not about changing the start time of school to a later time to make sure these children can wake up, be on time and ready to learn. It’s about providing them with the appropriate bedtime schedules, setting boundaries around sleep and getting them to set their circadian clock accordingly.

When it comes to adulthood where their job requires them to start at 6am, no ifs, ands or buts about it, they are required to start at 6am. Their boss isn’t going to provide them with a later start time just to accompany their later morning needs.

Let’s start as young as we can to get these children sleeping well, setting those circadian clocks for appropriate daytime needs. It’s also never too late to re-evaluate your sleep situation and start fresh

Does this mean we can ignore sleep needs here and there?

Absolutely! They are also children and we want them to have fun and experience as much as they can while being young and free. So, if there are times that days are long and nights get away on you, its ok!

I like to tell my clients to live the 80/20 rule when it comes to sleep.

80% of the time, stick to routine and schedule.

20% of the time, step out of the schedule and enjoy all that life has to offer.

03/24/2024

🛌7 TIPS TO SELF-SOOTHING🛌

What is this and why should children have this ability?

Self-soothing means that a child can put themselves to sleep, at nap and bedtime, without having a sleep prop like nursing/bottle to sleep, rocking/patting/back rub, parent laying with them, etc. These are all considered props for a child to settle and fall asleep.

Why should children be capable of falling asleep without any of these? Because when a child wakes during a sleep cycle connection, if they are used to being rocked or fed to sleep, they may wake fully and then be looking for the rocking motion or feeding to help them fall back asleep.

Children who can self-sooth are more likely to “sleep through the night”. This basically just means that when they do wake, because we ALL wake throughout the night after every sleep cycle, they are able to drift off right back to sleep. These wake ups WON’T wake you up. So, you won’t know that they’ve woken which then looks like they have slept throughout the night.

Now you’re wondering “how do I get my child to self-sooth?” Well, here are a few tips to work on that.

1. Create a bedtime routine. This doesn’t just signal the body that it’s time to relax and get ready for bed, it also creates consistency for the child which children thrive on reptation and consistency.

2. Offer a security object. If your child is over 12 months, you can offer them something like a stuffed animal, your old t-shirt or a special blanket to sleep with that provides them with comfort. If under 12 months, you can offer a pacifier for comfort and self-soothing.

3. Make sure the room is pitch black (naps might have a bit of light coming in which is fine), make sure it’s cooler (68-72 F/20-22 C), make sure its calm and play white noise throughout the whole night to keep environmental noises out.

4. Create a regular sleep routine. For younger babies, this might be tricky if they’re still not connecting sleep cycles independently, you won’t be able to set specific nap times. But for older babies, having a set nap schedule and a set bedtime will help set their internal clock and their bodies will know when to expect sleep. Again, CONSISTENCY!

5. Move from the feed to sleep routine and work towards an EAT – PLAY – SLEEP routine. Even the slightest dowsing or a couple minutes of eyes closed, can give them enough of a re-set to not go down at that nap time.

6. Make sure that all of baby’s needs are met BEFORE they get too tired. They’re fed, they’ve played, they’re changed and they’re ready for sleep.

7. Try to comfort your baby while they are in the crib rather then getting them out of the crib. If you can assess their cry on a scale of 1-5 (1 being very little to no cry, 5 being very intense top of the scale), you want to try not to take them out unless they are a 4/5 and need more then a gentle touch or words of reassurance.

So, again I will say, always check with your child’s pediatrician to make sure your child is healthy and able to work on these skills. If you choose to take on sleep training on your own, with a consultant, cry it out, modified cry it out, or any other method available, that is your choice and make sure it fits with your family. Always remember to practice safe sleep habits and have a safe sleep environment.

03/24/2024

🤧ILLNESS & SLEEP🤧

Since my son and I just got over illness, I decided to dive into a blog post on this topic.

First off, if your child is currently sick or just at the end of their illness, I highly suggest waiting until they are completely well again to start sleep training.

But what happens if you are in the middle or just finished sleep training and illness strikes? Do you continue? Do you forego sleep training and try again?

If your child gets sick halfway through sleep training, first I want you to assess the sickness and decide if it’s something that can be worked through. If you feel your child is very ill, then stop sleep training and wait till they are well again.

If you are coming to the end of sleep training, but have a few days left, you are probably at a stage where you can finish the last few days off.

However, I will make note that if your child goes through an illness even after sleep training has been completed, you might have to do a little more sleep training once they are well again. This time you can do a shorter, modified version of it if you’re confident their skills are there.

One thing I will stress, if you decide to sleep train while ill, is to forego any 10-minute waits before attending to them. If your child wakes in the night or middle of a nap, you want to attend to them right away, assess the situation, if all is well, then step out for 10 minutes and give them the chance to work at going back to sleep.

So, why is sleep training so helpful in these situations?

I sleep trained my son a while back. He has a good year under his belt of being able to put himself to sleep and sleep through the night.

Recently, him and I ended up sick. We had many days of napping late in the afternoon (he doesn’t normally nap at all so late afternoon naps are asking for bedtime disaster), we slept in, we co-slept multiple days and nights in a row and we had zero routine or structure to our day. I let go of all my sleep rules and boundaries with him to snuggle and comfort him through this illness. It was a tough one on both of us.

After a couple weeks of being sick, once we were both well, I was able to put him back in his own bed at night with no protest and have him sleeping through the night again because he already HAD the independent sleep skills.

This can be the case, or like I said, you might need to “re-train” in a shorter modified version if your child hasn’t had the skill for long or at all. The age of your child can also cause a need for re-training at times to.

Another option is to move your child into your room, or vice-versa, during illness so you can keep a close watch on them, but they still have their own sleeping space.

It is best to wait until your child is completely healthy before starting any kind of sleep training method you choose and always get the go ahead from their pediatrician. If you dive into sleep training too soon, you may run into multiple roadblocks that can be discouraging for yourself.

Here’s a short check list to make sure your child is ready for sleep training,

· Your child has no illness

· Pediatrician gives the go ahead

· Your child is at least 4-6 months old or older

· No major health concerns outside of illness

· Your child is eating well during the day and growing/gaining weight

· You are ready to commit to a sleep plan with patience, consistency, and persistence

When you can check off all the boxes above, then you and your child are ready to sleep train. Its best to start as soon as possible, but it’s never to late to sleep train your child.

03/24/2024

🧬MELATONIN & CORTISOL🧬

When it comes to sleep, we have two very important hormones that work together. One helps us fall asleep and the other helps us wake up and stay alert all day. They are called melatonin and cortisol.

So, what exactly is melatonin?

It’s a special and very helpful hormone that is produced in our body. This little gem is what helps us fall asleep and stay asleep. Without it, we would be wired and find it near impossible to doze off and catch some ZZ’s

It is produced in the evening hours and lasts roughly 4-8 hours.

It is produced and maintained the BEST in darkness. The only light that does not affect the production of melatonin is RED light. So, if your child needs to sleep with a nightlight, I suggest it being the color red, so they have the chance of uninterrupted sleep.

This is also why I always suggest to my clients to start dimming house lights and closing curtains shortly after dinner. You are helping set the mood for melatonin to start its production, which ultimately will increase your child’s ability to fall asleep on time at bedtime.

Referring back to melatonin lasting roughly 4-8 hours, this is where you will start to see those wake ups after midnight. Melatonin is starting to or already has worn off, which makes the next hormone, cortisol, kick in and start to wake your child up. Another factor also, is that during this period of sleep, we are in more light sleep and can be easily woken from a variation of things.

So, what exactly is cortisol?

It is the stress hormone of our body that keeps us alert and in the fight-or-flight response.

It also helps regulate our blood sugar and blood pressure levels.

Cortisol can naturally rise and decrease throughout the day. If you think about your child’s day and look at what their stress levels may be, at particular times, you may see that their nap is more difficult to undergo. This is very likely due to higher levels of cortisol.

I always suggest having a bedtime AND nap time routine. This way you have the chance to do some calming techniques with them to bring the cortisol level down, with the result of a much more relaxed and easy nap or bedtime transition.

Once we go to sleep, cortisol levels continue to drop so we get that healthy REM and NON-REM sleep cycles.

However, if you go to sleep with a high stress level, chances are cortisol will continue to be present and your sleep will most likely be disturbed with wake ups and/or tossing and turning.

This is where you want to keep a very close eye on those wake windows. If your baby or child is staying up longer then their bodies can handle, cortisol is going to rise in order to help the body stay awake and function. Ultimately leading to, when you finally go to put your child down for nap or bedtime, it’ll become a huge struggle because their melatonin isn’t present, or their bodies are too restless to fall asleep.

Yes, this means the earlier the bedtime, the better!

NOT, “the longer they stay up, the better they’ll fall asleep and stay asleep.”

“A child who goes to bed early, wakes up early. BUT … a child who goes to bed late, WAKES UP EARLY!!”

03/24/2024

😭PREVENTING AN OVERTIRED BABY😭

Ok, so last month we talked about the sleep regressions. What to look for, what might be going on and what to do. What happens if through that whole process, we still end up with an overtired baby?

Well here are some measures you can take in order to prevent baby from becoming overtired;

1. Let’s start with figuring out what the appropriate wake times are for your child. Right from birth all the way up to a toddler on 1 nap a day, there are still wake windows to suggestively go by to prevent baby/toddler from becoming an overtired mess. So what are those wake windows? Let’s see, look up your child’s age in the table below.



AGE AWAKE TIME



Birth – 6 weeks 45 mins – 1 hour

6 – 10 weeks 1 hour – 1 hour 15 mins



11 – 15 weeks 1.5 hours



4 – 5 months 2 hours



6 – 7 months 2.5 – 3 hours



8 – 10 months 3 hours



11 – 12 months 3.5 – 4 hours



13 – 18 months 4.5 – 5 hours



18 months – 2.5 years 5 – 5.5 hours

2. You not only need to be aware of these wake windows, you also need to be aware of the tired cues as well. Then you need to act on them. If it’s coming close to the end of baby’s wake window and they’re showing those tired cues, start preparing them for nap or bed if you haven’t already. The faster you respond to their tiredness, the less likely they’ll become overtired. Some cues to watch for are;

a. Arching back

b. Blank stare

c. Rubbing face or eyes

d. Pulling ears

e. Turning head away or avoiding eye contact

f. Whining/crying/clumsiness (older babies)

g. Clingy

h. Picky eating (toddlers)

i. Uninterested in play

3. Making sure baby is getting enough sleep. Even though baby is going down at the correct time, are their naps long enough? Sometimes you might have to sneak in a short cat nap at the end of the day to bridge the gap between wake up from previous nap until bedtime. Other times, moving bedtime up earlier will be needed.

Making sure naps are longer then 1 sleep cycle (a sleep cycle is approximately 45 minutes) will ensure good, rested sleep. There is a point when baby gets too overtired that they produce more cortisol (the stress hormone) and less melatonin (the sleep hormone). When their naps are long and restful, it helps decrease the cortisol levels, making it easier for melatonin to be produced for a good night’s rest.

I’ll write a blog on cortisol and melatonin next time.

Here are 3 main reasons why baby might be taking a short nap;

1. Something has disrupted their sleep either internally (moro reflex) or environmentally (other noises within the house)

2. Baby is unable to connect those sleep cycles or there’s a sleep prop

3. Baby is just not tired enough (sometimes overtired babies have a hard time sleeping a full nap length as well)

So remember to watch for those sleep cues, the wake window age appropriately and do what we can to keep those naps nice and long so baby is able to get good daytime rest, resulting in good nighttime rest.

When it comes to sleep, my favorite saying is:

Sleep BEGETS Sleep!!

03/24/2024

👶🏻SLEEP REGRESSION👶🏻

Ahhh yes, sleep regression. It most definitely is a thing, and the worst part is it happens more then once. We have the 4-month sleep regression, the 8–10-month sleep regression, the 12-month sleep regression, the 18-month sleep regression and finally the 2 year sleep regression.

I’m not saying you won’t have any more sleep regressions after that, but these are the most common ones. Now it doesn’t matter which sleep regression you’re at, you can get through it. Starting as soon as possible will benefit the most so you’re well prepared for the next one.

So today we’re going to talk about the first two, 4-month sleep regression and the 8-month sleep regression.

Before becoming a sleep consultant, I honestly had no idea about these sleep regressions with my own son. He was never a good sleeper, or so I thought, so when these regressions hit, I just assumed his sleep was getting worse.

Little did I know, I just didn’t have the proper groundwork for healthy sleeping habits so when the regressions hit, it just SEEMED worse.

It was almost like a little trick, because when the regression passed and his sleep SEEMED to get better, I thought “FINALLY he’s growing out of it”. Umm nope wrong, you’re just right back to where you were. Nothing has changed, he still doesn’t sleep well at night, he still doesn’t take decent naps and you still find yourself co-sleeping at some point.

So, what do I wish I knew, when I had my son? I’m going to lay it all out for you starting with…

4Month Sleep Regression

So first let’s talk about what is a sleep regression? This is the time where your baby or toddlers sleep cycles are shifting. At 4 months, babies are adding another cycle of sleep to their ritual in order to sleep longer lengths as they get older. This is where the common wake up happens because at 4 months, they’re just learning to connect with this next sleep cycle and can suddenly wake from an environmental noise or from something they’ve done themselves.

What is the good news behind a sleep regression? Well, it generally means that your baby is growing, and their brain is developing. At 4 months, they’re usually learning that new skill of rolling over, maybe they’re starting to babble more.

So why is this causing them to wake up? Because they want to PRACTICE. They want to master the skill as soon as possible. Their brain is working overtime to make sure this happens.

Ok wait, wait, wait, these signs appeared when my child was 3 months or they’re not appearing until 5 months … why? Well basically because all babies grow and develop at their own time and pace. Some babies jump on the rolling wagon before 4 months, like my son, he was 2 months when he started and by 3 months had mastered it. And some babies like to wait a little longer like 5 months. But that doesn’t mean the skill at the 4-month sleep regression necessarily is rolling or even the same skill for all babies.

So fortunately, like I said, if you understand sleep regressions and get a good handle on them early, this 4-month sleep regression will seem to be the hardest. As you hit the next one, you’ll find it a little easier.

Now, lets talk about what to watch for and how to deal with it.

What are the signs?

If you previously had a well-rested baby, you might notice quite quickly that something is up. Again, for myself, this is likely why I didn’t notice and why I didn’t learn about it. My child didn’t previously sleep well anyway.

· Fussiness (more than usual)

· Multiple night wakings

· Less napping

· Change in appetite

How to Manage?

First, take a deep breath and remember that this isn’t going to last long. The most common time frames for a sleep regression to last is 2-6 weeks. It will last on the longer side if you don’t already have the previously good sleeping habits because now you’ll be doing twice the work, but if your groundwork is already done, then you should be able to sneak through this one on the lesser amount of time.

1. Give your baby lots of daytime practice for the skill. First you might have to figure out what they’re trying to master but it shouldn’t be hard to notice.

2. Make sure their daytime feeds are decent. Sometimes at this age, they’re becoming way more curious about the world around them and they become more distracted around feeding time, that they’re not consuming as much as they should. This could simply mean feeding in a room with less stimulating sites.

3. Make sure you baby has independent sleep skills. This way if they do wake in the night, or during a nap, they are capable of putting themselves back to sleep. This is where sleep training can be very helpful.

4. Keeping the room dark for naps and bedtime helps reduce the confusion of day from night. If they wake, they know it’s still dark and they need to continue sleeping.

5. Bedtime routine. Establishing a consistent routine for bedtime and incorporating pieces of it during nap time, will be that initial signal that it’s bedtime.

6. Adjusting your own routine might be needed. This just means making sure your babies sleep and feeds are prioritized over daytime/nighttime outings.

7. Stop, wait, then make it quick. When baby wakes, give them a few minutes to resettle on their own. If they are not able to resettle, go in and respond to what is needed BUT make those responses quick. Change that diaper quick, readjust their sleeping position, whatever it might be, try to limit the time needed on that contact.

8. Watch for those sleep cues. If you notice baby is getting tired before their regular nap time or bedtime, don’t hesitate to put them down a few minutes early.

9. Stay consistent. They’re learning new skills, noticing more around them, make sure you stay consistent with your schedule and techniques surrounding sleep. (This might contradict the above statement but a few minutes compared to hours is a huge difference)

10. Be prepared that what worked today might not work tomorrow. You might find yourself having to contact nap or go for a car ride in the afternoon to get baby to have some kind of daytime sleep. (I call these emergency naps)

11. Don’t hesitate to ask for help. It can be very exhausting when baby won’t sleep very long for nap and you can’t get anything done. Or your nights are broken up because of multiple wakings. Ask a friend or family member to tag team with you so you can catch some shut eye for a few minutes.

Just remember, it doesn’t last forever and sometimes no matter what you do, they don’t sleep better during this time. Just take a deep breath and be consistent.

8 Month Sleep Regression

Now the majority of the above is also cohesive with the 8-month sleep regression. Some different reasons at 8 months could be;

1. Greater mobility. Crawling, pulling up on furniture, taking steps, etc.

2. Teething.

3. Your child’s temperament. I should have known back then that my social butterfly preferred to be awake talking, playing and having fun rather then sleeping. Sometimes their temperament can reflect in their sleep. Social butterfly = no sleep. Laidback/cautious = more sleep.

What to do?

· White noise/music for all naps and nighttime. This can be used right from day one home from the hospital.

· Again, make sure baby is getting enough to eat during the day. But since they’re also on solids by now, you can top them up around dinner time with foods that have higher fat content.

· If you think it’s due to teething, give baby lots of daytime opportunity for teething toys and you can even offer ibuprofen (always consult with your doctor first).

· If baby uses a pacifier, at this age you can scatter them in the crib so if they lose the one they fall asleep with, they’re bound to find one in the night and pop it back in themselves.

· Again, make sure room is dark but a nightlight can also be helpful. If you choose to put a nightlight in their room, only use a red light for sleep. Red nightlights don’t interrupt the natural production of melatonin like other colors will.

· If all else fails, sleep training will be very beneficial.

Once again, I will repeat myself that sleep regressions don’t last forever. If you get a good handle on sleep habits early, you should be able to sail through them quickly. Sticking to your routine and sleep setting, avoiding any new sleep props, will be key. Consistency!

Consistency

Consistency

Consistency

Consistency

And if you find you’re still struggling and need some help, that’s where I come in with sleep training and help you through the rough patches, give you guidance to healthy sleep habits and set you up with a solid sleep foundation.