The Baby & Toddler Sleep Podcast with Chasing Sweet Dreams

For parents of toddlers/preschoolers, the idea of giving up naps can be daunting. However, there are some tips and tricks that can make the process a little bit easier. In fact, many children transition to something that is commonly referred to as a quiet time for toddlers/preschoolers.

These periods of quiet time are particularly essential to those children who still have ‘nap days’. This often occurs when your child is transitioning out of afternoon naps, but may actually ask for, or show tired signs — which indicate they need a nap — a few days a week. It’s actually quite common for preschoolers to need afternoon sleep two or three days a week just to recuperate and be their happy selves. Quiet time is not only beneficial for kids it also gives parents a much-needed midday break. 

Mentions: 

Your baby needs self-soothing skills to sleep through the night. This is the ability to relax down so she can drift into sleep.  She’ll need these skills again when she surfaces from a sleep cycle in the night, as all humans do.

When you do “sleep training” aka "sleep teaching" you are removing your baby’s favorite sleep crutch so that she can develop self-soothing skills.

Mentions: 

Us Moms.... we've been keeping each other down by using the term  "sleep training."

We’re all desperate for easy sleep.  Consumed by the idea that getting your baby to sleep should be this easy, natural, instinctual thing.  I know because when I was going through this, I thought this too.  I didn’t think I’d have to work at getting my baby to sleep and I thought I could do it without any tears. I mean.. .he seemed to have a feeding and fall back asleep so easily those first few weeks… wouldn’t that just continue?  (Spoiler:  it doesn’t always)

The first signs of teething arrive around 4 months when your baby will start drooling like Niagara Falls and be constantly shoving her hands in her mouth.

When I saw these signs, I was excited and proud that a tooth was coming! And then I waited and waited and waited….

My anticipation was a rookie mistake, as most kids will drool like that for about 2 months until the first tooth actually materializes, generally around 6 months.

There are large variations in tooth appearance related to your genetics, but most of us will overestimate the arrival of that first tooth, which will be the bottom middle teeth aka lower central incisors. I refer to this stage of teething as chronic teething, when we are waiting, seeing all that drool and have no rewards.

Acute teething occurs when the tooth is piercing through the gums. This is the most painful part of teething and usually, lasts 1-2 days. It’s a hard diagnosis to make since you can’t be 100% sure that the pain / poor sleeping is related to teething until the tooth pierces through the gum and you can see it, and by then the pain is receding.  It is a hindsight diagnosis.

While the Fall Back of the clocks in November has most parents running for the hills (especially if your child is already an early riser), the Spring Forward that occurs each March has most adults rejoicing. No 5:12 AM staring you in the face this time! Cue the parental high-fives!

Yes, the moving forward of the clocks by one hour is generally much easier on families with young children than the dreaded fallback. However, if the upcoming time change still has you a bit nervous about disruptions in your child’s sleep schedule, in this podcast I give you the strategies for managing the time change. 

Mentions:

As I write this I wonder…. at what stage does the risk of sleep regression not exist? Ah yes! The teenage years when it can be hard to get them out of bed!

All kidding aside, there is a very prominent and REAL sleep regression for toddlers at 2 years of age.

This regression can occur anywhere from the 2nd birthday and on and off into the 2.5-year-old mark.

“The two-year-old sleep regression can manifest in challenges falling asleep at bedtime, night waking or early wake ups”.

Note that these are different from challenges that have always existed with falling asleep.

If your toddler needs to have a parent lie down with her to fall asleep at night, or get a bottle to go back to sleep in the middle of the night, and this has always been the case, this is not a sleep regression, but an existing sleep association issue.

The two-year-old sleep regression occurs in children who have previously been falling asleep by themselves in their room and sleeping 11-12 hours at night.

No doubt you loved the moisture of their breath on your cheek, the weight of their arm on your body, and the hours you’ve spent baby gazing. But now you find yourself in the position where you are googling how to stop co-sleeping.

You’re not alone and it’s not uncommon that was working for you, just isn’t working for you anymore.  As one client said “It was working well for us, until it wasn’t,” and another client said, “I used to love it but now I feel like it’s getting worse and he’s holding me captive.”   Being held captive in the middle of the night is a terrible feeling especially if you’ve been doing everything for everyone else all day long already!   You need some time for yourself.

Every parent has their own journey when it comes to their little one’s sleep, behavior and health.  There is no one way to raise your baby.  But if you’re starting to feel like the broken nighttime sleep being kicked, or having to hold your arm in a certain position to suit your co-sleeping baby/toddler’s preference… let’s talk.

In particular, I work with many breastfeeding, co-sleeping children with parents who have the best of intentions to comfort and protect their little one, but who end up wondering how did they “let this happen” and get into this situation where they are nursing multiple times a night, or rocking multiple times a night to get their baby back to sleep.

Will solids help my baby sleep better? I have been asked this question many times in my 1:1 packages.  So I decided to write about this in detail.

• Put rice cereal in their bedtime bottle
• Drink a Guinness Beer before your last nursing session of the day
• Flip your baby over, literally holding them upside down from their feet, to switch their days and nights  (that one was new to me but the internet can’t lie right!?)

Here are 10 things I’ve learned doing sleep consultations and talking with Moms at different outreach events.

he 12 Month Sleep Regression: Fact or Fiction? Let's Find out

You thought you had it made!  After working so hard on sleep during your baby’s first year of life, you had finally reached a point where your baby was sleeping 11 – 12 hours a night of uninterrupted sleep.

Feeling rested yourself, you thought, “yes, I can do this!”… and then it hit, the 12-month sleep regression and your baby started waking up either more at night or very early in the morning.

The most common causes of a 12-month sleep regression are:

1. Developmental change, ie walking
   Teething – 1st molars around 14 mo, lateral incisors should be coming in around 10 mo – 16 mo
   

You reached the point where you had to do some sleep training.  You could no longer rock, hold, or nurse your baby to sleep. Those multiple night wakings were killing your vibe, and if you had to sit in a dark room and hold your baby for naps one more time, you were going to lose it.

You reached the point where you knew you had to do some sleep training for a nap to get your child and you more sleep.  Perhaps you invested in personal sleep coaching help or read an informative blog overviewing the different sleep teaching methods (coming soon).  Regardless, you have invested your time and/or money on changing your life and getting your little one more sleep.  Now how do you leave the house and risk messing up that heavenly nap schedule?

Mentions:

It’s a common issue – your baby won’t sleep in their bassinet. But why is that, and what can you do about it? In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the reasons why babies might not want to sleep in their bassinets, and suggest some solutions to help get them back on track! So if you’re struggling with this issue, listen on for some helpful tips.

Mentions:

There may be a time when you find yourself up in the middle of the night for hours with your baby who just won’t sleep! A split night is easily distinguished from other situations where your baby may be up during the night: it usually only involves one long waking, it happens every night or every few nights, and most babies will be in a good mood during the long awake stretch, and no amount of comforting, nursing, soothing or sleep training will get your baby back to sleep quickly. A split night is largely a biological issue, arising from a dissociation between the sleep drives. Many babies will actively try to sleep by changing position, finger-sucking, or snuggling a lovey. The issue for these babies is not that they don't know how to sleep, but that they can't fall asleep. As a result, sleep training will not fix a split night issue. If it sounds like your baby is having a split night, listen up!

Mentions:

Is your baby or toddler about to transition to a new daycare or school? Will your child soon be cared for by a nanny or relative after having been cared for exclusively by you? It can be scary to face the fact of handing your little one to a new caregiver, especially if you've worked hard to build positive associations with sleep.

The good news is that babies and toddlers are very adaptable and incorporating new caregivers into your child's sleep routine often isn't as difficult as you might expect. In order to make the transition as easy as possible for your child, take a proactive stance by working with your caregivers to teach them how you normally do things. That said, you shouldn't worry if your caregiver isn't able to do things exactly the way that you do. The goal of this blog is to provide you with the tools that you need to help your child get the best quality sleep with new caregivers.

Mentions:

Are you worried that teaching your baby to sleep, or sleep training, is going to hurt your bond with them? Do you ever wonder if attached parenting is possible with sleep training?

I often get asked: will teaching my baby to sleep hurt my bond with them? That's all our biggest worry. I felt that way too when I was going through this, and the answer: no. Let's talk about why so many parents teach their babies to sleep and continue to have a strong and secure bond with their babies.

Here's the thing: there is confusion here.. Please don't confuse the terms Attachment Parenting and Secure Attachment.

Mentions: