your questions answered!

1. Should my baby sleep in her own room from day one?

You may have heard lots of different things about when and how long to keep your little one in your room… well, there is a reason for that. The AAP came out with a recommendation in 2016 to keep your baby in your room until ONE year of age.

The reason for this recommendation was to encourage parents who were practicing unsafe bed sharing and co-sleeping to stop doing so. This suggestion was put into effect to promote using a separate sleeping space to reduce the risk of SIDS. (This is a cautious recommendation that has been called into question).

How so? Well, if your baby was in your room for the first year WITH a separate sleeping space, you would be less likely to bring your little one into bed with you because your little has a place to sleep right next to you.

Following this recommendation, in the July 2017 issue of Pediatrics (the official journal of the AAP) another study was published indicating that room sharing beyond 4-9 months led to less nighttime sleep and more nighttime wakings! In fact, the study found that babies who room shared beyond 4 months of age were 4x more likely to end up in their parent’s bed and 2x more likely to have unsafe sleeping materials nearby during sleep, such as pillows and blankets.

So, just be aware that keeping your little one in your room beyond 4-9months can actually increase parental behaviors that are known to increase the risk of SIDS and lead to less sleep. Also know that there is no significant evidence that room sharing until 1 year of age prevents SIDS, so always do what is best for your family and keep your little one safe – however long you decide to room share. We can always talk about your situation and what will work best for your family.

2. Should you try and have a routine of some sort around sleep?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Babies thrive on routines, especially around bedtime. Having a few things in place right before bedtime that are the same thing signals to your little one that sleep is around the corner. This actually primes their little bodies for sleep. These pre-sleep routines are your little one’s sense of structure and security.

What’s great about these routines is that when you travel, or are at someone else’s home for sleep (e.g., Thanksgiving, vacations, grandma’s house), these routines stay consistent even if the environment isn’t. So, when you start those routines before a sleep period when not at home, your baby will know those routines and know sleep is near.

3. How do you use a toddler clock for wake times with a toddler?

If you’ve fallen victim to those early mornings and your toddler is crawling into your bed or waking you up in the wee hours, what can you do when they can’t tell time? Use a toddler clock! But I know many of you are probably saying, ya I know but she doesn’t “get it.”

Yep, this can be a slippery slope. Let’s have some patience with this one. First, let’s teach your little one about the toddler clock. Perhaps some role play during the day and how the clock works. Then when your little one comes to your bed, let’s walk them back to their bed and sleep with them there instead of your bed if you have to.

You need to guide them to sleep in their own bed instead of yours if that’s happening - otherwise your little is going to keep waking you up to sleep in your bed. I know if and when I let my littles into my bed just one time because I’m exhausted, it’s multiple nights of being woken up and trying to get them back to their room… leading to more exhaustion. So start practicing walking them back.

Then, you want to set the toddler clock to a time where your little isn’t waiting around forever for it to turn on. This waiting period often leads to your little one coming out too early over and over again. When this happens, you also want to quietly walk them back to their room keeping it super boring, so we’re not reinforcing this situation.

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LAST BUT NOT LEAST…

If you have a question that you’d like to know about just hit me up. And if you want some more specific help with your little one’s sleep Go here to schedule a FREE 15-minute call with me, and we can chat about it!

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OH, ONE MORE THING!

Every other week I share my newsletter — The Healthy Little Note — where you can get this directly in your in box plus other great curated content to help you and your little can get the most out of their first 5 years of life.

If you have little ones, I’m sure you’ll love it!

You can check out the most recent issue here.

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