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Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. In the busy lives we lead, establishing a consistent bedtime routine can often take a back seat. However, the bedtime routine is not just another task to check off the list; it's a powerful tool that can transform those bedtime battles and prepare our little ones for a good night’s sleep! So, let's delve into the importance of a good bedtime routine!
Read MoreWritten by Lucy Oladapo, Family Consultant. This family came to us for a parent consultation, not because they were having any major difficulties but because Mum wanted some support in putting a routine in place for baby. The catch was that it needed to fit in around their 3 year old’s daily routine including nursery drop offs and pick ups.
Read MoreWritten by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. This family came to us for a 1:1 parent consultation because sleep deprivation from their 7 month old not sleeping was affecting the whole family. Dad was in the spare room to make sure they weren’t both exhausted all day, their older child wasn’t getting the attention they wanted to give her, mum was exhausted and dreading naps and night-time and little one was grumpy and fractious.
Read MoreWritten by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. This is a phrase that I hear a lot from parents when looking at sleep and it can be something which puts parents off working on naps with their little ones.
So, what do I mean by ‘nap trapped’?
Napped trapped is when parents and carers can feel that they are ‘trapped’ at home because their little one needs to be in their cot for their naps and/or due to the timings of the naps it can mean that they are having to miss out of things such as classes, groups or going for a coffee with a friend etc.
Read MoreWritten by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. It is very common for children (and adults) to experience dreams, bad dreams and nightmares. This is often a normal part of sleeping although it can be very hard to watch or listen to your child if they are having a nightmare or night terror. I am often asked by parents what the best thing is to do to help their child when they are having a nightmare or night terror, but to do this we first need to look at what the difference is between the two.
Read MoreWritten by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. Do you find that you put your little one to bed at night and they go off to sleep, but then wake up anywhere between 20 to 60 mins after they have gone to bed and need resettling? This is often to referred to as a ‘false start bedtime’ and it often means that you have to go back to your little one to resettle them or in some cases repeat the bedtime routine so that they go back off to sleep. For some once your little one is settled after this then they tend to sleep for a longer period, or for some it can be for the remainder of the night.
Read MoreWritten by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. Looking at our little one’s naps can be a huge focus for the first few years, from things such as ‘are their naps too short?’, ‘too long?’, ‘are they napping too much or not enough?’ – it can be all consuming. We then finally feel that we have got the nap timings nailed and it is all going well, and then we start to notice that things are changing again. This is when we have to prepare for what is often referred to as a ‘nap transition’ so this might be going from 3 naps per day down to 2, 2 naps to 1 and then (sadly!) the day when it goes from 1 nap to no nap!
Read MoreWritten by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. White noise is something which is mentioned a great deal when talking about sleep and especially the sleep of babies and young children.
It’s important to note that while white noise can help to settle your little one for sleep it often needs to be used alongside other approaches such as a pre-sleep time routine, which white noise can form a part of. Have a look at our other sleep blogs which include lots of information about sleep for young babies, sleep associations, early waking, naps and much more.
Read MoreBased on research carried out by Dreams. The pandemic has been difficult for everyone but teenagers have been really hard hit - at a crucial time in their development they have been isolated from friends and missed out on face to face education. In addition to that, some interesting research from Dreams has found that 68% of teenagers have struggled with poorer sleep health since the start of the pandemic. Dreams spoke to 2,000 teenagers aged 13 - 17.
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