Maintaining Your Child’s Sleep Schedule Over the Christmas Holiday

 

Maintaining Your Child’s Sleep Schedule Over the Christmas Holiday

With the Christmas holidays approaching, many new parents are worried that there child’s sleep schedule regress a little over the holidays.

And I can assure you, those fears could not be more well-founded.

Between the potential travel, the excitement, the constant attention and then travel all over again, the holidays are the single easiest way to throw all of your hard work out with the wrapping paper and turkey bones.

But I’m happy to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way!

With some strategic planning and an iron will, you can keep that carefully orchestrated routine running just the way you did at home.

There are two major impediments to your little one’s sleep over the holidays.

One is travel and the other is family and friends, so I just want to tackle both of those topics individually.

Travelling by car with your baby

If you’re thinking about starting sleep training your little one, but you’ve got to take a trip in a few weeks, my suggestion is to put off the training until you get back. (Although if you’re looking for an excuse to cancel your trip, not wanting to throw your baby’s sleep schedule out of whack is a pretty good one. Just sayin’!)
If you’ve already started, not to worry.

Taking a trip typically won’t help your little one sleep better, but if you can maintain some semblance of normalcy until the end of your trip, you and baby should be ready to get back to business as soon as you get home.

If you’re driving to your destination, a clever trick is to schedule your driving time over baby’s naps.

Car naps aren’t ideal, but compared to no naps at all, they’re the lesser of two evils by a mile. So if at all possible, get on the road right around the time that baby would normally be taking their first nap.

If you’re really committed, you might even look for some parks, tourist attractions, or other outdoor activities that are on your route where you can stop when baby gets up. It’s a great chance to get out into the sunshine and fresh air, which will make that next nap that much easier.

Flying with your baby

If you’re flying, well, my heart goes out to you. It’s no secret that planes and babies just don’t seem to like each other, so I suggest (and this is the only time you’ll hear me say this) that you do whatever gets you through the flight with a minimum amount of fuss.

Hand out snacks, let them play with your phone, and otherwise let them do anything they want to do. The truth is, if they don’t want to sleep on the plane, they’re just not going to, so don’t try to force it.

It will just result in a lot of frustration for both of you. (And, most likely, the passengers around you.)

Arriving at your destination with baby

Alright! So you’ve arrived, and hopefully you’ve managed to maintain some degree of sanity. Now, I’m sorry to say, comes the hard part.

Because in the car or on the plane, everybody is on your side, right? Keeping baby quiet and relaxed, and hopefully asleep, is just what everyone is rooting for.
But now that you’re at Grandma and Grandpa’s place, it’s just the opposite.

Everyone wants baby awake so they can see them, play with them, take a thousand pictures, and get them ridiculously overstimulated.

And it’s exceptionally difficult to tell all of these friends and family members that you’re putting an end to the fun because baby needs to get to sleep.

So if you need permission to be the bad guy, I’m giving it to you right here and now.

Don’t negotiate, don’t make exceptions, and don’t feel bad about it.

Firmly explain to anyone who’s giving you the “I’ll just sneak in a take a quick peek,” routine that baby’s in the middle of sleep training and you’re not taking any chances of them waking up.

Stick to the sleep plan and maintain routine

Let them know when baby will be getting up and tell them to hang around, come back, or catch you the next time. Or better yet, tell people in advance when to expect some baby time based on baby’s schedule.

I know it sounds harsh, but the alternative is an almost immediate backslide right back into day one.

Baby misses a nap, gets all fired up because of all the new faces and activity, then overtiredness kicks in, cortisol production goes up, and the next nap is ruined, which results in more overtiredness which derails nighttime sleep, and before you know it, you’re headed home and it seems like baby did nothing but cry the entire trip.

I’m not even slightly exaggerating. It happens that quickly.

So OK, you’ve steeled your nerves and let everyone know that you’re not budging on baby’s schedule. She took her naps at the right times, and now it’s time for bed. The only catch is that, with all of the company staying at the house, there’s only one room for you and baby.

No problem, right? Bed sharing for a few nights isn’t the end of the world, after all.

I wish I could make it that easy for you, but again, you want to make this as little of a deviation from the normal routine as possible, and babies can develop a real affinity for co-sleeping in as little as one night.

So this may sound a little unorthodox, but if you’re sharing a room, what I suggest is simple.

1 – Make it into two rooms.

I’m not saying you need to bust out the lumber and drywall, but I do suggest hanging a blanket, setting up a dressing screen, or, yes, I’m going to go ahead and say it, put baby in the closet.

That sounds crazy, I know, but really, a decent sized closet is a great place for baby to sleep. It’s dark, it’s quiet, she won’t be distracted by being able to see you, and people accidentally walking in and out of the room are much less likely to distract her.

2 No props

And while we’re on the subject of “no exceptions,” that rule extends to all other sleep props.

You might be tempted to slip baby a pacifier or rock her to sleep if she’s disturbing the rest of the house, but baby is going to latch on to that really, really quickly, and chances are you’ll be waking up every hour or two, rocking baby back to sleep or putting her pacifier back in, which is going to end up disturbing everyone a lot worse than a half hour of crying at 7:00 at night.

3 – Ignore everyone’s opinion

Now, on a serious note, I find the biggest reason that parents give in on these points is, quite simply, because they’re embarrassed. There’s a house full of eyes and they’re all focused on the new baby, and by association, the new parent.

The feeling that everyone is making judgments about how you’re parenting is nearly overwhelming in these family gatherings, but in those moments, remember what’s really important here.

Your baby, your family, and their health and well-being.

There may well be a few people who feel a bit jaded because you put baby to bed just when they got in the door, and your mother might tell you that putting your baby i

n the closet for the night is ridiculous, but remember you’re doing this for a very noble cause.

Perhaps the most noble cause there is.

So stand tall and remember that you’re a superhero, defending sleep for those who are too small to defend it for themselves.

If you want to wear a cape and give yourself a cool superhero name, you go right ahead. WonderMum, Supermama, if you’re feeling really fancy.

Just remember that, like any superhero, you may be misunderstood by the masses.

Ignore them.

You’re on a mission.

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Tips for the Fall back time change – Clocks fall back 31st October

 

When do the clocks go back?

On Sunday 31st October at 2am the clocks will ‘fall’ back for winter. Anyone without kids will say “Hooray, an extra hour in bed!” but if you have a little one, this small change can wreak havoc with sleep routines.
So how do you slowly weave in the new time into the day? When should you do mealtimes? And if you’re living an hour later, how and when do you get to synchronise with your child?

If I had it my way….

Personally, I wish we could just get rid of this antiquated practice. Given there is an 8% increase in traffic accidents the Monday after daylight savings time kicks in. It really does have an effect on all of us, and it can increase our sleep debt – especially in children, who tend to be much more structured with going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning.
However, instead of grumbling about it, we might as well just focus on amending our kids’ schedules as quickly and efficiently as possible.
On that note, here’s my advice for readjusting your family’s internal clocks over the coming weeks.

Don’t let it scare you – apply changes one at a time

For “Fall Back,” my recommendation to all parents is just to leave the clocks alone so it’s not a psychologically upsetting event to see your little one up an hour earlier. Just get up at your usual time and start the day. After your cup of coffee and a bit of breakfast, then you can go around changing the clocks. It will feel much better this way, trust me!
If, for example, your little one usually takes a morning nap around 9:30, you will adjust this to 9:00 for the three days after the time change. It will be a bit of a push for your child, but not so much that it will cause much damage to her schedule. Do the same for the afternoon nap.
Let’s say your child usually goes to bed at 7 p.m. I recommend putting your child to bed at 6:30 p.m. for the first three days following the time change. (This will FEEL like 7:30 to your child.) And it will take about a week for your child’s body to get used to this.

A little trick for children over the age of two

If you have children over the age of two, you can use a clock to help with getting them adjusted to the new time. Put a Gro clock in the room and set it half an hour forward to start the day, so that at 6:30 am it shows the sun for the start of the day. If using a digital clock put a piece of tape over the minutes, so that they can see if it is 6 o’clock or 7 o’clock, but they cannot see the minutes, which often confuses toddlers. Just set the clock forward half an hour so that at 6:30 it says 7:00. Let them get up a little earlier than normal, knowing that, by the end of the week, they will be back on track and sleep until their normal wake-up time.

On the fourth night, just get in line with the new time so your baby is back to going to bed when the clock says 7:00 pm. Adjust naps to the correct time on day 4 as well.

With a little luck and preparation, you might just find yourself savouring that extra hour of sleep after all.

Another tip…

Our internal sleep clocks are pretty powerful. If you know your child will probably wake up at the normal time, see if you can keep them in their cot or bed for 10 minutes or so longer in the morning. Stagger the time change through the day. Why not add a couple of extra snacks and try…

• Breakfast – 15 mins later
• Lunch – 35 mins later
• Tea – 60 mins later

Meal times can help to set your body clock, make mealtimes one of the key timing changes. And then your final task is to see if you can move bedtime to an hour later, without a torrent of tired tears.

One final thing…

Don’t allow the clocks going back to let you slip into bad habits. Bringing your baby into bed with you or giving a dawn milk feed to encourage your baby back to sleep may work in the short term but long term may lead to sleeping problems.

Read More Blogs:

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British Summer Time – How to Prepare Baby for Clock Change

10 Tips On How To Juggle Bedtime Routines

 How To Juggle Bedtime Routines

Bringing a new baby into the house is a glorious, exciting, terrifying occasion, especially when you have one or two already, and it can bring up a whole lot of questions.

1. How are the older children going to react to their new sibling? 
2. Are they going to embrace the role of older brother or sister?
3. Will they turn into jealous little clingers who need constant attention and reassurance?
4. How will their schedule fit in with your newborn’s naps and feeding times?
5. And maybe most concerning for anyone who’s clawed and scraped to get their little one sleeping through the night?
6. how is this going to affect the older child’s bedtime?

Trying to juggle two or three different bedtime routines can be mind-boggling if you’re not prepared for it.

Trying to find fifteen minutes to breastfeed your newborn at the same time you’re trying to get your toddler out of the bath can drive you right out of your mind, and toddlers… they know, they just know that you’re in a position where you’re unable to chase them down and enforce the law, so they have a real tendency to exploit that weakness. They are, and I say this with all the love in the world, sociopaths-in-training.

So today, I have some tips for all of you who have two or three balls in the air, kid-wise, and are struggling to find a bedtime groove.

1.Have one bedtime for all the kids in the house

A lot of parents I work with are surprised when I suggest that their 3 year-olds should be going to bed at 7:00 at night, but even at that age, kids still need between 10-12 hours of sleep a night. That’s not including daytime naps. I’m talking strictly nighttime, so if your toddler needs to be up at 7:00 AM, a 7:00 PM bedtime is not at all unreasonable.

If the idea of running through two or three bedtime routines simultaneously seems daunting, just keep reading. I’ve got your back.

2. Team up and switch off if you can

If you’re among the lucky ones who has a partner who’s home and available to help you get the kids to bed, put together a list of what needs to get done, split the tasks evenly, and then switch off every other night. That will prevent either of you from feeling like you’ve got the short end of the stick, sure, but it also gets your kids accustomed to either parent putting them to bed, so if one of you isn’t available on a given night, it won’t throw your little ones into a tailspin just because things are a little different.

3. Find opportunities to multitask

We’re all parents here, right? So either through talent or necessity, we’re the undisputed heavyweight champs of multitasking. Trying to run through two or three completely separate bedtime routines is going to leave you exhausted and probably won’t fit the itinerary, so double up wherever you can.

• let the kids take a bath together
• feed your newborn while you read your toddler a bedtime story
• sing songs together while you change baby’s diaper, and so on.

Wherever you can overlap, milk that opportunity for all it’s worth.

4. Meticulously craft and adhere to a 15-30 minute bedtime routine.

Bedtime routines are vital to getting your kids sleeping through the night. It’s not just a great way of keeping them on a clock, although that’s a huge benefit, it also serves as a signal to their brains and bodies that bedtime is approaching which stimulates melatonin production and dials things down internally to prepare for a long, rejuvenating night’s sleep.

A bath is a great place to start since it’s so noticeably different from everything else kids do during the day. It’s a strong signal that sleep is just around the corner.

5. Save a special activity for bedtime

Typically it will be the older child who’s capable of entertaining themselves for a little while as you’re busy finishing up with your youngest. It’s not always the case, but whichever way it breaks in your house, come up with a non-screen-related activity that will keep your toddler entertained and quiet and make it exclusive to that fifteen minutes or so that you need one-on-one time to put the baby down.

Don’t make it too stimulating or open-ended or you could end up in a skirmish because your child’s bedtime activity is too much fun to put down. A special colouring book is a great option.

6.Exploit child labour

Toddlers love structure and predictability, so giving them a helper position when you’re putting your younger child to bed is a great way to keep them occupied and give them a feeling of accomplishment just before they head to bed. Show them where the nappies are stored and have them bring you the goods as you’re getting your baby for bedtime.

7.Stick to your guns

Toddlers test boundaries in a constant, systematic fashion. “I’m not allowed to throw the baseball in the house? OK. Let’s see if I’m allowed to throw the tennis ball in the house!” And now that you’re splitting your attention between them and a new baby, you might feel a little indebted to them. That’s natural, but changing or bending the rules is likely to upset them more, not less. As I mentioned previously, kids thrive on predictability and structure.

If they suddenly get the feeling like the fences are down, they typically feel a little lost and that’s going to lead to more tantrums, not fewer. So keep the routine and the expectations as close as possible to the way they were before their sibling arrived.

8. No watching late night TV

No matter how bad it gets, no matter how tempted you might be, don’t let your toddler watch Doc McStuffins. I know how quickly and effectively putting your child in front of the TV or handing them your phone can buy you a few minutes of peace and quiet, but screens are the ultimate swindler. They’re charlatans. Wolves in sheep’s clothing. Because the entire time that they’re holding your child’s attention, they’re flooding their eyes with blue light.

That might not seem like a bad tradeoff for fifteen minutes to tend to your baby, but blue light stimulates cortisol production and inhibits melatonin, so those fifteen minutes of peace and quiet could very easily cost you hours of trying to get your overtired child to settle down for the night.

9. Accept the fact that it’s not always going to go smoothly

These are, after all, young children we’re dealing with, so if things start to go off the rails a bit, don’t look at it as a failure on anyone’s part. They’re going to have regressions, tough nights, and the occasional meltdown, but staying calm and level-headed is the best thing you can do to avoid escalating those situations into something more frustrating and upsetting for everyone involved.

10.Embrace the peace and quiet

Once you’ve got everyone in bed, take at least five or ten minutes before you

• check your email
• start a load of laundry
• catch up on whatever responsibilities you’ve got to tend to
• just let yourself unwind.

I don’t need to tell you that this parenting thing is a stressful gig, so when you get a moment to pat yourself on the back and find a little zen in your life, you should fall face-first into it, and the moments right after the kids fall asleep are a prime opportunity to do just that.

To celebrate the superhero that is you.

There’s another night of challenges and rewards for the whole family coming up again tomorrow.

Read next >>>

• Is a Thumb Sucking a Habit Bad For Night Time Routine?
• Toddler Bedtime Routine – Parent Show United Front
• Toddlers and Their Stalling Tactics

Thank you so much for reading, please comment below if you have any questions which you would like help with regarding the 10 Tips On How To Juggle Bedtime Routines?

Is This the Right Time to Sleep Train?

 Is This the Right Time to Sleep Train?

There are two things I can pretty much guarantee you when it comes to teaching your baby to sleep through the night.

1. It’s going to be a challenge
2. It’s going to be eminently worth it.

I’ve never worked with a family whose baby went right down on the first night and just magically slept through from then on. Some have slept through the night on night two, most of them start seeing results on night three or four, but I won’t kid you, night one can be a trial.

I’ve also never worked with a family who didn’t feel like they had made a tremendous decision once their baby had learned to sleep through the night. The benefits to the whole family are almost indescribable.

Like many big decisions though, there are times that are ideal and times that are less so. Today, I’d like to offer some tips for deciding whether or not it’s the right time to take this challenging, but oh-so-rewarding journey.

Are you going to be around to sleep train?

I’m not attempting to find a silver lining in this Covid-19 situation, but many parents are currently either working from home or not working at all, which does present the opportunity to be at home while you show your little one how to sleep independently. I usually recommend that at least one parent is home for two weeks while you’re sleep training, so this might be a great opportunity to take the plunge.

I don’t advise parents to start sleep training within two weeks of travelling, but I’m guessing that’s not a concern for most of us at the moment since we’re all sticking pretty close to our home base.

Is the time right for the baby?

The best chance for a quick and effective solution to your baby’s sleep issues is to implement the changes when they’re healthy and thriving. If baby’s dealing with reflux or colic, you’ll want to get that remedied before you start sleep training. There’s going to be some fussing and protest in the first few nights, and we want to make sure it’s only due to the change in their routine, not because of actual discomfort, and if they’re healthy, it’s much easier to pinpoint the reasons for their fussing.

Is your partner on board?

If you’re raising your baby with a partner, it’s important that both of you are committed to the process. This can be a trying ordeal for the first couple of nights and if your partner thinks it’s not a good idea, there’s likely going to be a point where they manage to convince you to give in and resort to whatever “sleep prop” you usually use to get your baby to sleep. So before you get started, make sure you and your partner have both signed on and can rely on one another for support.

Can you stand a couple of nights without a lot of sleep?

I won’t sugar-coat it. Changing up someone’s sleep habits is almost never met with a lot of enthusiasm for the first night or two, so nobody’s likely to get a lot of rest for the first 48 hours. If you have an important meeting or a major event coming up in the next few days that you need to be in peak condition for, you might want to wait until next weekend to get things underway.

Are the symptoms of sleep deprivation starting to show?

Are you starting to feel

• depressed
• moody
• forgetful
• unmotivated
• clumsy
• unfocused

Is your sex drive starting to wane?

Have you noticed an increased appetite and carbohydrate cravings?

These are all symptoms of sleep deprivation and they’re no laughing matter. Society tends to make light of the whole, “exhausted new parent” persona, but the more we learn about the health effects of sleep deprivation, the less of a joke it becomes. If you’re sleep-deprived or feel like you’re on the verge, now’s the time to take some action.

Are their accommodations ready for sleep training?

Exceptions can be made in certain situations, but I really do find that putting baby into their own room is the best way to help them learn to sleep independently, and there are a few decorating guidelines to help baby get the hang of this thing as quickly as possible. Their room should be as dark as you can possibly get it. Put up some blackout blinds or, barring that, tape up some garbage bags over the windows. It’s not pretty but 100% darkness will really help with daytime naps.

Get rid of any mobiles, crib aquariums, or light-emitting devices that claim to help baby sleep. (I can assure you, they don’t.) An ideal nursery is flat-out boring. Baby should recognize it as a place to do nothing but sleep, so keep their toys and stuffies in another room.

Don’t wait for the “perfect” moment to sleep train

Like I said earlier, now might not be the ideal time to take the initiative to help your baby sleep through the night. Getting started and having to stop because of some bad planning is likely going to cause some confusion and minimize your chances for success. But remember, there’s always going to be something that isn’t exactly ideal. Teething, crawling, rolling over, and other developmental milestones, shouldn’t impede a baby’s ability to sleep through the night, and they’re not going to stop popping up until your little one’s about ready to graduate from high school.

So now that you know all that, if you feel like the time is right and you’re ready to get started, let’s get going!

Get in touch and we can start putting together a plan for your baby right away I know it’s a big decision, (It certainly was for me when I first made it with my little one) but the outcome is almost indescribably wonderful for the whole family.

I’m ready when you are.

Read next >>>

• Signs Your Child Should Stop Daytime Naps
• Is Sleep Training Safe? Facts and Myths Debunked
• The Benefits of Sleep

Thank you so much for reading, please comment below if you have any questions which you would like help with regarding the Is This the Right Time to Sleep Train?