Rested Baby Sleep Coaching for Infants and Toddlers

Transitioning From Two to One Nap Per Day

2/4/2019

Transitioning from two to one nap usually occurs between 15 - 18 months, sometimes later, rarely earlier.

You will notice your little one showing signs that they are ready to transition to one nap per day when he/she is:

Taking longer and longer to fall asleep for the morning nap.
Napping longer than 1.5 hours for the morning nap and then protesting the afternoon nap (which makes for an over-tired testy baby by bedtime).
Falling asleep easily for the morning nap but then waking up much sooner than normal and then fighting the afternoon nap.

Best to have in place before transitioning to one nap per day:

Consistently sleeping through the night. We want to make sure the little one’s sleep tank is full. Sleep begets sleep. Training an over-tired baby is more challenging than training a rested baby.

Tips for transitioning from 2 naps to 1 nap per day:

Choose a sensible time to start this transition. Don’t begin the training if you are planning to travel within the next week for example. It will take 7-10 days, sometimes less to transition comfortably from a 2 to 1 nap per day.
Gradually make small changes each day.
Push the morning nap a little later each day (Delay it until 11am) for 2 - 3 days, then 11:30am, 12pm, and so on.
If your baby is waking after 1.5 hours and is still sleepy try to resettle him/her back to sleep for another sleep cycle. If this doesn’t work, use a back up plan - car, stroller, carrier etc to fill their sleep tank so they can make it until bedtime without becoming over-tired.
Don’t let your little one sleep past 4 - 4:30pm
If he/she is a bit off or over-tired during this training period put him/her down for a two nap day once in a while. Let’s keep that sleep tank full.
Depending on the day time sleep you will likely move your bedtime to be sooner than normal. Perhaps bedtime is now 6:30pm instead of 7:30pm. Make the adjustments as needed until your little one is sleeping through the night and having a 2-3 hour nap every day. Watch your little one for the tired signs and adjust accordingly.

Good luck. If you need support please feel free to reach out anytime:

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Sleep Shaping for the 4-5 Month old baby

7/19/2015

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The first three to four months of baby's life can be considered the 4th trimester. This is when baby is very much depending on the regulatory system of their caregiver to organize their world. This includes helping the baby to sleep, feed, play and soothe. Throughout this time formal sleep training is not appropriate because baby's brain has not yet developed the capacity to learn the skills of how to fall asleep and put themselves back to sleep. That being said, there are still many tools one can begin to practice with babies under the age of 6 months, particularly between the 4 - 5 month old stage which we call Sleep Shaping. By using Sleep Shaping Tools and understanding baby’s biological rhythms you can help your baby to create a foundation to reach their optimal levels of sleep each month. In some cases beginning with these Sleep Shaping Tools, babies may not even need to do the more formal sleep training process by the time they are sleeping for longer stretches. This is because a foundation will have already been established. For more information on Sleep Shaping Packages click here.

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Is putting your 7 month old baby to sleep at 10PM too late?

11/20/2014

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Babies, just like adults function best when we are in alignment with our natural circadian rhyme i.e. body clock, which is in tune with the light and the darkness of a 24 hour cycle of a day.

When a child is up past their natural inclination to sleep, between 6pm and 9pm pending age of the child, his/her body will begin to secrete hormones such as cortisol. Cortisol is a stress related hormone that will stimulate the baby creating the effect of a "second wind" in order to keep them awake. As a result, the child will become more agitated, difficult to console and will need more from his/her parents to fall asleep later.

Counter intuitively, over-tired babies often become "early risers," waking much earlier then and not napping as well as rested babies. It's best to find your child's natural "sleep window." This is when their body is naturally producing melatonin, a hormone "that promotes sleep by relaxing our muscles and making us drowsy" (West, 2009). Establishing healthy sleep patterns in relationship to your babies biological rhythm will contribute to your babies healthy development, allowing them to sleep through the night and nap well, which also means fewer sleep deprived parents.

Reference: West, K. (2009). Goodnight Sleep Tight.

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