The Slumber Studio

The 2-1 nap transition is a BIG one so I am going to share my top tips:⁣
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•Be sure your toddler is ready! They should be 15-19 months AND experiencing the following for 3 weeks or so: trouble falling/staying asleep for naps, protesting/refusing nap 2, long naps turn to short naps, bed time getting later in order to accommodate nap 2 and/or early morning wakings.⁣
•Go gradually! Your little one won’t be fully ready for this change all at once, so take it slowly⁣
•Use natural light to your advantage. Get your toddler outside as much as possible in the first part of the day⁣
•Your ultimate goal will be to make it to a 5-6 hour wake window in the first half of the day (most toddlers do well with 5.5 hours) and a 4-5 hour wake window the second half of the day before bed time⁣
•Use the same wake time each day⁣
•Have a sleep training method ready in case you need to use it⁣
•The goal should be about a 3 hour nap ⁣
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Ready to get started?! To switch to one nap you will move their first nap 15-30 minutes later each day, until you reach the desired nap time. If your little is having trouble, pause at the new nap time for a few days before moving it again. ⁣
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Be prepared for some short naps (you may have to nap train!), some earlier than normal bed times and some early wakings. ⁣
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The process usually takes about 2-4 weeks, depending on the child. ⁣
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Be sure to be very consistent with your schedule and routine, and to use a really good pre-nap wind down routine.

Ahhh, toddlers. They are such entertaining and complex little creatures, aren’t they?! Tomorrow I am going to be sharing tips for the 2-1 nap transition. If you have any questions regarding this big life change, leave them below! 😊

😍🥳🤩

October is SIDS awareness month so I wanted to take some time to talk about the very important topic of safe sleep.⁣⁣
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➕There are about 3,500 sleep-related infant deaths in the US each year. ⁣⁣
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➕While the prevalence of SIDS in the US has decreased by 50% over the last 20 years, SIDS remains the leading cause of death for infants.⁣⁣
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➕The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the following safe sleep practices: ⁣⁣
▪️Place your baby on his or her back on a firm sleep surface such as a crib or bassinet with a tight-fitting sheet.⁣⁣
▪️Avoid use of soft bedding, including crib bumpers, blankets, pillows and soft toys. The crib should be bare.⁣⁣
▪️Share a bedroom with parents, but not the same sleeping surface, preferably until the baby turns 1 but at least for the first six months. Room-sharing decreases the risk of SIDS by as much as 50 percent.⁣⁣
▪️Avoid baby's exposure to smoke, alcohol and illicit drugs. ⁣⁣
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➕Other recommendations to help reduce risk include:⁣⁣
▪️Offer a pacifier at nap time and bedtime.⁣⁣
▪️Breastfeeding⁣⁣
▪️Do not use home monitors or commercial devices, including wedges or positioners, marketed to reduce the risk of SIDS.⁣⁣
▪️Infants should receive all recommended vaccinations.⁣⁣
▪️Supervised, awake tummy time is recommended daily to facilitate development.⁣⁣
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➕This is a topic I am passionate about and want all parents to be aware of. Please share with family and friends or anyone who may be caring for your child.❤️⁣⁣

Daylight Saving time is coming on Sunday, November 1st.⁣
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If your child is an early riser/ more sensitive sleeper (or you just like to plan ahead), you may want to consider a gradual approach to dealing with the time change. See option 1 below! If you have a very easy going child (or prefer to wing it!), see option 2 below. ⁣⁣
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1️⃣With this approach you will begin the week before the time change. Each day you will start your day 10 minutes later than normal. Your child’s wake windows & nap lengths will remain the same as always, you are really just shifting the start time of everything back by 10 minutes. So wake time is 10 minutes later, nap 1 is 10 minutes later, nap 2 is 10 minutes later, etc and bed time is 10 minutes later. The next day you do the same thing except 10 minutes later than the day prior! By the time the time change occurs your little will already be on the new schedule. ⁣⁣
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2️⃣If you have a highly adaptable, easy going child, or you just like to wing it, then you can always opt to make the switch the day of the time change. You can expect the possibility of several days of early wakeups in this situation until they adjust. You will need to stay consistent with their typical nap times regardless of early wakeups so that they can stay on track with their schedule.⁣⁣
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➡️Regardless of which method you choose, keep in mind these important tips:⁣⁣
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*️⃣Maintain a consistent bedtime routine. This prepares your baby for sleep no matter what time the clock says. ⁣⁣
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*️⃣Use the light and darkness to your advantage! During awake time, expose your baby to plenty of daylight. Go for a walk, open your blinds and turn on all the lights in your house. Exposure to light early in the day helps produce the sleepy hormone, melatonin, for sleep that night. ⁣⁣
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*️⃣During the nap or bedtime routine be sure to dim the lights. Once it’s time for sleep, the room should be pitch black until it’s time for them to wake up. Even the tiniest amount of light creeping in through the window can cause them to wake. ⁣⁣
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*️⃣Be patient and allow your child sufficient time to adjust to this new schedule. Give yourself (and your child) some grace.

This post is a continuation of info on early morning wakings. If you haven’t seen my previous posts on this topic, scroll back to take a look! ⁣
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Today we will look at culprit #9 - they are too drowsy when you lay them down at bed time. ⁣
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This is one of the top issues I see when working with families. Many don’t even realize they’re doing it! They feel like they’re doing everything right and can’t figure out why they are still experiencing sleep issues. Many babies and toddlers become too drowsy close to bed time, especially if they’re being fed, rocked, or held right before being laid down. ⁣
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When they are too drowsy at the time they are laid down, it essentially acts as a sleep crutch. This can lead to frequent night wakings and early morning wakings since baby didn’t to the full work of putting themselves to sleep. ⁣
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Here’s how to ensure your little one isn’t in this category: ⁣
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✅ if a feeding is included as part of your bed time routine, move it to the beginning of the routine. ⁣
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✅ I love for you to rock and hold your littles! Just be sure to spend some time doing it earlier in the routine.⁣
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✅ Start your bedtime routine earlier. If baby is too drowsy despite switching your routine up, try starting 10-15 minutes earlier. ⁣
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You want to see your baby or toddler putting themselves to sleep independently within 5-15 minutes of laying them down!

❤️

The girl who made me a mama is 12 today 😭 Happy Birthday Kayla! 🥳

This post is a continuation of info on early morning wakings. If you haven’t seen my previous posts on this topic, scroll back to take a look! ⁣
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Today we will look at culprit #8 - hunger! ⁣
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Sometimes babies aren’t taking in their total caloric needs during the day which can cause both frequent night wakings and early morning wakings in order to make up for missing calories. ⁣
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I really like to see babies eating every 2 - 3.5 hours during the day. I know some people like to do a 4 hour feeding schedule but if your baby eats every 3 hours instead of every 4 hours, he or she will get in one more daytime feeding each day. That can ultimately have a big impact on their sleep! ⁣
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If your family eats dinner pretty early then there could be the possibility that your toddler is waking because of hunger as well. You can always consider the possibility of offering your toddler a nutrient dense snack closer to bedtime and see if that helps.⁣
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Not all babies or toddlers will have early morning wakings because of hunger but if you take a look at your schedule you can try to evaluate if there’s any way to add in a few extra ounces, nursing sessions or calories during the day if you think hunger may be the culprit!

This post is a continuation of info on early morning wakings. If you haven’t seen my previous posts on this topic, scroll back to take a look! ⁣
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Today we will look at culprit #7: they rely on parental intervention to put them to sleep. ⁣
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This could mean holding, rocking, feeding, replacing the pacifier, laying next to them, bringing them to your bed, etc. ⁣
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When you assist in putting your infant or toddler to sleep by using any of the above methods, they’ll expect to be put back to sleep in the same manner upon waking.⁣
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I have had countless clients come to me needing help because their baby (or babies) are waking multiple times between 3 and 5am needing parental intervention to get back to sleep. ⁣
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If this is a problem you are experiencing, I highly recommend teaching your child to put themselves to sleep independently. This way when they wake they will be able to quickly and efficiently put themselves right back to sleep! Otherwise it’s highly likely that they’ll continue to wake expecting to be helped back to sleep. ⁣
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In addition to parental intervention to be put back to sleep, parents can inadvertently reinforce the early wakeup by getting their child up for the day at 4:30 or 5am. Please keep in mind that wake ups this early should be treated as a night waking and not as their daily wake time. Try to wait a little while before going to get them, or try using your sleep coaching method to help them get back to sleep! 😴 ⁣

This post is a continuation of info on early morning wakings. If you haven’t seen my previous posts on this topic, scroll back to take a look! ⁣
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Today we will look at culprit #6 - not enough daytime sleep.⁣
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You would think that a child who wasn’t getting enough daytime sleep would sleep really well at night, and perhaps even sleep in. Unfortunately that’s just not how it works. As your child loses out on their daytime sleep requirements, they start to accrue sleep debt. Sleep debt is the cumulative effect of not getting enough sleep. The greater the sleep debt, the longer it will take their body to recover. ⁣
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It’s not easy to know for sure that your infant or toddler has sleep debt. These are some signs that your little one may be experiencing it: ⁣
✅ Their naps become shorter and shorter⁣
✅ They have trouble falling asleep in the evenings ⁣
✅ They have difficulty falling back to sleep in between sleep cycles ⁣
✅ They begin to have a consistently early wake time ⁣
✅ They cry when waking up in the morning⁣
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Some additional signs may include:⁣
✅ Becoming inconsolable ⁣
✅ Becoming more accident prone ⁣
✅ Becoming more clingy ⁣
✅ Poor recovery from negative emotions ⁣
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In order to help counteract this you can bring your child’s bedtime up by about 30 minutes to help them gain some extra restorative sleep. ⁣
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If your child is having a really difficult time with missed or short naps, don’t hesitate to offer an emergency nap! That would be any way that your child will fall asleep, whether it’s in the car, stroller, rocking, baby wearing, etc. ⁣
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I would also recommend introducing nap training if your child is over the age of 4 months. Teaching your child how to fall asleep independently is a skill they will use their entire lives. ⁣
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Helping your child reach their sleep requirements during the day can ultimately lead to them being well rested enough to sleep well at night and to help prevent early morning wakings. ⁣

This post is a continuation of info on early morning wakings. If you haven’t seen my previous posts on this topic, scroll back to take a look! ⁣⁣
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𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐭 #𝟓: 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩. ⁣⁣
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Sometimes an early wake up can happen because your child has maxed out on their total sleep needs. ⁣⁣
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Infants and toddlers have day time AND night time sleep requirements and those are calculated in a 24 hour period. So if they get too much daytime sleep, it can easily affect their night time sleep.⁣⁣
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Sometime this is why I will recommend capping naps. For example: I have to wake up my 1 year old almost every nap and my 2 year old I have to wake sometimes. I do this because I know if I don’t, they will get too much daytime sleep which will then translate to this: ⁣⁣
📌they won’t be tired enough at bedtime⁣⁣
📌they’ll take longer than normal to fall asleep⁣⁣
📌they’ll then become overtired ⁣⁣
📌they’ll then wake early (either because they were overtired by the time they actually fell asleep or because they were maxed out on their total sleep needs)⁣⁣
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Sometimes your baby can get too much daytime sleep because it’s time to drop a nap, other times it’s simply because they are sleeping too long during each nap.⁣⁣
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Here’s some typical sleep needs by age:⁣⁣
0-3 months: 4-5+ hours ⁣⁣
4-6 months: 3-4 hours ⁣⁣
7-9 months: 2-4 hours ⁣⁣
9-15 months: 2.5-3 hours ⁣⁣
15-24 months: 2-3 hours ⁣⁣
2-3 years: 1-3 hours⁣⁣
4 years: transition to 1 hour quiet time ⁣⁣
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Please note: every baby is unique in their individual sleep needs. Some babies truly need more sleep than others and that’s okay! However if you’re dealing with early morning wakings, it’s definitely worth evaluating your schedule! ⁣⁣