It’s hard to believe it’s that time again already…summer! My kids just completed first and third grades, and this year has definitely gone the fastest! Now that school’s out, my time is full of camp drop-offs and pick-ups. And later in the summer, I’ll be on the East Coast taking kids to sleep-away camp and visiting family.
If you are pregnant and suffering from poor sleep, you are not alone! In fact, as many as three out of four pregnant women suffer from poor sleep quality.
On Sunday, November 6th, most of us in the U.S. will be turning our clocks back one hour. Just the thought of this change instills panic in parents who have just gotten their little one on that great routine!
This fall time change is more challenging than our “spring forward” change. Changing our clocks even one hour disrupts our circadian rhythms, the natural cycles that control many of our bodies functions, including sleep, hunger, elimination, acuity, dexterity, and more. It will take our systems several days to adapt to the new times, often longer for children.
Memorial Day is upon us here in the US, bringing with it the un-official start of summer, warmer weather, and the rapidly approaching end of the school year. During the summer, both Debbie and I have our hands full! Debbie heads to Camp Akeela, where she and her husband (and their two kids) create amazing experiences for a unique group of campers. I will be spending the summer with my family, our kids are now ages 6 and 8, tackling several home-improvement projects, and traveling to the East Coast for a significant part of the summer.
We know that your sleep challenges don’t just take a vacation because it’s summer, and we want to continue to provide you with sisterly support. I have limited spots available for 30-minute and 60- minute phone consultations over the summer. We hope you will be able to find a convenient time through our online booking form, but if you don’t see something that works for you, please email us and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Last week, the San Francisco CBS affiliate ran a story on the 11pm news featuring the work we do at Sleep Sisters. One of our fabulous clients graciously agreed to participate by talking about her experience working with a sleep consultant and allowing her darling baby to appear on camera (going down for a nap, no less!). Melissa also shared some thoughts about our role as certified sleep consultants.
We are often asked for advice, and we have plenty! No shortage of opinions here. We were recently asked for our favorite advice specifically for new parents. Here are our responses. Share your own advice in our comments section!
October is SIDS awareness month and we wanted to make sure that we didn’t let the month pass by without spending some time discussing this very scary phenomenon. As moms, we know that the unknown or unexplainable can be the most frightening and SIDS is one of those things. Often, pediatricians say, “We just don’t understand why this happens,” and that means that we feel out of control – a horrible thing for parents with newborns. While this is true, we do know that there are things we can do to reduce the risk of losing a child to SIDS.
Making lasting changes to sleep habits typically takes around two weeks for infants (closer to four weeks for toddlers), but there are several things you can do TONIGHT to get started.
This Sunday in most of the U.S., we will be turning our clocks forward one hour. The Spring time change tends to less disruptive than the one in the Fall. At this time change, it’s easiest for most of us to do nothing in preparation – just change the clocks on Sunday am – perhaps because it’s easier to wake someone (thank you, alarm clock) than force him to stay asleep. If that approach doesn’t appeal to you, you can start moving everything in your child’s routine earlier by 10-15 mins each day now to gradually adapt to the one-hour time change.
I heard from many of you after my last post about daycare….It seems I’m not alone in my concern and, of course, I’m not surprised! I know that there are many parents who are concerned about their child’s lack of sleep at school and often feel like their hands are tied – that the school personnel aren’t willing to make necessary changes. It’s nice to know we’re not alone. In fact, in the past few months, we’ve had a few clients who are in the same boat, and so Melissa and I have had a chance to work on some tools that parents might use when their infant or young child is having trouble sleeping.
