baby sleep Archives

The Baby Sleep Site: Express Sleep Plan for Tired Parents

2015/07 By Lauren B. Stevens 10 Comments

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you know that I had an excellent experience sleep training with my son when he was 9 months old. I’ve said many, many times that the “training” part of sleep training was more for my husband and myself than it was for D. Sleep training also did not hinder breastfeeding one bit, in fact, D went on to breastfeed until he was 21 months old.

I won’t recap our entire situation because you can read about it HERE, but the short version is that I was exhausted and delirious from D waking every 2-3 hours at night and only napping in 20-30 minute clips throughout the day. I couldn’t concentrate, I became depressed, incredibly forgetful (to the point of being dangerous), and was often so overwhelmed by simple tasks that it brought me to tears.

After posting a plea for help and suggestions on my blog’s Facebook page, a local sleep consultant contacted me. After a phone consultation, I was convinced that she could help us, but money was extremely tight (as in, unbelievably tight because we hadn’t planned for me to stay at home with our son). Hiring a local sleep consultant who comes to your home is expensive, and we also had to wait for an appointment to get started. While I absolutely maintain that hiring a sleep consultant was the best investment we made in our son’s first year, I would have loved to have had a more affordable option. Enter the Baby Sleep Site.

The Baby Sleep Site offers a multitude of resources to help you understand and guide your little one into healthy sleep habits, including books, email and phone consultations. When the Baby Sleep Site contacted me to see if I would be willing to try out their Express Sleep Plan and share my thoughts with you, I was definitely interested. Intrigued by the thought of inputting information online and having a customized plan created for you – starting at $49 – I was excited to give it a go!

I began by creating a profile on the site, entering in perfunctory information such as my child’s age, nap routine, where he sleeps, what he eats (milk, formula, breastmilk, etc.), and his nighttime routine. From there, I went on to complete the sleep assessment that would be the basis for my customized plan.

While the Baby Sleep Site estimates that their Express Sleep Plan sleep assessment questionnaire will take around 15 minutes, it only took me 6 minutes to complete, so it’s definitely quick and relatively painless (apart from reliving the gory details of your little one’s sleep issues).

It’s important to note that the Express Sleep Plan is meant for babies who do not suffer from medical problems – it’s best to consult your pediatrician for guidance if there is an underlying health issue or if you suspect your little one may have a health concern.

The Express Sleep Plan also includes an option for your comfortability with your little one’s crying, ranging from not comfortable at all to being comfortable with your little one crying as long as you’re outside the room and are able to check on him.

After completing the assessment, the Baby Sleep Site then generated my customized Express Sleep Plan. You may be wondering what I would need with a sleep plan since a.) I already went through sleep training with D, and b.) D is almost three years old. Well, different ages and stages present sleep problems, and our current problem has been D not going to sleep for an hour or so after we put him to bed at night.

D still naps like a champ for two hours each afternoon, and his crankiness on the rare occasion that he misses a nap is an indicator that he’s not ready to give up his nap altogether. What the Express Sleep Plan helped me with is understanding that D’s “Nap Gap” is too short between waking in the afternoon and his bedtime.

In the initial assessment, I was able to input my ideal wake time and bedtime for D, which I now know needs to be tweaked – D’s been laying awake for an hour to an hour-and-a-half at night because there’s not enough of a gap between his afternoon nap and bedtime. Because I don’t want to push back his bedtime (I prefer a 6:30pm bedtime because it leaves the evening for my husband and myself), so I need to bump D’s wake time up to between 5:30-6am. I’m an early riser, so that’s not a problem (he typically wakes at 6:30am).

Because the Baby Sleep Site’s Express Sleep Plan gave a detailed schedule and an explanation about sleep for 2-3 year olds, I am easily able to adjust D’s schedule.

I must say that I’m pleasantly surprised by the amount of information the Express Sleep Plan provided, and definitely enjoy the convenience of inputting information and having a solid plan at my fingertips within a half hour’s time.

If you’re thinking about trying sleep training, or are looking for a more affordable option, you should absolutely take advantage of the Baby Sleep Site’s Express Sleep Plan! The best part is that you can start the road to sleep training in the middle of the night (if you wish), as everything is available with the click of a button.

For more information, visit the Baby Sleep Site at babysleepsite.com, or connect with them via social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

The Baby Sleep Site is sponsoring a giveaway for lo-wren readers with TWO winners! Click HERE to enter.

*I was provided access to an Express Sleep Plan, at no expense, in order to facilitate this sponsored post. All opinions are 100% my own.

How To Get A Baby To Sleep

2015/05 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

With a new baby in your life, sleep may be a distant memory. Babies tend to sleep in short spurts and stay awake in short spurts. While you might find getting your baby to sleep to be a challenge, it’s also an immense hurdle for your little one, who might need some help from you in developing a sleep routine and learning to relax and drift off to sleep.

Here, leading pediatric sleep consultants offer their tried and true tips for how to get a baby to sleep in any situation. Contributors include Rebecca Nazzal of Dream Big Sleep Consulting, Jennifer Schindele of Gift of Sleep Consulting, Ronee Welch of Sleeptastic Solutions, Visa Shanmugan of Sound Sleepers, Violet Ginnone of Sleep Baby Sleep, Tamiko Kelly of Sleep Well. Wake Happy, Janelle Jeffery of Sleepytime and Teresa Stewart of Stewart Family Solutions.

Their tips will show you how to get a baby to sleep at night and nap time — even if naps occasionally need to happen in a stroller. They also offer advice for handling a baby’s sleep routine when traveling by plane and car. As with all things parenting-related, consistency is key, they say.

[Read more…]

Baby Sleep Training: Tips & Tricks

2015/05 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

Your baby is fussy, your nights are disrupted and you both wake up cranky the next day. Though parents of babies expect to lose a little shut-eye, there are still ways you can help your infant sleep soundly. Baby sleep training benefits the entire family and ensures that everyone is well rested and able to function productively. But, as with most things, timing is everything! How do you know when to begin?

When Do You Train Your Baby to Sleep?
Jennifer Schindele, a certified pediatric sleep consultant and owner of Gift of Sleep Consulting, says that “newborns are not meant to sleep long stretches without nourishment, so the expectation of sleeping through the night before 12 weeks is not a realistic one.” Though he won’t sleep through the night for a while, you can still start establishing a sleep routine for your new baby now.

“Newborns are capable of going to sleep on their own, as long as you set the right environment, routine and timings,” says Visa Shanmugam, a certified Sleep Sense consultant and owner of Sound Sleepers. The biggest tip for initiating sleep training routines during the newborn stage, she says, is to avoid nursing your baby to sleep. Instead, wake her up before putting her to down to sleep. “It sounds crazy, but babies will quickly learn that sleep is independent of feeding,” she notes, and that the two are not dependent on each other.

According to Schindele, sleep training is about your baby learning to transition “from one sleep cycle to the next without fully waking.” Once you choose your method and begin baby sleep training, consistency and patience are key, both consultants say. They suggest that you allow about two weeks for your baby to adjust and settle into her new routine, but you’ll likely see progress within three to four days.

Maintain Consistency
Schindele says she has found that “babies are able to sleep through the night (12 hours) without a feed somewhere between 4 to 6 months of age.” At this stage, babies “can begin to learn the vital skill of self-soothing to sleep for nighttime and daytime naps,” she says.

10 Signs My Baby’s NOT Sleeping Through the Night (so don’t ask)

2014/08 By Lauren B. Stevens 12 Comments

I remember those early days with my son, those days and weeks when we were fueled only by euphoria, forsaking sleep and taking shifts watching our new baby around the clock, lest he stop breathing (he didn’t) or some major milestone occurred (it didn’t). Trips out of the house were opportunities for us to shake off newborn, new parent, cabin fever and show our little one off with pride (but don’t get too close and DON’T even think about touching my baby, Stranger). Inevitably, we were bombarded with questions, which we, proud to have created such a beautiful specimen, were all too happy to answer.

The most commonly asked question, one that stays with me to this day, was whether our baby was sleeping through the night. This question began when he was a mere two weeks old, and we politely smiled, shook our heads, and proceeded to tell those kind folks (strangers as well) about all of the other awesome things our newborn was doing (soiling 12-15 diapers a day, smiling at us (and NO, it was NOT just gas), eating non-stop during his wakeful hours, cooing with gusto, etc.). But by 8 months old, the “sleeping through the night” question, and all of the unsolicited advice that came along with it, had begun to wear me down, and all I could do was grimace, shake my head, and mumble how my son was constantly hungry and just wasn’t a good sleeper.

Because of our experience, with a baby who preferred to take in virtually every moment of a 24 hour day, and the abundance of unsolicited [bad] advice we received, I decided to create a helpful list of signs for those people dying to know if a baby is sleeping through the night. Here is a quick reference guide to share with those who have the urge to ask someone how their baby is sleeping:

You see nonsensical Facebook status updates posted by me at 2:30 am.
You drop by, unannounced, to lend an ear, hand, or both, and I answer the door, oblivious to the fact that my milk-caked, lanolin-smeared breast is exposed.
At the sound of a baby crying, any baby, I automatically stop what I’m doing and turn and head in that direction.
While on the phone with me, I share how my bad day has gotten worse, now that I’m unable to locate my…phone. (this actually did happen)
I call you to “catch up”, only to find that we’ve just spoken that morning. (see #4)
You wake in the morning to find that I’ve ‘liked’ every photo in your vacation album on Facebook…from 3 years ago.
My shirt is on backwards and/or my buttons are mismatched.
I have circles under my eyes and an overall frazzled appearance. (see #7)
I’m in tears, and neither you nor I know why.
Any conversation with me involves me using “Ferber” as every part of speech (Ferberized, Ferbering, doing Ferber).

What other signs am I missing? Help me create a definitive list by leaving signs your baby’s not sleeping in the comments:

A Year of Sleep (Thanks to Sleep Training)

2014/02 By Lauren B. Stevens 17 Comments

Today I’m sharing a one year check-in post that I wrote for Jennifer at Gift of Sleep Consulting. Since sleep seems to be one of the most talked about (and agonized about) topics in baby’s first couple of years, I thought I’d share how we’re doing a year after sleep training.

I ask that you please be respectful with your comments, as what works for one doesn’t always work for others, and sleep training methods tend to be a sensitive topic. When I originally posted about our sleep training experience a year ago, I had people infer that I was neglecting my son and not tending to his needs as a mother. That is/was absolutely not the case, but I realize that everyone takes different approaches to their little one’s sleep needs.

One year ago, I was a frazzled mom, prone to tears, constantly overwhelmed, forgetful and fatigued. My 8 month old son was not a napper and was up multiple times during the night. Thankfully, I was at home with my son, but after eight months, I was completely drained and in desperate need of some help.

My son, Declan, was not a napper. This kiddo would stay up all day if you let him (and is still the same way). At the point when we finally sought help from Jennifer, from Gift of Sleep Consulting, D was napping in 20-30 minute clips, three times a day. I was unable to get anything done, and I constantly felt stressed and under great strain to get even the smallest of tasks done. No naps during the day, and waking every two hours at night, meant that if I actually remembered to bring my grocery list when I went to the store, I would still forget items due to my inability to concentrate.

Enter Jennifer from Gift of Sleep Consulting. After posting about our sleep troubles on my blog’s Facebook page, Jennifer reached out to me. Admittedly, I was wary at first. Pay someone to teach us good sleep habits? It seemed so…strange. Who does that? We did, that’s who. Money was tight for us at that time, but my husband and myself (most especially me) were prepared to do whatever it took to get D into healthy sleep habits. Apart from buying our ERGObaby, hiring Jennifer’s expertise was the best investment we made in our son’s first year.

We immediately began adopting healthy sleep practices & routines, I became better at reading D’s cues, and I transformed into a bonafide Sleep Nazi. For us, healthy sleep habits for D were an investment and a commitment. We kept a rigid schedule around D’s naps and bedtime, which meant sacrificing some of our needs/wants to ensure that we were home in time to follow sleep routines. In fact, D didn’t attend his first story time until he was over a year old, because story times, both bookstore and library, were all held during D’s morning nap time.

Admittedly, having such a rigid schedule made scheduling social time difficult. D’s tight nap schedule only gave me a very small window to run household errands or meet up with other moms. But, the trade-off, well, wasn’t a trade-off at all; Declan’s need for proper sleep trumped any and all things.

Today, we have an 19 month-old who knows what to do when we begin his nap or bedtime routine. He will even say ‘nap’ or ‘sleep’ if he’s feeling tired, in which case, we snatch him up and make his wish our command! We’ve traveled for weekend and week-long trips, and the only bumps we’ve encountered were due to us having blown off a nap(s) (MommyCon was one particular instance of that). I’ve had a year of good sleep, and now groan inwardly on those rare occasions that D wakes in the night (usually during teething episodes). While we want to add to our family, I find myself wondering how I will function without getting a good night’s sleep!

Nineteen months in, I’m proud to have a toddler that sleeps when he’s supposed to! I wish I could say that we’re lucky, but the truth is (and Jennifer would tell you) that it’s not about luck, it’s about adopting healthy sleep practices and routines. Sleep is one of the most discussed topics in my parenting circles, yet many of the parents I see don’t want to change their routines(?!). It blows my mind to hear people continually complain about their, and their little one’s, lack of sleep, but are reluctant to make changes to what they’re doing (I see this a lot with those that cosleep).If you find that you’re struggling to get your little one to sleep well, you should consider hiring a sleep consultant to guide you. As I said, it was the best investment we made that first year. Sleep is incredibly important to your little one’s overall health, and I wish that we hadn’t waited so long to ask for help. You can read about our initial experience HERE. You can check out Jennifer’s 5 Tips for Healthy Sleep Habits HERE. Not ready to take the plunge? You can shoot Jennifer questions on Facebook and Twitter.

WAHM Mondays: Gift of Sleep Consulting

2014/02 By Lauren B. Stevens 2 Comments

I’ve referred to this woman as our Sleep Guru & Sleep Goddess, but really she is a lifesaver. As a result of her work, I regained my sanity [and Declan began sleeping through the night]. It is my pleasure to introduce this week’s featured work-at-home-mom, Jennifer Schindele, from Gift of Sleep Consulting.

Fostering healthy sleep habits for your baby or child is extremely important for their overall health and well being. The path to developing healthy soothing skills can start very shortly after birth and the best way to begin reinforcing these very important skills is the environment in which your baby learns how to sleep independently (with the help of some Rock Star self soothing skills). Promoting healthy sleep for infants and small children has become my passion and goal for every family I come in contact with, including The Median Mommy! Here are some great tips and insights about creating the perfect sleeping environment for your baby.

Encouraging healthy sleep habits: The temperature of the room does matter! Did you know that most little ones prefer to sleep in a room that is on the cool side rather than warm? Studies have shown that a too warm sleep environment can actually be very detrimental to infant sleep. Just like for most of us grownups, a too warm sleeping environment can make it very difficult for your child to go to sleep. It is also suggested that it may be one of the contributors to SIDS. I recommend to all of my clients whether their child is a newborn or well into their preschool years to make sure their little one’s room temperature falls somewhere between 68 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, the clothing your little one is dressed in for bed should be right along the same lines of what you would wear to bed. And a great addition to a baby or toddler’s bed is a baby sleep sack instead of a blanket (see last week’s post regarding my love for this wonderful invention). Remember cool and comfy and not warm and stuffy.

Mistakes to Avoid When Feeding Your Newborn at Night

Encouraging healthy sleep habits: Although a bedding set is super cute, it can also be super dangerous. I encourage all of my clients of infants to remove all items from their child’s crib that are non essential for safe and healthy sleep. This includes, crib quits, blankets, bumpers that are not breathable and see through as well as pillows and stuffed animals. Although a “Lovey” can be introduced around 7 months of age. All your baby needs in their crib for safe sleep is a mattress, sheet, secure swaddle (up until 3 months) or a sleep sack. That’s it!

Encouraging healthy sleep habit: The darker the better. A very dark room during all sleep periods (daytime naps included) actually helps your little one want to sleep. If the nursery or bedroom is too bright via natural sunlight streaming through an uncovered window or blinds, your little one will find it much harder to settle to sleep. As sunlight hits our skin and is absorbed, our body naturally releases chemicals to cue our bodies to be awake. The more we can do as parents to block light from getting in the room the better to stop this from happening. Also, darkness is a fantastic clue or indicator that one should be sleeping and with help and consistency, your baby can begin to pick up on this clue. A dark room = sweet dreams for little ones if you want to get your baby to sleep through the night.

Encouraging healthy sleep habit: White noise, the soothing static lulling your little one to sleep. Using some sort of white noise in your baby or toddler’s room can help them sleep longer and more soundly by blocking out environmental noise. You would be surprised at how the slightest outside noise can arouse a baby in a light sleep state. A favorite among many of my clients is a box fan or portable white noise machine. I’ve seen some pretty expensive models sold in baby stores but have to admit that if you can find one that is under $30.00 and can easily be taken with you on family vacations or overnight trips you’ll be all set. Oh and if it can also be battery operated…BONUS. You never know when you will lose power during a pretty noisy thunder storm.

In closing, if your little one is having trouble falling or staying asleep, please be sure you have evaluated their sleep space for the tips above and make adjustments where necessary. As always, I welcome your questions or comments concerning this week’s topic.

Jennifer Schindele is a Certified Child Sleep Consultant and President and Founder of Gift of Sleep Consulting –http://giftofsleepconsulting.com/; –located in Philadelphia, PA. Jennifer’s mission is to help parents give the gift of sleep to both their children and in turn, themselves. Her mission is executed by personalizing a step-by-step program to gently help teach the child to independently fall asleep, and stay asleep, the whole night through (and nap peacefully during the day).