MSD Baby Sleep Coach

This Sunday, March 8 we “spring forward”!    Be sure to turn your clocks ahead 1 hour before you go to bed on Saturday night.   If you/your child (ren) typically wake at 6am, then they will likely wake 7am.   If you like this change then YEA!   Keep naps and bedtime on the new schedule (1hr later).   To protect this new schedule and time make sure you use continuous white noise for all sleep periods and keep the room really, really dark.  You won’t achieve this without black out curtains or shades. If the new time doesn’t work for you, below are some options to help your family adjust: Gradually adjust: This is ideal for children under 2 or those who don’t do well with big changes.  Go to bed 15 minutes earlier every night this week.  Each day, wake up your child 15 minutes earlier in the morning.  If napping, put her down 15 minutes earlier for each nap.  Continue to adjust the schedule earlier in 15 minute increments (wake up, naptimes, meal times and bedti

Once you and your child are ready to start sleep coaching, knowing how sleep is learned will help you achieve success and get the much needed sleep for you and your lil one. Bedtime is the easiest time to learn independent sleep! When you are ready to begin teaching your lil one the skill of independent sleep - start at bedtime (the easiest time for your lil one to learn the new skill).  6-8 months is a great age to begin sleep coaching, if you haven't already taught your child to fall asleep independently.  If your child is older, don't worry it's never too late to work on this life long skill. I have many parents tell me ‘we tried that awake thing at a nap once and it didn’t work’ or ‘I tried that in the middle of the night’.  These parents all started at the most difficult time to teach this important skill. Independent sleeping skills are learned in stages: stage 1-  bedtime stage 2 - middle of the night stage 3 - early morning  stage 4 - nap