The Sleep Mums

Comforters are an essential part of a sleep routine. We all have things we do before sleep that set us on the path to the land of nod, we know some of them are useful and some of them are not so much. In this episode we'll explore what a comforter is and answer some of your most common questions including: 1 - Is a swaddle is comforter? 2 - How do I transition my baby out of a swaddle. 3 - How can I introduce a dummy/soother? 4 - How can I get rid of a dummy/soother? 5 - Is my baby just sucking on their hands for comfort? 📌 Please read before listening This episode was recorded in 2021. Infant safe sleep guidance is regularly reviewed and updated, and some information discussed may no longer reflect current recommendations. We always encourage parents to follow the most up to date guidance from the NHS and The Lullaby Trust (lullabytrust.org.uk) on all matters of infant sleep safety. When in doubt, please consult your health visitor, midwife, or GP.  

It’s bedtime, everyone’s calm and settled and suddenly 40 minutes later your baby is fast, fast AWAKE!  In this podcast we’ll help you get to the bottom of this ready steady wake routine.  We’ll cover: 1 - What is a False Start? 2 - Why do they happen? 3 - What can I do about them? 4 - Why are they more common at night? 5 - Do False Starts just happen to babies? Plus, we answer one of your questions about why a toddler consistently wakes after they’ve gone to sleep.

It’s the middle of the night, you’ve just got back to sleep and suddenly you hear a whimper, then it turns into a cry. You have just got your baby to sleep, they can’t possibly be up…  The loop of exhaustion, frustration and disappointment that can come with regular night wakings is very real. We’re here to help you out of it. 1. Why does my baby wake every hour at night? 2. What can I do? 3. Are regular night wakes related to hunger, lack of activity, or illness? 4. How do I deal with each wake up?  5. Talk me through a plan Plus, we’ll answer your question about a 12 week old who is waking every hour from 2am.  

People talk about baby and children’s bedtime routines but what about a morning routine? At it’s simplest, a morning routine is a few steps that you take you from nighttime to daytime. But it’s not just a process, having a positive morning routine can have a biological effect and help to reset you and your child’s circadian rhythm.  1. What is a morning routine?  2. Is it something we need to do forever ? 3. What does a good one look like? 4. What are the benefits? 5. It is just a trend? Plus, we’ll answer your listener question about an early waking 4 year old who plays in his room and the impact it has on their morning routine.

Contact napping is where a baby, toddler or child spends their nap with all or part of their body in contact with their parent or caregiver. It’s lovely, its necessary, it’s part of parenthood but it can also be intense and tiring too. In this podcast we discuss: 1 - What is contact napping? 2 - When it works 3 - Is there a point it’s not so good? 4 - How can you move away from contact napping?  5 - Is it an all or never kind of thing? Plus, we answer one of your questions about moving away from being nap trapped.

  Growth Spurts are an essentially exhausting part of childhood. There’s no set in stone way how to predict how and when your baby will grow. Sometimes a growth spurt hits overnight and a sleepsuit that fitted the day before suddenly wont snap (sometimes they last much longer). We’re here to help you through answering all this 1 - When and What are Growth Spurts?  2 - How Do I Know it’s One?  3 - Will they Mess Up my Routine?  4 - Are they All the Same?  5 - What Can I Do? Plus, one of your questions about whether you have a super hungry baby or it’s just a growth spurt.

Sleep is a big topic in the baby days and then you hit the toddler years and it feels like it all goes quiet. However, as your baby has grown into a wild and wonderfully wilful toddler they have become more keyed into the world, so things like changes to their routine, separation anxiety, illness and teething can all add up to make sleep more challenging.  That’s why you need our Toddler Sleep Tool Kit!

Boundaries are such an important tool to help our children feel secure in their surroundings and with other people, but they’re also really important for us as parents.  If we want to show our children the importance of them, we need to model them ourselves and one place they can really come in handy is sleep. We'll also answer our listener Laurie's question about putting boundaries back in place after the kids have been at the grandparents. 1 - What are boundaries and making a plan  2 - Discipline? 3 - Routine 4 - Goals and rewards 5 - Results

‘They don’t come with a manual’. If you're a parent it’s likely you’ve heard this more than once. The reason they don't is because there is no one right way. So, in place of a manual we have created a Baby Sleep Tool Kit. We are your biggest sleep supporters, however, as they say ‘it takes a village’ so as well as us, here are some of the most useful things  to help your baby to sleep better.  

Sleep is generally not something associated with New Year - it’s all about counting down the minutes to staying up late.  But once the holiday hangover, be that from too much mulled wine, mother in laws or mince pies, subsides everyone is all about making a fresh start. A change in routine isn’t a resolution, though, a good routine grounds you, giving you stability to deal with the mountain of other shit we have to do on the daily as parents. In this podcast, we’ll help you to make a plan to get there.   1 - Here and Now 2 - Where to start 3 - Getting Back on Track 4 - Reaching Milestones 5 - I’ve not slept in three years, surely a routine can’t change that?