Early Bedtime Appreciation I love an early bedtime! As a sleep consultant and a mom, I’ve seen the benefits. Children will get more sleep with an early bedtime. Some parents are afraid that earlier bedtimes will mean earlier morning wake ups. But the opposite is true. Early bedtimes can help to solve night waking and

Family Sleep Meeting A family meeting is a great way to teach your child, 2.5 years and up, about your expectations for sleep. Keep it short and upbeat. In preparation, it’s best to have a few tools ready to go:   Toddler clock or Okay-to-Wake Clock: These clocks provide an effective way for little ones

Bedtime Power Struggles Getting our children to cooperate with guidelines around sleep can be a big challenge. Even young toddlers already know us so well and they’re very smart cookies! These master manipulators really know how to press our buttons. We can diffuse the power struggle by bringing them onto our Sleep Team, and defining

The Science of Sleep Our circadian rhythm has been an important part of our evolution story. It essentially programs us to sleep at certain times. Only when we cooperate with these “sleep windows” can we reap all the rewards of sleep. The Sleep/Wake Continuum Our circadian rhythm regulates many aspects of physiology, among them are

Adults Need Sleep Training Too! Even though I’m a child sleep consultant, I often hear from adults suffering from sleep problems. There are generally two types of common chronic insomnia: Sleep Onset and Sleep Maintenance. I consider early morning waking to be part of a Sleep Maintenance problem. Poor sleep causes significant impairment in memory,

Let’s Talk About Momsomnia No matter how you used to sleep, once you become a parent, sleep can become maddeningly elusive. The frustration of this insomnia deepens once your little one starts sleeping through the night and you lay awake. This is so commonly experienced that the term Momsomnia was coined. But no doubt, Dadsomnia

Sleep Needs, Based on Age Infants and children need much more sleep than adults to support their rapid mental and physical development. It helps to know the average healthy range of sleep for each stage. For a guide to sleep schedules, please see my Age-Appropriate Sleep Schedules.