The Sleep Nanny Podcast

In 2011, Sammy qualified as a midwife and have since worked within the NHS. After experiencing tongue-tie with all three of their children, with the youngest requiring a division, they developed a strong interest and passion for supporting families in overcoming the challenges that tongue-tie can bring. They studied a postgraduate specialist course, ‘Advanced Clinical Skills in Tongue-Tie (Ankyloglossia) Management,’ at the University of Wolverhampton, and completed their practical training under the supervision of a consultant neonatologist and an experienced registered midwife/frenulotomist. Medications or milk thickeners do not cure reflux! While they can help alleviate symptoms, they do not address the underlying cause. Having been through this as a parent, it's important to recognize that although reflux is common, it is not normal. Consider this: if an adult or toddler went to the GP and reported severe pain or physical sickness every time they ate, would the GP simply prescribe medication or suggest adding a thickener to drinks? Absolutely not! They would investigate the root cause to understand what is happening. You wouldn’t be satisfied with the response, “You’re still gaining weight” or “You’ll grow out of it.” So why is this acceptable for babies? Babies need support to identify the source of their discomfort, and as parents, we also need help to address these causes, both mentally and physically. Finding the cause isn’t always easy—many factors can contribute to reflux. Specialists often highlight that a major overlooked cause is tongue-tie or oral dysfunction. Poor oral function can increase air intake, which worsens reflux. Additionally, other conditions such as CMPA (Cow's Milk Protein Allergy) or dysphagia may play a role. So don't settle for just treating the symptoms—seek the right support to find the cause!   Find Sammy here - https://www.instagram.com/tonguetiespecialist

Poppy Owen is a Business Mentor, Coach & Worldwide Speaker helping high-achieving females create impact online with their knowledge. She's all about aligning business structure & lifestyle to become the best version of themselves. She is a busy mum of two young daughters. She is also passionate about health, wellness and SLEEP - making it a priority for herself and family. She moved to Dubai in 2023 with her family where her and her husband both run their own business from.   Find poppy here - @poppyowen

Rebecca has been an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher for nearly 20 years. Her online business helps non-native speakers improve their English skills and prepare for exams to study at British universities.   Outside her home office, she spends time with her family, experiencing life from the other side. As a language graduate, she lived and worked abroad after university. Now, she speaks Russian at home with her husband and two children, whom they are raising to (hopefully!) be bilingual.   Find her here - insta - @englishclubonline

Sarah Almond Bushell is an international award-winning Registered Dietitian & Feeding Therapist with 25 years of expertise in paediatrics. She is an author, speaker, and ex-NHS Consultant Paediatric Dietitian and founder of The Children’s Nutritionist Limited. Sarah's aim with The Children’s Nutritionist™ is to help parents fix their child’s fussy eating by tapping into sensory and the psychology of feeding, so that mealtimes become stress free happy family times. She also has an extensive blog that reaches 150,000 people every single month. Sarah is a mum of two teenagers, who were both fussy eaters when they were young, who inspired her to specialise in this area.   Find Sarah Here - @thechildrensnutritionist

Dr Williams has practiced chiropractic and had a significant interest in chiropractic paediatrics for the past thirty years. He lectures extensively to chiropractic, medical and dental groups throughout Europe, the United States and Australia, primarily on the subjects of chiropractic paediatrics and SOT, Dr Williams is a former vice president of the British Chiropractic Association and he has previously served on the UK regulatory body for chiropractic the General Chiropractic Council 2003-2001. He is also a past president of both SOTO (Sacro Occipital Technique Organisation) Europe and SOTO International and was a founding board member of the College of Chiropractors Faculty of Paediatrics   Find out more here - https://www.stjameschiro.co.uk/dr-steve-williams/

I’ve faced sleep struggles with my own daughter, which has given me firsthand experience in dealing with the challenges many parents encounter. Balancing these demands with returning to work as a teacher added another layer of complexity. The demands of teaching, coupled with the sleepless nights, were incredibly challenging. I know many people go through similar experiences, making this a highly relatable issue. My journey has shown me the importance of empathy and understanding when navigating these struggles, and I believe sharing my story can resonate with and support others facing the same difficulties.   Find Emily here - Insta - @sleepnannyemilyadams

Cara is an entrepreneur and the inventor of SnoozeShade, the world’s bestselling range of baby sun and sleep shades. In 2009, Cara found herself in need of a solution to help her baby daughter sleep in the pushchair. She couldn’t find anything already on the market, so she decided to create that solution herself! Despite having no previous experience in retail or manufacturing, Cara has since turned SnoozeShade into a global brand that has helped hundreds of thousands of parents, won more than 80 awards and is recommended by the world’s leading baby-sleep experts. Cara is passionate about teaching other small-business owners what she has learned, sharing the real ups and downs of running and growing a business in her signature straight-talking style. Find Cara and Snoozeshade here - @snoozeshade

Combining her role as a mother of four with her position as the Founder of BabySensor, a High Tech Company focused on parental safety, she brings a wealth of relevant experience to the table. With a background in child welfare, she has honed her expertise in parenting and leadership, making her uniquely qualified to address the challenges of modern parenting. Her commitment to improving sleep and rest for parents aligns perfectly with the podcast's themes, making her an ideal guest. Her ability to juggle entrepreneurship, leadership, and motherhood gives her a comprehensive understanding of the struggles parents face daily. Her personal journey adds depth and authenticity to any conversation on the topic. Believing in the value of sharing insights and passion, she sees her participation in the podcast as a way to offer guidance and support to listeners navigating the often tumultuous journey of parenthood. Furthermore, her professional speaking career as a parental advisor underscores her dedication to helping parents thrive in their roles. Find Anita here - https://no.linkedin.com/in/anitafevang/en

As a Psychotherapist, Ashley has worked in a number of different arenas, from the corporate world training  to education; being a therapist for 1800 students in an International school in Abu Dhabi, to setting up her own Psychotherapy and Consultancy practice. Ashley gave a TEDx talk in 2019 that gave birth to The Resilient Kid. Last year she released her book A Parents Guide to Raising a Resilient Kid. Join Ashley for a down to earth practical approach to reconnect to our kids and build their resilience.   Links Free resources - https://www.theresilientacademy.co.uk/ Website - https://theresilientkid.co.uk/ Insta - theresilientkid/ FB - resilientkiduk

Karena Rathbone Ariel is a passionate Aromatherapy Emotions Coach helping people feel empowered with natural solutions and utilise essential oils for both emotional and physical wellbeing. Karena is a certified Aromatherapist, Swedish and stone massage therapist, internationally accredited Emotional Aromatherapy Advisor. Qualified in the AromaTouch Technique since 2017 and a certified doTERRA essential oil specialist, Karena runs classes, workshops, online and live events on how to use essential oils safely for all the family, in yoga, with meditation and managing wellness. As a doTERRA Gold team leader Karena has wellness teams based in the UK & Europe and coaches people across the globe.   Please follow Karena's Facebook and IG page @essentialwellbeinghub for further event listings and customer group Essential Oil Hub for aromatherapy support. For massage treatments Karena can be found at The Wellbeing Studio Bexhill for treatments.

In this episode, we catch up with Beaux Raymond, a fresh mother who gained prominence as a reality TV star and influencer following her victorious stint on Netflix's popular dating series, Too Hot to Handle. With over 465,000 followers on her official Instagram, Beaux collaborates with various fashion labels. During our conversation, she delves into her challenging birth experience, navigating single parenthood following her recent breakup, and shares insights into her daughter Lillia's sleeping habits   Find her here -  @_beauxraymond

In this episode we speak to twin mum Emily Simpson Emily is a mum to 3 beautiful boys, including twins. She has a degree in Early Childhood Studies and experience working in various early years settings. She became a sleep consultant after her own experience of sleep deprivation when her twins were first born. Being someone who loves their sleep, she really struggled with this which set her off on a road of researching infant sleep which she has found fascinating. She now loves helping other families address their sleep challenges so that they can enjoy family life with an understanding of sleep so that they are confident in navigating sleep going forward.   Find her here - www.sleepnanny.co.uk/c/emilysimpson/ @sleepnannyemilysimpson

Vicky is a certified sleep consultant who established a successful business helping families find the right sleep solutions that gain amazing results. Vicky works with children from newborn to 17 years old and is also a specialist in Anxiety & Autism / ADHD sleep methods. Her unique and bespoke sleep methods have helped families from all over the world, overcome sleep problems that have affected their whole lives. Vicky is passionate about getting the right advice for each individual family in order to get the results they want. Vicky also spends time running workshops & seminars on Autism, Anxiety and Sleep for many of the top Autism Charities & Societies both in the UK and USA and is the lead speaker and trainer on these specialist sleep methods. Vicky has over 16 years of professional training, qualifications and knowledge in these bespoke sleep methods, she also has personal experience with her own children who both have additional needs. Through her own experiences, she has combined this knowledge with science and research to create bespoke and successful sleep methods that help all families, with or without additional needs https://sleepnanny.co.uk/c/vickycooksley/

In today's episode, we're thrilled to welcome Janine McGee Nutrition, who will be sharing a treasure trove of tips aimed at helping you achieve optimal nutrition to deeply nourish your body at a cellular level. Whether you're in the delicate post-birth recovery phase or simply find yourself leading a hectic lifestyle with minimal time for culinary endeavors, Janine will expertly break down simple yet effective strategies to meet your nutritional needs. Join us as Janine delves into the intricacies of dietary choices, offering guidance on what to incorporate into your meals and what to steer clear of. By understanding the importance of these dietary decisions, you'll gain valuable insight into how they can positively impact not only your current state of well-being but also your future health. So, tune in to discover the keys to unlocking a nourished body and a thriving life.   You can find out more about Janine and how she can help here: Instagram - @janine.mcgee.nutrition www.janinemcgee.co.uk

Dr Clair Burley is a Clinical Psychologist specialising in attachment trauma After a successful 13 years in the NHS, Dr Clair now works from her private practice in Dorset. Dr Clair helps individuals, couples and parents/families with their relationship challenges and needs. This includes the relationship we have with ourselves (e.g., a harsh inner critic, difficulty managing emotions, attachment trauma) as well as with significant others such as a romantic partner, a child, or other family members such as siblings or parents. Dr Clair has a nurturing nature, which is paired with her in-depth knowledge and experience of helping people transform their relationships. She draws upon psychological theories and models to make sense of your difficulties and guide you from where you are now, to where you want to be. The key to true happiness is in the harmony and connection within these relationships   Instagram @drclairburley Website https://drclair.com

Vern Hill is an ante and post-natal fitness expert, Founder of Carifit and father of 2, passionate about the benefits that baby wearing can bring to parents and their child. Supported by a team of industry professionals, as well as doctors, midwives, physiotherapists and baby wearing experts, they create fun, safe and effective workouts supported by thoughtfully made sports tech. Carifit started out as an exercise method and soon developed into a wellbeing platform for all new parents at every stage of their parenting journey. With expert advice and support on nutrition, babywearing, sleep and postnatal physiotherapy, the Carifit app is the only 360° babywearing, parenting, fitness and wellbeing platform. Vern Hill is the Founder of Carifit: https://www.getcarifit.com/ | @cari_fit on instagram

In this conversation we talk to the wonderful Lucy Piper who is the presenter at the Baby Show   Lucy trained as a professional dancer and enjoyed a career around the world until she was 25 before making her break into television presenting on a breakfast show in Chicago, USA She is a mum of two and the world of Baby and Maternity is one of Lucy's greatest passions. When she was pregnant with her first child, she presented The Baby Channel on Sky, a fabulous daytime show interviewing various experts on the sofa with her big bump! Lucy has been hosting The Baby Show stage since 2004 making this her 18th year. Over the years she has shared the stage with hundreds of experts and celebrity mums, talking about labour, breastfeeding, sleep and weaning. Lucy loves to explore and talk about the latest baby products and is always on the lookout for the latest innovation. With her empathy and admiration for new parents, she loves to empower and support expectant and new parents on their exciting parenting journey.  In this podcast we talk all things 'Baby' and how motherhood can take it's toll.   Take our free sleep assessment and tailor your own plan of action on our Sleep App, it's free to download on the Apple and Google Play stores https://sleepnanny.co.uk/app/

In this episode I talk to the wonderful Senior Sleep Nanny Consultant and wonderful human Becky Brightman. Becky found Sleep Nanny as a sleep-deprived parent, just like you, who was at her limit. At 18 months old, her daughter was taking upwards of two hours to fall asleep (day or night) and was feeding at least three times a night. Mum guilt over her child's sleep deprivation was ever all  consuming. Whether it stemmed from feelings of responsibility for her child's disrupted sleep patterns or from societal pressures to ensure perfect parenting, it often weighed heavy on her heart. The relentless cycle of sleepless nights exacerbated this guilt, as she started to question her ability to provide adequate care and support for her child's well-being. Despite her best efforts, the inability to "fix" her child's sleep issues amplified these feelings of inadequacy. Sleep Nanny transformed her life in two short weeks and it was from that point she knew she wanted to help other families experience the same. In this conversation we talk about mum guilt, sleep experiences, societal pressure and the knock on effect this can have on the whole family. Find Becky on Instagram - @sleepnannybeckybrightman https://beckybrightman.sleepnanny.co   Take our free sleep assessment and tailor your own plan of action on our Sleep App, it's free to download on the Apple and Google Play stores https://sleepnanny.co.uk/app/

In this blog, we are going to be addressing the fact that you’ve recognized that your baby doesn’t sleep enough, or your little one doesn’t sleep enough. So we’re going to find out why. Where is it in 24 hours that the lack of sleep is coming from? Because understanding this is key.  In the previous blog we started talking about overtiredness and what that does, and the effect of overtiredness. So today, we are going to fully understand where the overtiredness could be coming from.  First of all, could it be lack of daytime sleep? That’s the first one I want you to think about. Is your child under three? If they are, then they probably do still need some daytime sleep. And don’t get me wrong, sometimes they need daytime sleep beyond age three as well. But if they are under three, then it’s pretty much a sure thing that they do need some. And if that’s the case, how much should that be, at this current age and stage that they are? How much daytime sleep would be beneficial for them? And in what sections? How many? How many naps and how long would they be, if they’re going to be doing the best sleep they can do? So if we can understand that we can then understand whether they’re getting enough or not. That immediately gives us a fixing point like, “Ah, okay, my two-year-old, let’s say, is having a half an hour nap in the day.” Okay brilliant, we’ve identified a problem. It’s not enough sleep for a two-year-old, we need to be aiming more towards the two-hour mark. So we already go, “Oh right, okay. That’s what I need to do to help to fix things.” It could be the amount, but it could also be the quality. So you might think, “Oh no, my child gets loads of sleep. They get the exact amount that they need for their age and stage.” But if the quality of that sleep isn’t great that could be the problem. It could be the timing as well. So what if they’re getting the quantity overall, but the quality is poor and it’s in little snatched naps of light sleep. And perhaps, in their case, it’s not restorative enough, and the quality of sleep is down. Also, motion sleep, so the sleep that you have on the go, in the pushchair, or the car, or on the move, motion sleep often won’t give the same quality of sleep as a proper sleep space and ideal sleep environment. It can, but often it doesn’t. So that could be the key and the thing that is causing your little one to be overtired. So these are all things that you can look at and explore to spot it with your little one where’s that overtiredness coming from.  The other thing with timing to look at is if they’re awake for too long between sleeps. So sometimes people will tell me, “Yep, they’re getting enough sleep.” And they are, they’re getting enough. Let’s go back to our two-year-old, perhaps they’re getting nearly two hours every day and it’s brilliant, but they’re taking that a bit late in the day. So actually, from their morning wake-up time until the star

https://youtu.be/lx4Kmk1UcVk To conclude my little series on traveling with your little ones and maintaining the best sleep possible, this post is all about the return home. These tips are going to help you to get your little one’s sleep back on track and get them sleeping really nicely at home when you’ve returned from travel or being away, or on a holiday, or something like that. Number one, the journey home itself. So when you’re coming home a bit like the journey out, you have this random day, it’s a transitional day. It’s going to be a day where you may find you or your child might get more sleep than usual, you might get less sleep than usual. It doesn’t matter, it’s a transition. It’s when you get back, that really makes the difference in getting back into your routine. When you come back, try if possible, it’s not always possible, but try if you can to factor in a recovery day. That’s the day after the travel day. So you’ve got your travel day and then a recovery day. If you can, if your timetable allows. That’s going to give you the opportunity to just play with timing, whatever time we start, the day is fine. Wake up when your body clock’s ready. And then, look at, where are we now? What time is it? Right, based on this wake-up time we need to have, or not have naps. Based on what happens there, we need to do what we need to do in order for bedtime to happen at that time, which is your time at home. So having that recovery day, it’s like having a buffer zone to really sort it all back out. The second thing is home routine right away. Get into your home routine right away. Once you’ve got back and you’ve done that, you’re going to be starting to think, right it’s breakfast time at this time, this is our dinner time, this is when bedtime is. Just get back into that routine and rhythm. And particularly when it comes to your bedtime routine for little ones and the environment that they’re in. If they are in their own room, if they spent a week sleeping in a room with a sibling, but normally at home, they’re on their own, it’s hard and fast rules back to normal. That’s where you sleep, your bed, your room. If they are usually in their own cot, but they’ve been sleeping in a bed or a different sleep setting or in with parents on a holiday, back to normal, back to their own sleep space. Whatever the rules are at home, they need to come back right away. The third thing to remind you of is jet lag. If you have changed time zones, especially big ones, jet lag can last a week. It can take a week to really get back to normal. But you’re going to encourage that along and you’re going to help that along faster by getting into your local time and your routine based on the time zone you’re back in. And by getting into those cues, the environments, the meal times, all those things that make up the home routine. Catch-ups as well. If you are, or your little one is tired, more than usual, have little catch-up

https://youtu.be/lx4Kmk1UcVk To conclude my little series on traveling with your little ones and maintaining the best sleep possible, this post is all about the return home. These tips are going to help you to get your little one’s sleep back on track and get them sleeping really nicely at home when you’ve returned from travel or being away, or on a holiday, or something like that. Number one, the journey home itself. So when you’re coming home a bit like the journey out, you have this random day, it’s a transitional day. It’s going to be a day where you may find you or your child might get more sleep than usual, you might get less sleep than usual. It doesn’t matter, it’s a transition. It’s when you get back, that really makes the difference in getting back into your routine. When you come back, try if possible, it’s not always possible, but try if you can to factor in a recovery day. That’s the day after the travel day. So you’ve got your travel day and then a recovery day. If you can, if your timetable allows. That’s going to give you the opportunity to just play with timing, whatever time we start, the day is fine. Wake up when your body clock’s ready. And then, look at, where are we now? What time is it? Right, based on this wake-up time we need to have, or not have naps. Based on what happens there, we need to do what we need to do in order for bedtime to happen at that time, which is your time at home. So having that recovery day, it’s like having a buffer zone to really sort it all back out. The second thing is home routine right away. Get into your home routine right away. Once you’ve got back and you’ve done that, you’re going to be starting to think, right it’s breakfast time at this time, this is our dinner time, this is when bedtime is. Just get back into that routine and rhythm. And particularly when it comes to your bedtime routine for little ones and the environment that they’re in. If they are in their own room, if they spent a week sleeping in a room with a sibling, but normally at home, they’re on their own, it’s hard and fast rules back to normal. That’s where you sleep, your bed, your room. If they are usually in their own cot, but they’ve been sleeping in a bed or a different sleep setting or in with parents on a holiday, back to normal, back to their own sleep space. Whatever the rules are at home, they need to come back right away. The third thing to remind you of is jet lag. If you have changed time zones, especially big ones, jet lag can last a week. It can take a week to really get back to normal. But you’re going to encourage that along and you’re going to help that along faster by getting into your local time and your routine based on the time zone you’re back in. And by getting into those cues, the environments, the meal times, all those things that make up the home routine. Catch-ups as well. If you are, or your little one is tired, more than usual, have little catch-up

https://youtu.be/-YPNH-pEFCM The last couple of blogs posts have been about travel with babies and children, in this miniseries I am sharing as much as I can with you to make the journey easier, to make your time away more enjoyable and so that sleep doesn’t just become a complete disaster. Next up is my sleep tips for you while you are away. So whilst you are on your holiday or vacation, whilst you’re traveling, how can you make sleep much better than just leaving it to chance? My first tip for you for improving sleep or making sleep good whilst you’re away with your children is to think about the routine but different. When I say routine but different, it means you want to have some kind of routine, some kind of rhythm going on. If they’re napping, let’s work out where they’re going to fall, where those naps are going to sit in the day, and bedtime, where’s that going to be? We do want some kind of rhythmicity, but it can be different to what you do at home. For example, it’s quite common when we travel, especially if we’re on a vacation with our children, that we might want to shift bedtime to be a little bit later. Perhaps if they’re going to be dining with us, we might want to move bedtime a little bit later. Or if there’s a kiddie’s disco or a children’s club or something that they’re going to go to, again, it might just mean bedtime is a little bit different. If that’s the case, will they be the kind of child to make up those hours and sleep in a bit in the morning? Or are you like me where you have a child that it doesn’t matter when they go to bed, they’ll always wake up at the same time in the morning? If that’s you, you might need to factor in a nap in the day that perhaps doesn’t normally happen at home or an additional sleep in the day that you wouldn’t normally do in your home routine. So you just need to allow for these tweaks so that you can get into a holiday routine with sleep. The second thing I want to share with you is about sleep location. Often when we travel, our little one’s sleep location changes. It might be that they are sharing a room when they wouldn’t normally, either with a sibling or with parents or the whole family might be in one room. That can happen. Their sleep location for naps might change. Maybe they normally take a nap at home in a cot and now they’re going to be taking a nap in their pram or their push chair stroller whilst out and about. Because, let’s face it, we’re on a vacation, we want to be out and having fun, right? So the location of sleep can change. Again, set it up for your holiday rules, your vacation rules, so that whilst you’re there, that’s what you do and they get used to it. Don’t worry. They won’t see this as home. They’ll see this as a different environment anyway and what happens there is what happens there. Make sure that you set up the room for comfort and safety and have a nap setting that you know works so you can also all enjoy your holiday.

https://youtu.be/-YPNH-pEFCM The last couple of blogs posts have been about travel with babies and children, in this miniseries I am sharing as much as I can with you to make the journey easier, to make your time away more enjoyable and so that sleep doesn’t just become a complete disaster. Next up is my sleep tips for you while you are away. So whilst you are on your holiday or vacation, whilst you’re traveling, how can you make sleep much better than just leaving it to chance? My first tip for you for improving sleep or making sleep good whilst you’re away with your children is to think about the routine but different. When I say routine but different, it means you want to have some kind of routine, some kind of rhythm going on. If they’re napping, let’s work out where they’re going to fall, where those naps are going to sit in the day, and bedtime, where’s that going to be? We do want some kind of rhythmicity, but it can be different to what you do at home. For example, it’s quite common when we travel, especially if we’re on a vacation with our children, that we might want to shift bedtime to be a little bit later. Perhaps if they’re going to be dining with us, we might want to move bedtime a little bit later. Or if there’s a kiddie’s disco or a children’s club or something that they’re going to go to, again, it might just mean bedtime is a little bit different. If that’s the case, will they be the kind of child to make up those hours and sleep in a bit in the morning? Or are you like me where you have a child that it doesn’t matter when they go to bed, they’ll always wake up at the same time in the morning? If that’s you, you might need to factor in a nap in the day that perhaps doesn’t normally happen at home or an additional sleep in the day that you wouldn’t normally do in your home routine. So you just need to allow for these tweaks so that you can get into a holiday routine with sleep. The second thing I want to share with you is about sleep location. Often when we travel, our little one’s sleep location changes. It might be that they are sharing a room when they wouldn’t normally, either with a sibling or with parents or the whole family might be in one room. That can happen. Their sleep location for naps might change. Maybe they normally take a nap at home in a cot and now they’re going to be taking a nap in their pram or their push chair stroller whilst out and about. Because, let’s face it, we’re on a vacation, we want to be out and having fun, right? So the location of sleep can change. Again, set it up for your holiday rules, your vacation rules, so that whilst you’re there, that’s what you do and they get used to it. Don’t worry. They won’t see this as home. They’ll see this as a different environment anyway and what happens there is what happens there. Make sure that you set up the room for comfort and safety and have a nap setting that you know works so you can also all enjoy your holiday.

https://youtu.be/yNdjTUWlxeo This blog is the next in the minim series on traveling with babies and children, we’re focusing on time zones and the tips for getting through the change of time zones, on the way there, when you come back, how you can manage them whilst you’re away. The number one tip I want to give you about time zones when it comes to traveling with little ones is consider the travel day, first of all, as an opportunity to transition. So whether you are taking a night flight or you are driving all day long, that day is going to be a little out of routine. It’s going to be a little different to the norm. Naps may or may not happen at the same time as they normally would. And the bedtime might shift. It’s just an odd day, right? It’s not going to be the same as normal. So use that as an opportunity. If you are traveling to a different time zone, use that as an opportunity to get adjusted. And it’s just almost like it’s a blank canvas then. The second thing I want to share with you is when you arrive. When you arrive get onto local time. I don’t care if it’s one hour difference or five hours difference. Get onto local time straight away. And that means start getting your body into the rhythm of the day where you are. So your mealtime’s full at that time in the new time zone, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Your bedtime is at the time on the new time zone straight away. None of this, “Oh, wow. I know it’s this time, but for me, body clock feels like this time,” or you’re thinking about your child where they must feel like it’s this time. Don’t think like that. That’s psychologically going to hinder the adjustment. This goes as much for adults as it does for children. But with children, you need to use the subliminal messages of the environment and the routine to help their body clock to shift into gear into the new time zone. It may not be perfect, but it will certainly help. So mealtimes, bedtime routine, the light itself, the sun rising and setting, are all also going to aid the signals to the body clock to go, “Oh, okay, hold on. Yes, it does feel like more like lunchtime now, actually.” And that will help. The third thing to understand with this is actually about the return, when you come back home. So when you get home, you’ve got the same thing. You need to switch back to local time straight away. No like, “Oh yeah, but I feel like it’s tea time and it’s actually only just the morning.” Yep, sure. You might feel that way. But have breakfast if it’s the morning. Have lunch in the middle of the day. Go to bed at the right time. You may have to do a little manipulation with little ones with naps. You might want to go, “Okay. Do you know what? We are going to skip a nap today because we need to get the bedtime back on track.” Or you might say, “Oh, we need to add in a nap today so that I can keep my child in a good place and get bedtime at the right time at home.” Whatever you need to do, espec

https://youtu.be/yNdjTUWlxeo This blog is the next in the minim series on traveling with babies and children, we’re focusing on time zones and the tips for getting through the change of time zones, on the way there, when you come back, how you can manage them whilst you’re away. The number one tip I want to give you about time zones when it comes to traveling with little ones is consider the travel day, first of all, as an opportunity to transition. So whether you are taking a night flight or you are driving all day long, that day is going to be a little out of routine. It’s going to be a little different to the norm. Naps may or may not happen at the same time as they normally would. And the bedtime might shift. It’s just an odd day, right? It’s not going to be the same as normal. So use that as an opportunity. If you are traveling to a different time zone, use that as an opportunity to get adjusted. And it’s just almost like it’s a blank canvas then. The second thing I want to share with you is when you arrive. When you arrive get onto local time. I don’t care if it’s one hour difference or five hours difference. Get onto local time straight away. And that means start getting your body into the rhythm of the day where you are. So your mealtime’s full at that time in the new time zone, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Your bedtime is at the time on the new time zone straight away. None of this, “Oh, wow. I know it’s this time, but for me, body clock feels like this time,” or you’re thinking about your child where they must feel like it’s this time. Don’t think like that. That’s psychologically going to hinder the adjustment. This goes as much for adults as it does for children. But with children, you need to use the subliminal messages of the environment and the routine to help their body clock to shift into gear into the new time zone. It may not be perfect, but it will certainly help. So mealtimes, bedtime routine, the light itself, the sun rising and setting, are all also going to aid the signals to the body clock to go, “Oh, okay, hold on. Yes, it does feel like more like lunchtime now, actually.” And that will help. The third thing to understand with this is actually about the return, when you come back home. So when you get home, you’ve got the same thing. You need to switch back to local time straight away. No like, “Oh yeah, but I feel like it’s tea time and it’s actually only just the morning.” Yep, sure. You might feel that way. But have breakfast if it’s the morning. Have lunch in the middle of the day. Go to bed at the right time. You may have to do a little manipulation with little ones with naps. You might want to go, “Okay. Do you know what? We are going to skip a nap today because we need to get the bedtime back on track.” Or you might say, “Oh, we need to add in a nap today so that I can keep my child in a good place and get bedtime at the right time at home.” Whatever you need to do, espec

https://youtu.be/_qO6v4m3lNY In this blog I’m going to be giving you some amazing tips for when you travel with your children, and specifically in this post, focusing on the journey itself. I’m going to give you the three best things that you can think about when it comes to traveling with children. The three things that I want to share with you to make that journey and traveling with children a lot less stressful. Number one, entertainment. It seems obvious, but actually the entertainment that your little one’s going to be most entertained by is going to vary at every age. What entertains a younger baby toddler age is going to be very different to a four, five, six, seven year old. It’s going to change, it’s going to evolve. What you can have for entertainment is going to vary depending on the form of travel, the form of transport. Are you on an airplane, a car, a coach, a train a ferry? The ability to move around might be different. Whether they can use wifi screens or whether they need to have books. What forms of entertainment are going to be appropriate for the journey. Consider that, what’s going to be appropriate for the form of transport, and also for the age of the child. Also, think about what could be new. Now, this applies at all ages. What could you whip out that’s brand new for the journey? For instance, for a toddler, could you get a little bunch of party bag type toys, brand new things that they’ve never seen before that you pop into a bag. Then, one by one, on the journey you’re like, “Oh, what’s this? Oh, what’s this? Because we all know that, despite the fact they may have their favorite toy, it’s the new one, it’s the different one, the thing they haven’t seen before, that’s the most exciting that’s going to captivate their attention and keep them content and entertained for a period of time. Being able to pull out a new unseen before thing is definitely going to be great and that can evolve at different ages. For a child a bit older, it could be a new book to read or a magazine. Or, if you like listening to audio books, or even in the car, for instance, it could be that you get that new audio downloaded and onto the device, the headphones prepared, everything you need so that they can have that brand new audio and be excited and get into that as well. Newness is also a great thing to think about when it comes to the entertainment. Think about where you’re going to be able to provide that entertainment. Do they have restricted movement? What format it should come in and how you can make it new and exciting and different? Number two is food. Make sure you are equipped, no matter what form of transport you’re taking, with that journey, make sure that you are able to provide food and water because we all know, and we are like it a bit too as adults, but children in particular, they struggle with their mood and their emotions when they’re hungry, not hangry, and thirsty. The

https://youtu.be/_qO6v4m3lNY In this blog I’m going to be giving you some amazing tips for when you travel with your children, and specifically in this post, focusing on the journey itself. I’m going to give you the three best things that you can think about when it comes to traveling with children. The three things that I want to share with you to make that journey and traveling with children a lot less stressful. Number one, entertainment. It seems obvious, but actually the entertainment that your little one’s going to be most entertained by is going to vary at every age. What entertains a younger baby toddler age is going to be very different to a four, five, six, seven year old. It’s going to change, it’s going to evolve. What you can have for entertainment is going to vary depending on the form of travel, the form of transport. Are you on an airplane, a car, a coach, a train a ferry? The ability to move around might be different. Whether they can use wifi screens or whether they need to have books. What forms of entertainment are going to be appropriate for the journey. Consider that, what’s going to be appropriate for the form of transport, and also for the age of the child. Also, think about what could be new. Now, this applies at all ages. What could you whip out that’s brand new for the journey? For instance, for a toddler, could you get a little bunch of party bag type toys, brand new things that they’ve never seen before that you pop into a bag. Then, one by one, on the journey you’re like, “Oh, what’s this? Oh, what’s this? Because we all know that, despite the fact they may have their favorite toy, it’s the new one, it’s the different one, the thing they haven’t seen before, that’s the most exciting that’s going to captivate their attention and keep them content and entertained for a period of time. Being able to pull out a new unseen before thing is definitely going to be great and that can evolve at different ages. For a child a bit older, it could be a new book to read or a magazine. Or, if you like listening to audio books, or even in the car, for instance, it could be that you get that new audio downloaded and onto the device, the headphones prepared, everything you need so that they can have that brand new audio and be excited and get into that as well. Newness is also a great thing to think about when it comes to the entertainment. Think about where you’re going to be able to provide that entertainment. Do they have restricted movement? What format it should come in and how you can make it new and exciting and different? Number two is food. Make sure you are equipped, no matter what form of transport you’re taking, with that journey, make sure that you are able to provide food and water because we all know, and we are like it a bit too as adults, but children in particular, they struggle with their mood and their emotions when they’re hungry, not hangry, and thirsty. The

https://youtu.be/7OGW7GhXCX0 In this blog I am talking all about the early-rising child. The previous 3 have been focused on how to spot where the overtiredness is coming from that causes the early rising. I’ve talked about how to cope with early rising and strategies to solve all of this and what I want to share with you here is how to stay on track. Once it gets good, how do you keep it there? You’ve done the work. Everything I’ve talked about in the last few blogs, you’ve implemented it beautifully, and you’ve finally overcome those early wakings, and your little one is waking beyond 6:00 AM. Feels great, right? But I’m here to share with you how you can keep it that way because the problem is most people reach that stage, and it goes back off track. It falls off track again, and sometimes it happens with the seasons because it’s got lighter outside in the mornings, and it’s waking them up and that kind of thing, but I’m going to share with you exactly what you need to do to stay on track. First things first, don’t get complacent because one of the reasons lots of people do fall off track is because they get complacent, so all the things that they set up and all the things that they’ve done to get this resolved, they kind of stop doing them. They think they don’t need to anymore. “It’s fine. They’re sleeping fine now. Don’t need to do that.” Probably you do, so don’t just let these things go. Don’t get complacent. It’s also really important to know that some little ones are just wired that way. They are wired as early risers, but that doesn’t mean you have to succumb to wake-ups that happen before 6:00 AM. It does mean they may always be a 6:00-ish or just after 6:00 AM waker, which is an early-ish waker. My own eldest is like that. I’ve always had to stay on top of it, always over the years, because whilst I would not accept anything pre-6:00 AM, because that’s still nighttime, I’ve had to do the work and keep up on everything to make sure that he is waking after 6:00 AM. So, where all his school friends might go to bed later, that’s fine. They can manage it because they sleep in later, but because I know that he absolutely won’t, I have to keep his bedtime earlier because even if he went to bed later, he wouldn’t wake up any later. Some are wired that way, so you need to know your child and what’s best for them. Then, you’ve got to stay on top of it. So, what can you do to stay on top of it? A really obvious but easy one to forget is to keep the room dark. We are so sensitive to the light, some more than others, but being dark means sleep time, and it tells our brains that, whereas light helps to… well, actually it prevents the sleepy hormones, and it suggests that it’s time to wake up, and it wakes us up. This is why these wake-up lights work and these fancy blackout blinds that people have that come up to wake them. I mean, how amazing is that? It’s because it works, and it’s how we’re wired. In fact,

https://youtu.be/7OGW7GhXCX0 In this blog I am talking all about the early-rising child. The previous 3 have been focused on how to spot where the overtiredness is coming from that causes the early rising. I’ve talked about how to cope with early rising and strategies to solve all of this and what I want to share with you here is how to stay on track. Once it gets good, how do you keep it there? You’ve done the work. Everything I’ve talked about in the last few blogs, you’ve implemented it beautifully, and you’ve finally overcome those early wakings, and your little one is waking beyond 6:00 AM. Feels great, right? But I’m here to share with you how you can keep it that way because the problem is most people reach that stage, and it goes back off track. It falls off track again, and sometimes it happens with the seasons because it’s got lighter outside in the mornings, and it’s waking them up and that kind of thing, but I’m going to share with you exactly what you need to do to stay on track. First things first, don’t get complacent because one of the reasons lots of people do fall off track is because they get complacent, so all the things that they set up and all the things that they’ve done to get this resolved, they kind of stop doing them. They think they don’t need to anymore. “It’s fine. They’re sleeping fine now. Don’t need to do that.” Probably you do, so don’t just let these things go. Don’t get complacent. It’s also really important to know that some little ones are just wired that way. They are wired as early risers, but that doesn’t mean you have to succumb to wake-ups that happen before 6:00 AM. It does mean they may always be a 6:00-ish or just after 6:00 AM waker, which is an early-ish waker. My own eldest is like that. I’ve always had to stay on top of it, always over the years, because whilst I would not accept anything pre-6:00 AM, because that’s still nighttime, I’ve had to do the work and keep up on everything to make sure that he is waking after 6:00 AM. So, where all his school friends might go to bed later, that’s fine. They can manage it because they sleep in later, but because I know that he absolutely won’t, I have to keep his bedtime earlier because even if he went to bed later, he wouldn’t wake up any later. Some are wired that way, so you need to know your child and what’s best for them. Then, you’ve got to stay on top of it. So, what can you do to stay on top of it? A really obvious but easy one to forget is to keep the room dark. We are so sensitive to the light, some more than others, but being dark means sleep time, and it tells our brains that, whereas light helps to… well, actually it prevents the sleepy hormones, and it suggests that it’s time to wake up, and it wakes us up. This is why these wake-up lights work and these fancy blackout blinds that people have that come up to wake them. I mean, how amazing is that? It’s because it works, and it’s how we’re wired. In fact,

https://youtu.be/a_8qiXFzO_g This blog is all about coping when your little one is waking really early every morning, every day. I’m going to be going through three key things that you can use to get through this while you are working on the strategies I shared in the last two blogs about how to actually overcome this problem, and get your little one sleeping beyond 6:00 AM every morning. But, I understand that that can take some time, and so, this is for you whilst you’re going through that. Tip number one for you on how to cope when your little one is waking really early for the day is to try to take turns in being the parent that gets up if possible. Now, I understand that’s not possible if you’re on your own, but if you’re not alone, if somebody else can take a turn either every other day or every few days so that you can rest and have a little bit longer in bed, it makes all the difference because once you get up, it’s really hard to go back to sleep. And even if your little one goes back to sleep, it’s so difficult for you to then go back to sleep. It’s like you’re almost waiting in anticipation. So. You almost do have to resign yourself to the fact that you’re going to be awake now to some level for the day, and having somebody else that can go and take their time with that. Just knowing, psychologically knowing, that it’s not my turn today, I can stay in bed. Just by staying, laying down, and keeping your eyes closed even if you are awake and can hear what’s going on, you’re more likely to, first of all, fall back to sleep, and second of all, you’re also more likely to get some degree of better rest than if you actually get up. So, knowing that somebody else can take care of it and that you can just rest is better than nothing. I actually quite like the two days on two days off pattern. And so, if you could take those kinds of times with a partner, then that could be great because then you get two solid nights where you know that you do not need to get up and respond and that you can wake up when you are ready to start the day, or at least after 6:00 AM. Take turns, if you can. If you can’t, if you are on your own, if you’re a single parent, then is there an occasion or perhaps once a week could you have a relative come and stay with you or a good friend come and stay with you? Or could you go and stay with somebody that would be willing to help and take a turn? Even if it is just once a week on a weekend and give you that little bit of extra rest. It’s not as powerful as if you can do this every other night or every couple of nights, but it’s better than nothing, and it’s really worth asking for that help. The second thing that you can definitely, definitely do is grab a nap in the day. Now, I know that sounds simple, and I can already hear you going, yeah, if only it was that easy. It’s not easy, is it? It’s not easy to go, right quick, okay, here’s an opportunity, little ones to sleep. I’m g

This blog is all about coping when your little one is waking really early every morning, every day. I’m going to be going through three key things that you can use to get through this while you are working on the strategies I shared in the last two blogs about how to actually overcome this problem, and get your little one sleeping beyond 6:00 AM every morning. But, I understand that that can take some time, and so, this is for you whilst you’re going through that. Tip number one for you on how to cope when your little one is waking really early for the day is to try to take turns in being the parent that gets up if possible. Now, I understand that’s not possible if you’re on your own, but if you’re not alone, if somebody else can take a turn either every other day or every few days so that you can rest and have a little bit longer in bed, it makes all the difference because once you get up, it’s really hard to go back to sleep. And even if your little one goes back to sleep, it’s so difficult for you to then go back to sleep. It’s like you’re almost waiting in anticipation. So. You almost do have to resign yourself to the fact that you’re going to be awake now to some level for the day, and having somebody else that can go and take their time with that. Just knowing, psychologically knowing, that it’s not my turn today, I can stay in bed. Just by staying, laying down, and keeping your eyes closed even if you are awake and can hear what’s going on, you’re more likely to, first of all, fall back to sleep, and second of all, you’re also more likely to get some degree of better rest than if you actually get up. So, knowing that somebody else can take care of it and that you can just rest is better than nothing. I actually quite like the two days on two days off pattern. And so, if you could take those kinds of times with a partner, then that could be great because then you get two solid nights where you know that you do not need to get up and respond and that you can wake up when you are ready to start the day, or at least after 6:00 AM. Take turns, if you can. If you can’t, if you are on your own, if you’re a single parent, then is there an occasion or perhaps once a week could you have a relative come and stay with you or a good friend come and stay with you? Or could you go and stay with somebody that would be willing to help and take a turn? Even if it is just once a week on a weekend and give you that little bit of extra rest. It’s not as powerful as if you can do this every other night or every couple of nights, but it’s better than nothing, and it’s really worth asking for that help. The second thing that you can definitely, definitely do is grab a nap in the day. Now, I know that sounds simple, and I can already hear you going, yeah, if only it was that easy. It’s not easy, is it? It’s not easy to go, right quick, okay, here’s an opportunity, little ones to sleep. I’m going to go to sleep. And I have ta

https://youtu.be/6LggieGbXos This blog is all about early waking and specifically today, we’re talking about how to overcome the early waking. This is all about early waking sleep training, we will delve into the steps you need to take and my three R’s on early rising. Number one, you’ve got to spot where the overtiredness is coming from. If you haven’t already make sure you’ve read my blog on early wakings and spotting the signs of overtiredness, I shared why little ones wake early and we’re talking about 4:00 or 5:00 AM wake ups. We’re not talking about night wakings, about how that happens, why that happens and the things you need to do to find out where the over tiredness is coming from in the first place. The first R is Resolve the overtiredness. What do we need to do? Do we need more nap time? Do we need to work on resettling a premature waking from a nap? That’s when the nap should be maybe an hour and a quarter, but they’re waking up after 30 minutes. Do we need to work on nap resettles or do we need earlier bedtimes or do we need a more consistent bedtime? Is it the wake window we need to shrink down or alter slightly or tweak the timing. We need to resolve the place where we can see that our little one’s falling short of sleep and overcome that overtiredness. We know that’s not as simple as it sounds. We don’t just flick a switch and suddenly, we fixed it. They’re not overtired anymore, but if we can spot it and we know where it’s coming from, then we can apply a strategy to resolving it and helping to replenish their sleep and build up a more fulfilled sleep tank. That’s going to be the key element to resolving this early waking. We do have two other things that we need to do simultaneously whilst we’re over there working on replenishing that sleep tank. Second R for you is to respond to the early waking consistently. What do I mean by that? If they wake up 5:00 and sometimes you are like, “Shh, back to sleep, back to sleep.” And sometimes you go, “Oh, whatever, I’m awake, let’s start the day,” or sometimes they get milk or sometimes they get loads of attention and other times you’re like, “No, not happening.” It’s a mixed bag of response or sometimes it’s feed and sometimes it’s a nappy change and sometimes it’s start the day and sometimes it’s not. We need a consistent response and we need a response that says it’s still nighttime. The environment they’re in needs to say it’s still nighttime. You and your body language need to say it’s still nighttime. The whole message needs to come across that it’s not time to get up right now. If you start conveying this just with cues and environmental cues right from baby stage, then when they’re into toddler and preschooler age, this is so much easier because they can then recognize, oh, okay, yeah. This means it’s nighttime. This means it’s daytime. Mummy or daddy, they don’t talk to me when it’s nighttime. Maybe you just whisper. You might give th

This blog is all about early waking and specifically today, we’re talking about how to overcome the early waking. This is all about early waking sleep training, we will delve into the steps you need to take and my three R’s on early rising. Number one, you’ve got to spot where the overtiredness is coming from. If you haven’t already make sure you’ve read my blog on early wakings and spotting the signs of overtiredness, I shared why little ones wake early and we’re talking about 4:00 or 5:00 AM wake ups. We’re not talking about night wakings, about how that happens, why that happens and the things you need to do to find out where the over tiredness is coming from in the first place. The first R is Resolve the overtiredness. What do we need to do? Do we need more nap time? Do we need to work on resettling a premature waking from a nap? That’s when the nap should be maybe an hour and a quarter, but they’re waking up after 30 minutes. Do we need to work on nap resettles or do we need earlier bedtimes or do we need a more consistent bedtime? Is it the wake window we need to shrink down or alter slightly or tweak the timing. We need to resolve the place where we can see that our little one’s falling short of sleep and overcome that overtiredness. We know that’s not as simple as it sounds. We don’t just flick a switch and suddenly, we fixed it. They’re not overtired anymore, but if we can spot it and we know where it’s coming from, then we can apply a strategy to resolving it and helping to replenish their sleep and build up a more fulfilled sleep tank. That’s going to be the key element to resolving this early waking. We do have two other things that we need to do simultaneously whilst we’re over there working on replenishing that sleep tank. Second R for you is to respond to the early waking consistently. What do I mean by that? If they wake up 5:00 and sometimes you are like, “Shh, back to sleep, back to sleep.” And sometimes you go, “Oh, whatever, I’m awake, let’s start the day,” or sometimes they get milk or sometimes they get loads of attention and other times you’re like, “No, not happening.” It’s a mixed bag of response or sometimes it’s feed and sometimes it’s a nappy change and sometimes it’s start the day and sometimes it’s not. We need a consistent response and we need a response that says it’s still nighttime. The environment they’re in needs to say it’s still nighttime. You and your body language need to say it’s still nighttime. The whole message needs to come across that it’s not time to get up right now. If you start conveying this just with cues and environmental cues right from baby stage, then when they’re into toddler and preschooler age, this is so much easier because they can then recognize, oh, okay, yeah. This means it’s nighttime. This means it’s daytime. Mummy or daddy, they don’t talk to me when it’s nighttime. Maybe you just whisper. You might give them a little, “Shh, shh, back

https://youtu.be/Buv4Z1vA2-g The focus for this blog is why does my baby wake so early? Why, why, why, why, why, why? I know what it feels like myself because when my eldest was little, this was a big problem for me, in fact he’s a little bit wired that way. So I know firsthand what you’re going through if you have an early riser on your hands. In this blog I’m going to go through everything to explain why this happens, to give you the insight and ability to overcome this problem once and for all. Starting at the beginning, why does your baby wake so early in the morning? When I say early, I’m talking pre 6:00 AM. In our general culture that we live in, where people work a nine-to-five job, we have our school hours etc, we’re talking 6am or beyond is actually perfectly acceptable. I know some people might not like to hear that. But, if it’s pre 6:00 AM, it’s still nighttime and you do not need to start the day that early. So why is your little one waking up at that time? If you’re getting wake-ups before 4:00 AM, then it’s a night waking and that’s another kettle of fish. Wake-ups at 9:00 PM, at 11:00 PM, 2:00 AM, they could be for all kinds of reasons. But the typical early waking time is usually between 4 and 5:00 AM, maybe 5:30, but roughly between 4 and 5:00 AM. That’s what we call early waking. If your little one is doing that, then the reason is they are overtired. Now, think about that for a minute. They’re overtired, so they’re waking early? Makes no sense, does it? You’d think they’re overtired, they’re tired. They need to sleep in. They need to sleep longer. That’s what you would think. But like most things with sleep, it’s completely counterintuitive, which is why our lovely instincts and intuition when it comes to this, lets us down because what actually is going to work for a little one’s sleep is usually counterintuitive. And that’s why it’s the hottest topic among parents. So yes, early wakings are caused by being overtired. It’s to do with how it reacts in the body and how over tiredness creates actually a bigger influx of hormones that actually keep you going and keep you stimulated. And that’s why we wake up more. You may have had this yourself when, if you’ve been traveling, maybe long haul and multiple countries and you’ve got to an airport and you’re like, “Oh my God, I just need to sleep.” But you can’t. And I’ve got to get that next flight and you power on and you power on. And then all of a sudden you feel, “I’m not tired anymore.” And you haven’t slept, but you’re thinking, “I’m over it. I don’t even feel tired anymore.” That’s because your body has released these hormones to keep you going and you push past that tired window and you’re actually overtired, but you feel wired. Little ones will often do this. They will zone out to sleep. They will have a certain amount of sleep, but then they’re awake and they can find themselves awake and wired because they’re

The focus for this blog is why does my baby wake so early? Why, why, why, why, why, why? I know what it feels like myself because when my eldest was little, this was a big problem for me, in fact he’s a little bit wired that way. So I know firsthand what you’re going through if you have an early riser on your hands. In this blog I’m going to go through everything to explain why this happens, to give you the insight and ability to overcome this problem once and for all. Starting at the beginning, why does your baby wake so early in the morning? When I say early, I’m talking pre 6:00 AM. In our general culture that we live in, where people work a nine-to-five job, we have our school hours etc, we’re talking 6am or beyond is actually perfectly acceptable. I know some people might not like to hear that. But, if it’s pre 6:00 AM, it’s still nighttime and you do not need to start the day that early. So why is your little one waking up at that time? If you’re getting wake-ups before 4:00 AM, then it’s a night waking and that’s another kettle of fish. Wake-ups at 9:00 PM, at 11:00 PM, 2:00 AM, they could be for all kinds of reasons. But the typical early waking time is usually between 4 and 5:00 AM, maybe 5:30, but roughly between 4 and 5:00 AM. That’s what we call early waking. If your little one is doing that, then the reason is they are overtired. Now, think about that for a minute. They’re overtired, so they’re waking early? Makes no sense, does it? You’d think they’re overtired, they’re tired. They need to sleep in. They need to sleep longer. That’s what you would think. But like most things with sleep, it’s completely counterintuitive, which is why our lovely instincts and intuition when it comes to this, lets us down because what actually is going to work for a little one’s sleep is usually counterintuitive. And that’s why it’s the hottest topic among parents. So yes, early wakings are caused by being overtired. It’s to do with how it reacts in the body and how over tiredness creates actually a bigger influx of hormones that actually keep you going and keep you stimulated. And that’s why we wake up more. You may have had this yourself when, if you’ve been traveling, maybe long haul and multiple countries and you’ve got to an airport and you’re like, “Oh my God, I just need to sleep.” But you can’t. And I’ve got to get that next flight and you power on and you power on. And then all of a sudden you feel, “I’m not tired anymore.” And you haven’t slept, but you’re thinking, “I’m over it. I don’t even feel tired anymore.” That’s because your body has released these hormones to keep you going and you push past that tired window and you’re actually overtired, but you feel wired. Little ones will often do this. They will zone out to sleep. They will have a certain amount of sleep, but then they’re awake and they can find themselves awake and wired because they’re overtired. But why?

https://youtu.be/9IueYK86oN This blog is all about dropping the nap, when nap times are no more. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I know people have mixed opinions on that but we will go through when is the best time for this to happen, how you can make it easier on your little one and avoid having it unravel and just destroy nighttime sleep. When are little one’s ready to drop the daytime nap? Actually I would always recommend keeping it as long as you can, but certainly up to age three. Around age three, they may show signs of wanting to drop the nap and some are ready. Some may show signs and not be ready and others aren’t ready until they’re four or even over the age of four. So it’s quite a broad spectrum of time as to when they’re truly ready, but don’t worry, because I’ve got some answers for how you can make this a gradual thing, which sounds weird because you’d think it either has to be a nap is there in the day or it isn’t, but actually there are some little tricks you can use to make it easier. Whilst your little one may need a nap or not need a nap, there’s also the parent perspective on this because for some parents, it’s a case of, “Oh no, please keep napping because that’s my little bit of time to do some things and have some head space.” Whereas other parents are like, “Phew, I don’t need to fight this battle every single day anymore. We don’t need it anymore.” So there are mixed feelings and I would love to know which side of the fence you sit on the nap going completely. Is it something you are excited about or dreading? If you are lucky, in some cases and especially if you have a little one who does already nap well, if they’ve got their nice nap rhythm in place, they’re doing their nice one nap a day, you’re most likely to be lucky and to see the nap very naturally get shorter. This is the organic approach, naturally their nap times just become shorter. You know that they’re okay because they’ve been napping for two hours a day, it’s gone down to an hour and a half a day, maybe an hour and a quarter, and they’re waking up just as happy and rested as they were. They’re not waking up prematurely from a nap and crying and upset and cranky because when they wake up like that that’s usually a sign they’re not done, they’re not finished. Perhaps something disturbed them or they just woke too soon. But that’s a sign that they haven’t actually finished sleeping. But if they’re waking up quite happily in the same way they were when they were having two hours and an hour and a half, you just start to see it naturally get shorter. If you get that, then you are very lucky. It’s a lovely way to just see it slowly, slowly, disintegrate and you know little one doesn’t need it anymore. When that happens, they usually also carry the stamina to go for the rest of the afternoon and through to their bedtime quite comfortably because they are comfortably ready and they’re showing that organically.

https://youtu.be/9IueYK86oN This blog is all about dropping the nap, when nap times are no more. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I know people have mixed opinions on that but we will go through when is the best time for this to happen, how you can make it easier on your little one and avoid having it unravel and just destroy nighttime sleep. When are little one’s ready to drop the daytime nap? Actually I would always recommend keeping it as long as you can, but certainly up to age three. Around age three, they may show signs of wanting to drop the nap and some are ready. Some may show signs and not be ready and others aren’t ready until they’re four or even over the age of four. So it’s quite a broad spectrum of time as to when they’re truly ready, but don’t worry, because I’ve got some answers for how you can make this a gradual thing, which sounds weird because you’d think it either has to be a nap is there in the day or it isn’t, but actually there are some little tricks you can use to make it easier. Whilst your little one may need a nap or not need a nap, there’s also the parent perspective on this because for some parents, it’s a case of, “Oh no, please keep napping because that’s my little bit of time to do some things and have some head space.” Whereas other parents are like, “Phew, I don’t need to fight this battle every single day anymore. We don’t need it anymore.” So there are mixed feelings and I would love to know which side of the fence you sit on the nap going completely. Is it something you are excited about or dreading? If you are lucky, in some cases and especially if you have a little one who does already nap well, if they’ve got their nice nap rhythm in place, they’re doing their nice one nap a day, you’re most likely to be lucky and to see the nap very naturally get shorter. This is the organic approach, naturally their nap times just become shorter. You know that they’re okay because they’ve been napping for two hours a day, it’s gone down to an hour and a half a day, maybe an hour and a quarter, and they’re waking up just as happy and rested as they were. They’re not waking up prematurely from a nap and crying and upset and cranky because when they wake up like that that’s usually a sign they’re not done, they’re not finished. Perhaps something disturbed them or they just woke too soon. But that’s a sign that they haven’t actually finished sleeping. But if they’re waking up quite happily in the same way they were when they were having two hours and an hour and a half, you just start to see it naturally get shorter. If you get that, then you are very lucky. It’s a lovely way to just see it slowly, slowly, disintegrate and you know little one doesn’t need it anymore. When that happens, they usually also carry the stamina to go for the rest of the afternoon and through to their bedtime quite comfortably because they are comfortably ready and they’re showing that organically.

https://youtu.be/Q-4R6xt_BfM We are talking naps again today, this time we are talking all about the dropping down to one nap per day. So that’s when we’re going from two naps down to one nap. Now this one can take a bit of time and it can cause a few hiccups along the way, but don’t worry. I’m going to address all of that and give you the tools you need to make a smooth transition down to one nap a day. The first question is when do our toddlers or little ones feel ready to drop down to just having one nap a day instead of two? Usually it’s between 13 and 17 months. Occasionally, we see signs around 12 months, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ready to make the move. And sometimes little ones aren’t ready until closer to 18 months. But typically between 13 and 17 months, this nap transition will start to occur, but this transition is longer than 3 naps to 2 naps. It can take a while. So don’t despair. If you do have a little one that seems to want to make this transition on the earliest side, at 12 or 13 months, you’re more likely to be in there for a slightly longer ride with this, where it might progress a bit and then go back a bit. Hold onto those two naps for as long as your little one seems to be needing them and taking them. If they are enjoying three hours a day, split over two sleeps in the day and sleeping well at night, then don’t change it. Don’t change it just because age changes or just because their friends are changing, stick with it because they’re telling you that that’s what suits them right now, when they are ready to make the change you will start to see signs. What are the signs? What you’re going to see is probably one or the other of the naps becoming a little bit shorter in length or challenging to settle. So it could be the first nap or the second nap. Quite often, it is the second nap, but it could be the first nap. It might be that they take the first nap and they don’t have quite so long. And then they really struggle to settle for the second nap. That’s quite a common example and you just know that something’s changing, something’s shifting. Now I always like to give you what not to use as a sign and don’t confuse this with actually a timing issue because sometimes people think, “We are ready to drop down to one nap now,” when actually they’re not ready to drop to one nap, they just have the timing of the two naps a little bit off. And so if the timing is off, you might find that you have bedtime struggles and feistiness at bedtime. And it’s because the little one is either overtired or untied at bedtime. But that could be because the naps aren’t placed quite right for them at this point in time. And that they’re not having adequate awake windows or they’re too long or too short. So always look at that first, whether it is timing related. On a two nap schedule, we’re usually looking for about three hours in total and no more than three hours a week betwee

We are talking naps again today, this time we are talking all about the dropping down to one nap per day. So that’s when we’re going from two naps down to one nap. Now this one can take a bit of time and it can cause a few hiccups along the way, but don’t worry. I’m going to address all of that and give you the tools you need to make a smooth transition down to one nap a day. The first question is when do our toddlers or little ones feel ready to drop down to just having one nap a day instead of two? Usually it’s between 13 and 17 months. Occasionally, we see signs around 12 months, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ready to make the move. And sometimes little ones aren’t ready until closer to 18 months. But typically between 13 and 17 months, this nap transition will start to occur, but this transition is longer than 3 naps to 2 naps. It can take a while. So don’t despair. If you do have a little one that seems to want to make this transition on the earliest side, at 12 or 13 months, you’re more likely to be in there for a slightly longer ride with this, where it might progress a bit and then go back a bit. Hold onto those two naps for as long as your little one seems to be needing them and taking them. If they are enjoying three hours a day, split over two sleeps in the day and sleeping well at night, then don’t change it. Don’t change it just because age changes or just because their friends are changing, stick with it because they’re telling you that that’s what suits them right now, when they are ready to make the change you will start to see signs. What are the signs? What you’re going to see is probably one or the other of the naps becoming a little bit shorter in length or challenging to settle. So it could be the first nap or the second nap. Quite often, it is the second nap, but it could be the first nap. It might be that they take the first nap and they don’t have quite so long. And then they really struggle to settle for the second nap. That’s quite a common example and you just know that something’s changing, something’s shifting. Now I always like to give you what not to use as a sign and don’t confuse this with actually a timing issue because sometimes people think, “We are ready to drop down to one nap now,” when actually they’re not ready to drop to one nap, they just have the timing of the two naps a little bit off. And so if the timing is off, you might find that you have bedtime struggles and feistiness at bedtime. And it’s because the little one is either overtired or untied at bedtime. But that could be because the naps aren’t placed quite right for them at this point in time. And that they’re not having adequate awake windows or they’re too long or too short. So always look at that first, whether it is timing related. On a two nap schedule, we’re usually looking for about three hours in total and no more than three hours a week between sleeps, assuming they’re h

We’re going to be addressing the change to two naps a day, three to two naps a day. When does this happen? How do you know your little one’s ready and how do you actually go about it? First and foremost, when exactly is a little one ready to drop from three naps a day down to two naps a day? Typically this is going to happen around eight to 10 months. Now that’s typically, of course, you will always get little ones that fall outside of this. Of course, you get little ones that are premature and might be working to an adjusted age and some are just not ready until a bit later, but it will usually, more often than not fall in the eight to 10 month area. What signs might you see that confirm that your little one is ready to drop from three naps to two? Well, assuming you’ve got three naps established, it’s going to be a lot easier to see because you’ll know what normally happens and how you normally do your two core naps and probably your third shorter nap because that’s often how three naps look. If naps are already a complete and utter shambles and you’re like my little one’s nine months and still only cat naps for 30 minutes at a time, all over the place anyway, then it is going to be a little harder to see and you might have to go a little bit by age and developmental stage. But if you’re lucky enough to see the signs, here’s what you may see. If you have three naps in place already, you might find the third nap, it becomes a little more difficult for your baby to settle for the third nap. So you find that the first two naps are fine, third one, more fussing, suddenly more fussing. And we’re eight to 10 months, good chance that they’re ready to get rid of that third nap. It could be that the first or second nap actually becomes a bit challenging too. Maybe they are struggling to settle for it or waking up a bit sooner from it than they usually do. And that could be a sign that they are ready to stretch that wakeful window. They’re ready to be awake for a bit longer in between sleeps, again, it’s telling us that their timings are shifting, the body clock you’re shifting and their needs around sleep are shifting, quite possibly to drop from three naps down to two. What is not a sign is being cranky at bedtime. So if you are thinking, “Oh yeah, my baby’s become really cranky at bedtime. And bedtime feels like a real battle, maybe we need to drop one of the naps.” That on its own, isn’t a sign. And just be really careful because actually that bedtime crankiness could be over tiredness. And by taking a nap out of the equation, you may make that worse. So just be careful and look for other signs and cues along with that, because exclusively just being cranky at bedtime is not a reason to drop a nap. Moving to a two nap routine, how do you do that? What does it even look like? When we go down to two naps, we are ideally looking for 90 minutes each, about an hour and a half times two naps. B

If you are ready to overcome nap challenges and win a good night’s sleep, then you are in the right place! This is all about new baby naps. We’re talking about how napping looks in those first months, 0 to six months and everything you need to do to get your little one napping to the best that they can in those early few months. First and foremost, I just want to say that napping in the early weeks is pretty disorganized. It can be really quite haphazard. They’re napping. It feels like they’re almost napping 24 hours a day, and taking little sleeps on and off all the way through the 24 hour cycle. And that’s normal. So if you’re in that phase right now, don’t worry, it will get better and it will become more organized and more rhythmic, but it is quite common for it to be a little more disorganized in those early weeks. However, there are things you can do to help to get it a little bit more rhythmic and a bit more organized. Some little ones do fall into this quite naturally really early on. And I find that’s often when they are either on the larger side. So they have the capacity to sustain a bit more of their milk, and they’re not waking up so much from hunger. If that’s the factor, it can play a part. So their capacity, their weight and their size can have a role in that. That said, there is no reason why a smaller and breastfed baby who obviously we know that breast milk doesn’t keep you feeling as full for as long, but there’s absolutely no reason why a purely breastfed baby on the smaller side, can’t sleep just as well as a larger baby or a formula fed baby. They all can do it. It’s just that there are sometimes factors that can play a part in how easy or how challenging it comes. They may sleep little and often in the beginning and that’s okay. What we want to look for is, when can they do their longer stretch and ideally we want that longer stretch to be in the nighttime, not in the daytime. I’m sure some of you can relate to this concept of’ my baby is awake all night, but sleeps all day’. You can help shift that. We want to get their body clock and their circadian rhythms firing up so that it recognizes, the system recognizes when it’s daytime, when it’s nighttime. And you can do that with environmental cues, just things like making sure it’s light and bright in the day and dark and dim at night. Those are simple signals to the brain as humans to know nighttime sleep, daytime wake up and light gives us stimulation and creates all kinds of chemical releases in the brain that we don’t have so much when it’s dark. Those things will help your little one to sleep better at nighttime and to feel more stimulated during the daytime. But that said, we do still want the daytime sleep to be there as well. Other things you can do are to really think about rhythms and cues beyond just the light and dark. And you are one of those things, yourself and how you act and how you relate to your little one. So

In this blog I am talking about all things baby naps, the routine behind them and why they’re important, we’ll be leaving no stone unturned! When it comes to napping, why is it so important and why do so many of us get tripped up by these and spend our lives feeling like we are just trying to get the little one to go to sleep? It feels exhausting just thinking about it, to be honest. First of all, let me just explain that all of us, but particularly babies, we can only be awake for a certain amount of time, in any one stretch, before we need to have a sleep again and top up the tank and replenish ourselves and be ready to go again. As adults, that’s usually in one block, in one chunk of the day, or in some cultures, napping is still a big part of life throughout adulthood as well. But babies, and particularly the younger they are, the shorter the amount of time they can go between sleeps and in between their sleeps, they need a nap. They need a chance to catch up and refresh. Without having those naps what’s going to happen is a little one will get over tired and over tiredness is honestly the root of all evil when it comes to sleep, because being overtired actually causes a bigger deterioration in sleep as a whole. So we want to avoid them getting overtired, but also being overtired can cause crash out sleeps, so it can go two ways when you’re overtired. It can cause a crash out, zonk out and you think you’re winning. You think, “Oh, that is easy. My baby went to sleep easily and had a really good one.” Yeah, that’s an occasional big crash out catch up. But more often than not, what you see is more crankiness, more difficulty settling, more restless sleep, more disturbed sleep and more premature waking up from the sleep, so we need the naps. How do you get into a good nap routine and how does it all work? It’s always changing and that’s the thing. It’s an ever evolving thing as they grow, because as they grow, they can go longer stretches between the sleeps and the sleeps can change in their shape and length. They start smaller, they go up and they go down again, so a new baby, a young baby, will sleep little often, whereas an older one will have maybe one or two longer naps, until they start to drop it completely. I’m going to be covering all of those stages in the next few blogs, so make sure you come back and check those out as I take you through the different stages. You might find that you are at one stage now and you want to come back and watch one of the other episodes a little later when your little one gets to that age. For now though let’s think about nap rhythmicity and why is this important. Right from the beginning, if you can tune in to when your little one needs to sleep and how long they can be awake, you’re going to help them to create that rhythmicity with their sleeps and with their naps. Knowledge is power with this. Knowing how long your little one is goin

In the final part of my little bedtime series, this blog is all about putting a baby down for sleep when you just can’t even get them from your arms to down. I know that problem and I have got the solution! You often find that you are stuck with your baby in your arms or on you and you know they need to lay down. Your arms are aching, you need a bit of free time too. Perhaps you need to express some milk or you’ve got just a few jobs to do or maybe actually you just deserve to put your feet up and have a rest but you can’t relax because babies asleep again on you or perhaps you’ve even tried the sling, the carrier and they have to sleep in there and yep, you get a bit more space with your arms but let’s face it, it’s not ideal and it’s not sustainable. It’s okay now and again but what I don’t want to see is you being in this place where you feel like it’s the only way. It’s fine if it’s a way but if it’s the only way and you feel like you actually cannot put your baby down for sleep, that’s who this is for. Here are my micro steps for getting a baby down to sleep. This is something that I would recommend people do if they have a heavy reliance. If baby has got a heavy reliance on being on you to fall to sleep and if you do put your baby down, that’s it, they’re awake, they’re crying again and you’re like, ugh, it’s just not worth it. This is something that I would also recommend for some people prior to starting my fade out approach because, the micro steps are what you need to do first. Once we’ve got through these steps then we can start step one of the fade out. What do we do? First thing you do, change the hold. If your baby typically falls asleep being held in your arms, try the shoulder position. If it’s a shoulder position, try a side position. Change the position in some way. We want it to be noticeable. We want baby to be, hang on this isn’t right. If they don’t really care, try something a little bit different. It’s not a big enough stretch of their comfort zone. Try something that’s enough for them to be, hang on a minute, I’m not sure if I like this. We want them to notice it. Why? Because as I say, it’s stretching the comfort zone. It’s showing them that, hey, look, I’ve changed something but you are still okay. I’m still right here. You’re still with me. You’re still touching me. I’m still here for you. So they’re realizing that, oh, there’s a small change but I’m still safe. This is okay, I’ve got this. So make it subtle but significant. That sounds like a complete contradiction doesn’t it, subtle but significant, but there’s a reason, subtle but significant enough that they are aware of it. Next?. Think about creating a small amount of distance, small bits of distance each time. Perhaps you change the hold. We’ve now stretched the comfort zone there. Now can we create a bit of distance. Can we hold them in a way that’s slightly further away. If it’s a chest thing, can we get away from

https://youtu.be/GR1o5o1pPhE This blog in the bedtime miniseries is all about how you settle a baby to sleep at bedtime. I will be revealing what settling to sleep actually means and what it looks like. Why it’s important and how it’s going to help you with the whole picture of sleep all around and how to actually do it. Settling a baby to sleep. When we settle to sleep, us, children, babies, we call that part of sleep, the sleep onset. Meaning exactly what it says, it’s the onset of the sleep, it’s the beginning of the sleep, and it’s how sleep comes about. So a baby will go through sleep onset several times a day because they’ll go through the sleep onset at bedtime, then they will go through sleep onset for their naps. That’s what sleep onset is, and so to settle a baby to sleep, we need to help them to get good at their sleep onset. But why? Why do we need to do that? Why is it important? Why can’t we just rock them or push them around in a pram until they go to sleep and that’s fine? Well, if that’s fine and it works for you and you are happy, then that is fine. But here’s why it’s important to help a little one with their sleep onset. When a little one knows how to go to sleep and they can put themselves through that sleep onset effectively without needing you to do it for them, they’re more likely to take the longer, more substantial stretches of sleep that their body actually wants and is ready for. Then when that cycle of sleep comes to an end, they’re more likely to drift off into the next cycle of sleep like a miniature sleep onset. They’re likely to repeat it almost subconsciously and go into the next sleep cycle, meaning to you is an even longer stretch of sleep. But for them it’s lots of small stretches pushed together. They’ll get better at falling back to sleep as well when they wake between cycles or partially wake. And it will also help with naps because when they settle to sleep at the start of the nap, they’re more likely to take the full length of naps that they need rather than waking up after 30 minutes and going, “Hang on, I’m stuck. I need to do that sleep onset thing again.” It’s really important for all round health of a baby’s sleep, and it’s one of the first things you can teach them in terms of self-regulation. Because as they fall to sleep and they go through their sleep onset, they’re actually calming and soothing in ways that you don’t even see. So how? How do you do it? It sounds blissful, but how? It’s not that simple, is it? Well, it’s all about practice and you can practice from very early on. But the more you practice, eventually, they’re going to get good at it like anything. They can’t just do it all of a sudden, one day, magically, it takes practice. For people who have this sense that, “Well, they’re not going to have a hard time falling asleep forever. They’ll get up eventually.” Yeah, they will, but through practice, and whether that’s practice that you are

https://youtu.be/zTY5iPdjwl8 This is the second in my mini series about bedtimes, and we are going to be delving into what you do when you have a toddler who is getting up and down at bedtime and they just won’t stay in their beds. You know what I mean? I’m sure when we’ve all been there. I’m going to be answering the key questions to help you overcome that exact battle. A toddler, particularly, getting up and down, getting out of bed repeatedly at bedtime when you know they’re tired and you know they just need to go to sleep, it’s so frustrating. All you want is to have that blissful little bedtime story, say goodnight and have a bit of an evening for yourself as well. Or maybe you have other children to tend to, but this one is dominating and taking up all of your evening. And then you end the day feeling stressed and fed up and resentful about the whole situation, rather than feeling fulfilled and satisfied, and having that lovely bedtime that you and your family deserve. What can we do about this? How can we stop a little one from getting up and down from their bed? We’ve told them. We’ve asked them. We’ve tried reward charts, and they still do it. Why? Why, Why? Why? Well, there is the question and this is the answer. The likely reason that your little one is getting up repeatedly and not staying put in bed is probably to do with the response that comes when they do it. What do I mean by that? What happens when your little one gets out of bed? Do you walk them back and tuck them in? Do you walk them back and tuck them in 10 times, then get cross and end up frustrated and telling them off. Or do you end up finding it funny and having a laugh? Do you show any forms of frustration or any forms of a game? Because likely your toddler either thinks it’s a game or they’re getting something out of an interaction. Now, when I say getting something out of it, it doesn’t have to be positive. Little ones will enjoy any kind of interaction. They’re not really so bothered about whether it’s positive or negative. Whether you’re praising them for it or telling them that’s not what we want to see, they don’t really care. They’re getting that response from you so they’ll keep doing it because they’re getting the engagement. So what does your response look like? Now, some might say well, what then? Shall I just ignore them? That’s not likely to work either because they’ll just keep probing you and they’ll just keep coming, and they’re not really getting a direction from you. So how do you give a consistent and appropriate response to actually getting that little one to stay in bed? Well, the key word I said there is consistent. It needs to be consistent. The likelihood is, and we all do this, is that you send a big bunt of mixed messages. So the first time it’s, “Come on now, back to bed.” The second time it’s, “Shh, shh. Lie down, get into bed.” The third time you pick them up from the landing and carry them back

https://youtu.be/QCYdKWfdK3s Do you find yourself dreading bedtime every evening and feeling like, “Oh no, bedtime is coming again.” It’s a battle, it’s exhausting, and you just want your little ones to go to sleep happily. In this blog I’m going to be talking about routine, particularly the bedtime routine. Why it’s important, when you can start it, and what it should look like.. Routine. Bedtime routine. What should that look like for kids? And why is it important? The thing with a bedtime routine is it sets the scene that sleep time is coming and not just a nap, but that big, long sleep time. So even for us, as adults, teenagers, older children, we all really benefit from having that routine at bedtime. It also really helps to encourage the circadian rhythm, which is the body clock to stay into a nice, healthy rhythm. Meaning we tend to know instinctively when it’s night time, when it’s daytime. And studies have shown that even as adults, if we have a consistent bedtime every evening, we go to bed at the same time every evening, start the day at roughly at the same time every day, we are more likely to get better quality sleep, fall asleep more easily, and just feel fresher and brighter when we wake for the day. So it’s important to instil this in our little ones right from the get go. Bedtime routine with children, it’s like an instruction. It’s like a trigger. It’s a cue. So not only does it give them that rhythmicity, it’s time to go to big sleep now, we have a big sleep, we start the day, we have meals, we have naps maybe. It’s time for that big sleep again. It creates that rhythmicity and health in sleep. So it’s really important and you can actually start a bedtime routine from as early as just a couple of weeks. So once you have your new baby home and you feel like you’ve got over the childbirth part and you’re starting to think about these things. It’s not really too early because a bedtime routine with a newborn is just going to be simply setting the scene with a few triggers and cues, a darkened room, perhaps that last milk feed, a lullaby, maybe a gentle rock or a placing down, the steps you do to put that little one down for sleep at bedtime is a bedtime routine. It doesn’t matter how subtle it is, but those little triggers and cues from the environment can make a huge impact on a new baby and set them up really, really well for healthy good nourishing sleep. You can never start too soon. What actually can you put into a bedtime routine? Well, that is going to change and evolve as your little one grows. I’m sure what you do in your bedroom routine has changed over the years as well. So it will change. But with children, the key thing to remember with bedtime routine is to do the same steps in the same order at pretty much the same time for bedtimes. So for example, once you decide bedtime is coming, that’s the start of the bedtime routine and it ends with them going to sleep. S

https://youtu.be/afjTYssbN5s How did the spring clock change go? How has it been with that one hour forward that the clocks just did to us? Have you managed to get over that yet? Are you feeling like you’re on track with the new time and feeling refreshed by spring, or are you a walking zombie and feeling exhausted because that one hour, it feels like a huge jet lag to you? It affects everybody differently. Some manage that change way more smoothly than others, and both adults and children. How have your children been? Have they been sensitive to it or breezed it? This kind of thing, these clock changes are really, really impactful on the human body and brain in a way that lots of people don’t even realize. You think it’s just one hour, but it can have a massive, massive impact. In fact, a Swedish study that showed the risk of having a heart attack actually increases on the weekdays after the spring forward clock change. That’s a massive, massive factor. Both the clock changes have been linked with increased road traffic accidents, accidents in the workplace, and injuries due to accidents in the work place, it does crazy things to our minds and brains. Just one measly hour. It can have that much of an effect. And so actually the subtle differences you might see could just be sheer tiredness, maybe a little bit more moody, clingy, grumpy, fractious kiddies, or maybe not quite such patient parents. It could be anything. But just know that you’re not alone and actually that it’s not just one measly hour. It’s a big impact on the body. I hope that it is going well for you and that you are managing to get over the difference in the clock change. But here are some ideas for you if you’re struggling or if you’re like, “Oh my God, it’s the worst thing. Ever since the clock changed, my child’s sleep’s gone completely off track.” And I’m going to be hearing this for the next few weeks, if not a few months, because this is what always happens. The clocks change, and then parents call us and go, “Ah, it’s all gone wrong.” So to help you and to hope that it doesn’t all go wrong, the biggest and most important thing that I can recommend that you do is get into routine or rhythm right now that is in line with the time now. Make sure that you are starting the day and your little one is awake and starting the day, at the same time, every day, rather than having lie ins some days and up early on other days, try to start the day at roughly the same time every day. Try to ensure that they are having adequate daytime sleep if they are still young enough, and that those sleeps happen at the same times of day, each day, where possible. I know that’s not always as easy as it sounds. Make sure that you and your little ones are all going to bed at pretty close to the same time every evening. And that can be hard for us adults, especially, the weekend comes stay up a little bit later, but if you’re struggling with this clock cha

https://youtu.be/G5YFLDw01f0 We have got the strategies for to help you and your little ones be able to handle the spring clock change where the clocks go forward an hour. We are going to recap my three preferred approaches that I believe can help any one of you to get your little one sleeping soundly through this clock change. Make sure you keep reading to get a plan in place to leap forward into Spring. The first approach to managing this clock change is the gradual approach. Now, this approach is where you are going to move bedtime earlier by 15 minutes each night, starting on Wednesday. The clocks change on the last Sunday of the month at night. So Wednesday night we go 15 minutes earlier than usual, Thursday night, another 15 minutes, so we’re 30 minutes earlier than usual. On Friday night, we’re going to move another 15 minutes, so we’ll be 45 minutes earlier going to bed than usual. That way by Saturday night we are that last 15 minutes earlier. So we are a whole hour earlier than the usual bedtime. If bedtime is normally or sleep time is normally 7:00 PM, that means that we are going to move that in 15 minute increments until we are at 6:00 PM. This is the gradual approach. Now what this means is, by Saturday night, your little one goes to bed a whole hour earlier than normal, but they haven’t really felt that great big drastic jump in change of bedtime. Meaning they can sleep for their usual number of hours through the night, but wake up at their usual wake up time because the clocks will have moved during the night on that Saturday night into Sunday. The gradual approach is definitely the best way to go if you have a younger baby or a young child who’s very sensitive to small things. If they notice every little difference, if there’s somebody who notices difference in feel, environment, sound, little time changes, then this is going to be the right approach for them. Big change doesn’t work for them. If you have a slightly older one or a really easygoing baby, who’s just really quite flexible, maybe they’re not quite so rigid in their timings and can manage a bigger difference without it really noticing, then you might want to take one of the next two approaches. So the second one is to meet in the middle, it’s a half an hour difference. So instead of going to bed at your usual time of let’s say 7:00 P.M. We are going to go earlier by 30 minutes at 6:30 P.M. on the Saturday night. So you just change nothing up until Saturday night, 30 minutes, we’re going to meet in the middle with the clock change, and that way the night sleep is going to be taking us roughly to the same wake up time in the morning with that change of time in the night. It’s good for those who, the whole hour earlier to bed would be too much, but they don’t really need those tiny little changes each night from Wednesday. The third option is the all in one go. One fell swoop, we just move bedtime earlier by one hour o

https://youtu.be/Ug2MT5iNHok When the clocks go forward and we spring forward an hour, how do we get the best from our little ones sleep and how do we avoid them completely coming off track and not being able to sleep very well, this is Part 3 of the Clock Change miniseries and I am giving you my third approach and option, which is the All In One Go approach. I’m going to explain to you how this is different in the spring to how it works in the autumn, and why you may or may not want to go with this option. Let me explain how the All In One Go works. It’s actually quite simple, in that, you just move the bedtime earlier by one hour, all in one go, and you do that on the Saturday night. So the clocks are going to change during the night between Saturday and Sunday. When you go to bed on Saturday, they’re going to change by the time you’ve woken up on Sunday. And the All In One Go approach is to move bedtime earlier on that Saturday night. So if your little one is usually going to bed and falling asleep for 7:00 PM, on Saturday night, we’re going to make it 6:00 PM, a whole hour different. That way, when they go to sleep, they will sleep their normal number of hours through the night, and then wake up at their normal wake up time, because the clock will have jumped forward an hour during sleep. That sounds pretty straightforward, right? That’s pretty simple, we just move bedtime earlier by an hour. But here’s some reasons why you may or may not want to go for this. This approach means that you need to be able to go to sleep one hour earlier than you normally would, a whole hour earlier. Now, normally I would say, if your little one is very sensitive to change and to times, if they’re a younger baby and they’re taking lots of naps in the day, then every minute really counts, and they’re going to notice this is a big jump, it’s a big expectation. Whereas, the easier-going ones and often the older children can normally cope with a bigger change, like a whole hour change in one go. But that’s a lot easier to do in the autumn than it is in the spring. Why? Because in the autumn, we move our bedtime later by an hour. And it is much easier for the human body to stay awake for an extra hour than it is to go to sleep an hour sooner, because you have to be tired enough. We can be tired and keep ourselves awake an extra hour, more easily than we can make ourselves sleepy enough to go to sleep an hour earlier. And that’s one of the biggest differences in the spring compared to the autumn clock change. So have a think about how your little one might be. Do you think they are tired enough to go to bed an hour earlier? In some cases, this could be the perfect opportunity if you know that your little one is exhausted, has been maybe really struggling and needs some extra sleep. And actually, going to bed an hour earlier might be the absolute best possible thing, and here’s a great opportunity for it. But on the fli

https://youtu.be/uHbO5GjBnj0 This week I am continuing the March miniseries, on the different tips and strategies for managing the clock changes, particularly the clock change where we spring forward and the clocks go forward by an hour. So how can we help our little ones adjust when the clocks go forward an hour? Last week we went through a very gradual approach in the last episode, so this week, I’m giving you what I call meet in the middle. When it comes to meeting in the middle with this clock change, what that means is, quite simply, you meet the time change halfway. So, if bedtime is normally 7:00 PM, and we know that during the night, once they’ve gone to bed on Saturday, when they wake up on Sunday, the clocks will have moved forward an hour. So we’re going to meet in the middle and split that difference. So instead of going to bed that whole hour earlier at 6:00 PM, we’re going to just go half an hour earlier and go to bed at 6:30. So bedtime’s normally 7:00 PM. Put them to bed 30 minutes earlier at 6:30 or whatever the time may be. The key is, when you meet in the middle, you go to bed 30 minutes earlier. It’s as simple as that, really straightforward. Now, why is this a good approach? This is a good approach because we are not trying to adjust our sleep pattern by a whole hour in one go. But we also know that we are ready for a big enough jump. We can manage half an hour difference as a general rule, so if your little one can manage half an hour earlier, you know that they’re tired enough and can settle 30 minutes earlier, then great. This could be a really good approach for you. It means that they can still sleep for close to their usual number of sleep hours in the night without waking up at a drastically different time in the morning when the clocks have gone forward. It just helps try and keep them roughly on track and move them into that new time. So who is this for and who isn’t this for? The very gradual approach, moving 15 minute increments from Wednesday night, is a really good approach for the very sensitive types and the younger babies, and those are napping quite a lot, where a few minutes really counts to their schedule. This ‘meet in the middle’ approach would be more suited to perhaps toddlers or even young children who maybe are napping once a day or not napping anymore, but you still wouldn’t really be able to push them to go a whole hour earlier to bed, because that might be too extreme for them. One of the pitfalls could be that you go for it but they just lie there and they don’t fall asleep, or they mess about, or they’re fussing. And you think, oh, well, I tried, but they didn’t actually go to sleep any earlier. Don’t worry. At least you tried. See how long they do that night. Take the next day on the new time, and see if getting to bed a little bit earlier the next day helps, because that might be the answer too. You’ll be giving the brain all the rig