In May of 2019, I became a mom but things didn't go how I had pictured. Getting Lily earth side turned out to be a little complicated and things didn't get any simpler when we got home. 

I had just spent 8 months of my life diving deep into labour and birthing and figured the whole what-to-do-after-birth thing would just happen, it's all a natural process right? Everyone sleeps, eats, and poops right?

But Lily didn't. 

My family would have to come over during their lunch hours to hold or be beside Lily so I could shower and it would take me upwards of 5 hours at night to get her to sleep. I didn't dare ask for help because I had convinced myself that if I woke my husband up, he'd crash his car on his way to work.

I was a zombie and was so sleep deprived and hormonal that at the time, I didn't even realize how deep I had gotten. 

The one thing that I was able to recognize though was that holding a crying baby when I was crying and freaking out...

Calling all parents of early-risers, this one’s for you! Daylight Savings Time is upon us and that means that your little one who wakes at 5:43 every single day, on-the-dot, no matter what you do will suddenly be waking at 6:43- score! But it’s not all puppy dogs and rainbows, DST can bring a host of other sleep issues as well, most notably, come bedtime when it’s still bright out and your little one does not feel like sleeping! Luckily, there’s a few things that you can do to help ease this transition and get or keep your child’s sleep on track.

I recommend choosing how you’d like to deal with DST (or not) based off of your child’s schedule, their age, temperament, and your parenting style. Do remember though that there is no wrong way!

Option 1- The Gradual Transition

This option is best for little ones who are sensitive sleepers and younger children who are still having one or more naps. You can do a gradual transition...

Transitioning from a crib to a big kid bed is one of those events in childhood and parenthood that is just so exciting! Although many parents are really excited to transition their little one to a big bed, for many it ends up becoming a disaster. Here's how to avoid sleep issues from cropping up and successfully transfer your child to a toddler bed.

 My first tip is don't start this transition unless your child is 3 years or older. Before this point, their brains are just not capable of understanding the responsibility of this new found independence. Not only can moving your child too early lead to them leaving their bed and their room often, frustrations, and lack of sleep, but it can more importantly be a safety issue if they get into things within the home or even leave the home at night [these are things that have actually happened to people!!]. This is why I'm team leave-them-in-their-crib for as long as possible! My daughter is currently almost 4 years old and still...

Struggling with getting your toddler or preschooler to stay in bed? A toddler clock might be for you!

Toddler clocks or Ok-To-Wake clocks are a great tool to help you if your child...
Is fighting bedtime and using a million stall tactics,
Leaving their room at night,
Is constantly having night wakings,
Wakes early in the morning,
or struggles with Daylight Savings Time or when you're travelling across time zones!

Although it's amazing that our little ones are growing up and becoming more independent, sometimes they're still not old enough to navigate that independence all night long without a reminder of what they're supposed to be doing. This is where a toddler clock can take over some of the responsibility of reminding your child what they're supposed to be doing instead of you having to get up and constantly do it!

They can be used by toddlers and children even as early as 18 months, more commonly starting around 2 to 3 years old and even can continue to be used by older...

If you're reading this, you're someone who prioritizes sleep for their little ones. You know that with good sleep, your whole family can be happy, healthy and well rested and you're willing to make adjustments to ensure that that can happen.

But not everyone feels the same about sleep and that can make it feel like you're being judged for how you choose to parent. Here's some tips to keep in mind the next time you feel like you're being criticized for how you handle your child's sleep.

1. Know your WHY
Remind yourself of what things were like before you committed to a solid sleep strategy that works for your family. How did you feel? How did your child feel? How did the night go? What about the next day? Then, remind yourself of how things feel now. Are the choices you make today worth the potential consequences. They might be! That's your choice.

2. Prepare yourself
You're getting ready to go to the event and you know that there's that family member or that friend that never holds back...

You finally got your baby's sleep figured out and have a bit of predictability with your little ones 3 naps but then suddenly everything changes. Naps start getting shorter, your little one starts to fight falling asleep and in general sleep just becomes a struggle. What happened?! You my friend, might have a baby that's ready to drop a nap!

Now before you go making any rash moves, make sure that your baby actually needs to drop the third nap. Going from three naps to two naps is a big change because they're not only dropping a third nap they're also dropping that extra wake window!

Keeping that in mind, if it's just been a day or two, there might be something else bugging your little one like teething pain or they might be getting sick. It's also important to keep in mind that if they've been learning something new, this can temporary affect sleep as well. Check out my blog on sleep progressions to assess if that's a factor.

What are some of the signs that your baby needs to drop...

 Many parents that I talk to live in constant fear of the dreaded sleep regression, but it doesn't have to be that way! Understanding what a sleep regression is and how to deal with them can help them seem less like a huge mountain of a problem to more like a little blip!

A sleep regression describes a period of time when a baby or toddler who has been sleeping well, suddenly starts having disrupted sleep. This either looks like they start having extra wakings at night, taking short naps, skipping naps or early mornings. Even though none of those sound fun, I like to call them sleep PROgressions and here's why:

4-month progression:
By 4 months, your baby has ditched their immature sleeping patterns and is sleeping more like an adult. As a baby their sleep comprised of 2 cycles and now they go through 4, the two new cycles being lighter sleep! That may translate into frequent night waking along with shortened naps and difficulties falling asleep.

4-6-month progression: babies...

Are you wondering how you can get your baby to sleep through the night? Regardless of their age or your parenting philosophies, this is where you need to start!

When sleep isn't going well it can feel daunting, you can be searching for any reason to make your child sleep better. Are they hungry? Are they cold? are they hot? Are they overtired? Sometimes it feels like no matter what you do nothing gets better!

If this sounds like you and you're just looking for answers keep reading!!

The first step to helping your child better is to understand and listen to your child’s biology. This basically means that we're making sure that we're working with their body to promote sleep rather than working against it and trying to force sleep.

We all know what it's like laying there counting back the hours" if I only fell asleep right now, I wouldn't get 6 hours, now I would get 5 hours" trying to force even ourselves to sleep is a losing battle let alone trying to force our children to...