I was emailed a question about a 4 year old who was a great sleeper but now keeps waking up at 5:30 am. Read my tips here on my blogger blog.
Do you have a baby that is early rising? Tell me all about it. I will have some tips for you too.
I was emailed a question about a 4 year old who was a great sleeper but now keeps waking up at 5:30 am. Read my tips here on my blogger blog.
Do you have a baby that is early rising? Tell me all about it. I will have some tips for you too.
I get this question a lot about baby sleeping face down and is it ok, what do you do, how can we keep the baby safe?
Here is my blog post about it on blogger.
http://getquietnights.blogspot.com/2018/04/baby-sleeps-face-down-now-what.html
Sleep regressions. I see questions about them all the time.
What are they?
A sleep regression is usually when there is a developmental milestone.
When do they happen?
The 4 month sleep regression can be a big one. It happens first and can come in hard. The brain changes and sleep is becoming a learned skill. 7 months can be Crawling, 11-13 months can be walking. Those are big ones. 2 years old is increased awareness and co-ordination frustration.
How long do they last?
They can last a few days, a couple weeks or up to 8 weeks if you get one regression on top of another.
What do you do?
Offer more support when your baby is having a developmentally related sleep regression. The brain is trying to process new information, muscles may be being used in new and taxing ways and it’s very exciting for the baby who wakes between sleep cycles and wants to practice the developing skill. Practice the emerging skill during the day and offer more support at night. More holding, pick ups and attention. The sooner the skill gets mastered, the sooner the sleep can come back.
I will be available for full consultation after January 4th. I’m still available for quick free initial evaluations and to book consultations and to answer questions. I love calls like that. www.GetQuietNights.com
Tuck (www.tuck.com) recently published a list of the top sleep consultants in the United States and told me made the cut! They looked at certifications held, overall customer sentiment and more. At first when I ready their email, I thought another company wanted to sell me SEO services. (I get that a lot but don’t need it.) But I checked them out and I love all the free info they have on their site. It’s a great resource.
Here is the list of Top Sleep Consultants in the US. You can find me in the Arizona group. https://www.tuck.com/sleep-consultants/
So what makes me extra special? I work with parents of alert kids. Children who are curious, observant, know what they want and hold out until they get it. Some of these kids are spirited and challenging to parent while others are quiet and happy but so intense. I teach the parents how to apply their parenting style to best help these alert children learn sleep skills in gentle, responsive and hands on ways. Cry it out is never a sleep coaching method for children like this. It can actually cause an anxiety disorder. I help the parents read the behavioral cues and best meet the sleep needs to help the child adapt to learning situations to develope healthy sleep skills.
Thanks for noticing me Tuck!
Tracy Spackman- Certified Gentle Sleep Coach
www.GetQuietNights.com
1. Click the above link to Nominate a Sleep Deprived Crazy Momma of Arizona who is sleep deprived but can’t afford to get personalize help. Tell us a little about what is going on to make her so sleep deprived (must be baby related). And tell me why she is a great mom! I don’t need to hear about her financial details but keep in mind that this is for a mom in need. Post your nomination in the comments.
2.The nominated mom should be a member of my local sleep group https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sleepdeprivedcrazymommasofphoenix/ so please join the group.
I often get asked about how to help soothe the baby during times of teething or illness. It’s important to note that the world is full of various levels of stimulus and a baby’s ability to cope and regulate depends on their level of maturity and readiness to self-soothe. This ability is “compromised” in times of added stress from sickness, teething or developmental milestones. Extra assistance calming the baby is needed to help regulate their feelings of wellbeing. As babies grow, they will get better managing every-changing levels of stress. The more you help then when they are young, the more likely they will get to more independent levels sooner.
Do you get advice from everyone? A common question is, “How is your baby sleeping?” but that is the WRONG question. The right question is, “How are YOU sleeping?”
Babies don’t have to sleep well to be healthy and normal. But a mom who isn’t sleeping enough isn’t healthy or feels normal.
Many mom’s can cope just fine with a baby who wakes to feed frequently throughout the night and recognizes that it’s temporary and normal. If you don’t have a problem with how often your baby is waking, than it is NOT a problem. Don’t compare your baby to other babies. The range of normal for babies under 6 months old is so broad that there is no normal.
If you are not coping well with a baby who wakes frequently, then maybe there is something you can do about it. Maybe changing your expectations is all you can do temporarily or maybe there are some coping strategies you can incorporate. The baby brain is quickly developing and under 4 months is not the time to sleep train. But finding better ways to read their body language may help. Or changing your room environment may help. Or trying for more naps more frequently during the day may help. Or feeding your baby more frequently during the day may help. Or trying motion sleep, or co-sleeping. All great coping strategies.
There are many books to help with sleep. There are many sleep trainers and sleep coaches to help with sleep including me. There are many Facebook groups to help with sleep including my own Sleep Sisters Get Quiet Nights. If working with a sleep trainer or sleep coach, ask about their method. If they won’t tell you, don’t hire them. The general idea of the methods they use shouldn’t be a secret. You don’t want to get stuck with a cry it out or a modified cry it out if you wanted a gentle method. Gentle methods are responsive and feel good and safe when you get all the details. A sleep plan should also cover your daytime needs so you have a calm (not overtired) baby at bedtime.
I feel sad when a mom comes to me after having a bad experience with another sleep trainer. The method should feel good with your parental intuition. You have that intuition for a reason. Please follow it.
Let me know if you need my help.
Tracy Spackman Gentle Sleep Coach GetQuietNights.com
I love it when mom’s ask me about my methods and philosophy. My last email answer was so long, I turned it into a blog post for my google blog. You can read it here. http://getquietnights.blogspot.com/2016/03/what-is-your-philosophy-for-sleep.html
I was googling myself today in an “incognito” browser so I could see where I was ranking for the common keep words. I used “Sleep Coach Mesa” (since that’s what my current sleepless family used) to see where I ranked and what they saw. I was happy to see I was in the top TWO spots and then near the bottlom of that first page was a post from North Phoenix Family Magazine titled Five Things Keeping Babies from Sleeping which made me stop since that is the title of the talk I give to mom’s groups at hospitals and community events. So I clicked on it and sure enough, it WAS me. It was an article I had written for them a long time ago. Usually I can spend 60-90 minutes on this topic and I remember that I was given a word limit so this is breif and to the point. Check it out Here. http://northphoenixfamily.com/five-things-keeping-babies-from-sleeping/