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Hi! I’m Jen, Internationally Certified Infant and Child Sleep Consultant, Registered Nurse for over 13 years and Mother to three beautiful children. I absolutely love supporting families to thrive and develop sleep confidence for themselves and their babies.
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Things you need to know about separation anxiety and sleep
Separation anxiety can and will affect even some of the best sleepers. This is because just like experiences during the day, sleep means a separation from one or both parents. Sometimes the effects on sleep are temporary and reasonably short lived, or sometimes they will hang around for years depending on our responses and approach.
Considerations For A Healthy Nap Transition
he most important thing to note with a nap transition is that most of the time your child will not just wake up one day requiring one less nap, just because they fall into the appropriate age range. Lots of factors can influence when it happens, including how well your child naps in the first place and how much day sleep they are actually achieving for their age. Check out my how much day sleep post on Instagram for recommendations. Transitions can be smooth, or they can be super messy and disorganised for a few weeks! I have personally had the pleasure of going through 9 separate nap transitions as a mother, as well as helping clients figure out if their own child is ready.⠀
S.T.G’s Complete Guide To Sleep Clocks
A sleep clock is another tool that can be really effective when it comes to children’s sleep. It can help us as the parents, to positively reinforce some healthy boundaries surrounding sleep, in a child friendly way. Sleep clocks are designed as a visual cue, that is simple for toddlers to understand. Just like any tool, they need to be used correctly in order to see any results and help to solve the problem!
Growth Spurts Affect on Sleep
Have you ever woken up one morning thinking your baby just looked bigger or they felt heavier? Suddenly your baby’s toes are curling over at the end of their onesie or they seem to have less room in their bassinet? This is not just the effects of sleep deprivation playing all sorts of tricks on your mind, this can actually be something you will genuinely notice! Growth spurts in babies typically occur between 1-3 weeks, 6-8 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and 9 months of age. Don’t worry if you are not seeing any signs of a growth spurt, it doesn’t mean to your baby isn’t growing, just that all babies develop at different rates and some babies show no obvious signs of going through one at all!
Help! My baby hates the car!
A dislike of the car is surprisingly common and can be extremely unpleasant for us as a parent. Some babies just hate the feeling of being restrained and may genuinely feel sick when travelling.
How to create a bedtime routine that works!
Do you dread putting your child to bed at night? If this is you, check out this blog post containing our 6 B’s for bedtime routine and information on how to make going bed work for you!
When it is okay to wake up a sleeping baby
‘Never wake a sleeping baby’ is certainly a statement that I feel needs a bit of an update! A sleeping baby is something we all want, which means it can throw us off the thought of ever needing to wake them up! If no one in your household is achieving long stretches of sleep, then waking your baby short term to improve on the quality of sleep where it matters the most, may be the best and easiest solution!
Tips to a stress free bedtime
Trust me when I say that I understand bedtime can be hard going. I’ve been there! The end of the day can often indicate exhaustion on all parts, that is tired parents and a tired child or children! Even the mere thought of having to get another human into bed can make you want to surrender to the gods! Anger and frustration can build up, knowing that with every extra moment they are awake, the more tired and sleep deprived they become, only to go through it all again tomorrow!
Settling strategies for your new baby
For the first three months, newborns spend the majority of their time sleeping or feeding. They’ll have short periods of alertness as they adjust to life outside your womb. There are many steps to take towards the development of your baby’s self-settling ability. This is actually a skill your baby is born with! However, self-soothing is different. This life skill begins to develop from around 6-months old and continues to grow and strengthen throughout your baby’s life!
Sleep Tips for Starting Daycare
The time has come and you have decided to send your child to daycare. The decision to put your child into childcare is always a tough one. You may have just got your baby self-settling and napping well in a regular routine so understandably feel even more apprehensive about how beginning daycare may impact on your child’s sleep. It’s very normal, as a parent, to worry about how such a big transition is going to affect your baby or toddler and while you may notice some changes to sleep at home during the first few weeks, our little ones almost always surprise us by adapting quicker than we anticipate!