Time to Spring Forward!

This upcoming Sunday, Daylight Saving Time will begin.  Before we all had kids, the only thing we had to worry about was losing an hour of our precious sleep (not that we shouldn't still be concerned about that!).  Now, lots of parents are concerned that they will lose the progress they've made towards a peaceful night of sleep for themselves and their children.  Luckily, that doesn't have to be the case!  Here are some tips for you and your children (courtesy of The Sleep Lady) to ease the transition:

For adults:

• Go to bed 15 minutes earlier than usual tonight.
• On Friday go to bed 30 minutes earlier than usual (beginning to see the pattern?).
• On Saturday try to go to bed 45 minutes earlier than your usual bed time.
• Eliminate all caffeine before 1:30 p.m. this week in order to make it easier to go to bed earlier.
• Avoid alcohol this weekend which negatively effects sleep.

For children:

• For children older 2 years old you may be able to follow the adult directives of putting them to bed earlier each night. For younger children make sure they are well napped on Saturday and go to bed on the earlier side.
• When your child wakes up on Sunday morning (any time after 6am) make sure she gets some sunlight first thing in the morning. Do this on Monday also – it will  help her reset her internal clock. This will help you too! “Spring forward” can help some children who are having early rising struggles (waking before 6am) which is great news!
• Schedule your next day’s meals and activities according to the new clock time.
• Your bigger challenge will be to help your child get to the new (later) bedtime without being overtired! That means you have to make naps an absolute priority.  Have a comforting pre-nap routine and get her down for a good, restorative nap or two (depending on her age). Don’t forget an early enough bedtime!

Most of all, focus on making sure everyone gets enough sleep and stay consistent and you'll get through the change with minimal stress!

And the winners are.....

Congratulations to Michelle Seltzer and Barbara Martinez.  I will be sending you both further information via email.

Everyone else, I appreciate your interest in my business.  Please check your email as well!  I'm sending a special discount to all contest entrants!  :)

Would You Like a Free Sleep Consultation?

Are you stressing out about your child's sleep?  Would you like to have someone help you come up with a plan for your whole family to be well rested (finally)?  Here's your chance!

To celebrate the launch of my website (which is going to have another major change coming soon) and my Facebook page, I'm giving away 2 free sleep consultations!
Here's what you get:

• Review of your individual case history and sleep logs
• A 1-2 hour consultation
• A step-by-step plan, customized for your family
• An evaluation of the specific sleep needs for each of your children
• Direction on how to help your child fall asleep on his own, and how to fall back asleep without your help (and without just leaving him to cry it out!)
• Direction on how to teach your child to take long naps and wake up rested
• Up to 8 follow-up phone calls (based on your needs)
• 2 weeks of unlimited email support

To enter the contest, go here Contest Entry and enter your information!  The winner will be chosen at random from all entries submitted by midnight on 3/9/2011

Thanks everyone!!!

Middle of the Night Toddler Nursing

Meg asks:
I have (almost) 18 month-old twins. They still nurse once a day...which I shope to be stopping soon. My question is, they wake at least once a night to nurse. They will NOT go back to sleep without nursing and will stand and scream in their cribs, waking our other two children in the process. How can I help them get through the night? How do I know they aren't hungry?

Meg,

Start by taking the question about eating in the middle of the night to your pediatrician.  Most kids are fine going all night without additional calories at 18 months, but I'd ask just to be sure that there's no medical need for a night feeding.

Once you have the go ahead to wean them at night, make sure you have a soothing bedtime routine that doesn't end with nursing them to sleep.  If you nurse them to sleep, that's going to be the only way they know to fall asleep, and they'll need you at every night waking!  Also, make sure you are choosing a developmentally appropriate bedtime.  At 18 months, the average child needs 13.5 hours of sleep, with at least 11 hours at night (Note - this is the actual time sleeping, not the time in the bed!).  In most families, this means that bedtime is between 7 and 8 pm.

For the middle of the night wakings (and for falling asleep at bedtime too if this is an issue), I really like the "Sleep Lady Shuffle" as a way to gradually decrease your role in putting the child to sleep and increase their role in falling asleep on their own.  You start out right next to the crib, and you move your chair every few days until they are doing it on their own!  It may get worse before it gets better, but you should see the boys putting themselves to sleep at night and the disappearance of the night wakings in 7 to 10 days!