Restfully Sleep Coach - Whitney

5 newborn that all parents need to know! 👶

💤 New borns do not have circadian rhythm’s

⚖️ It is normal for new borns to lose weight after birth

☀️ Some baby’s are born with day and night confusion

🤫 Newborns only have two stages of sleep: active and quiet

⏰ Newborns can only handle 45-60 minutes of awake time

Want to learn more about your baby’s sleep development? Sign up for our first ever
Dreaming Tree webinar! 🌙 *link in bio and stories*

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Here at Restfully, our coaches work with many families whose children go to daycare. We understand that daycare sleep can be stressful for our clients. It's important to understand what we can and can't control when it comes to daycare sleep. AND to know that even if naps are poor, you can still salvage nighttime.

YOU CAN CONTROL

1⃣ Always speak to your daycare director about your child's sleep needs. It can be helpful to share a loose schedule with them for feeding and sleeping. Here at Restfully, we prioritize the first two naps of the day for infants. We like these naps to run at least an hour long in order to be restorative. Likewise, for children on one nap, we aim for 90 minutes. If a baby wakes prematurely, we're cool with daycare teachers helping a child back to sleep. If a child wakes prematurely, we're cool with daycare teachers helping a child back to sleep.

2⃣ For infants, it's great to send in a sleepsack they're familiar with. This can serve as a comfort object. For an older child no longer in a crib, a blanket from home can be a nice comfort object.

3⃣ This is a big one and a tough one! Many parents with infants stress themselves out staring at the notifications on their daycare app, or calling daycare to find out how their baby is sleeping. It's best to remember that while your child is at daycare, there is only so much you can control. BUT... this leads to number 4.

4⃣ If your child has had a rough day sleep-wise due to a loud or bright room leading to short or skipped naps, ALWAYS depend on an early bedtime. An early bedtime helps ensure your child is not going to bed crazy overtired. An overtired child will fight sleep. They may have difficulty falling asleep, struggle with night wakings, or wake up extra early.

Long story short, try to let go a little and understand that you can't control everything. And remember, early bedtime is your BEST FRIEND on a bad nap day.

Got more questions about daycare sleep? Drop 'em below!

ANNOUNCEMENT: This is your TWO WEEK warning!

If you have a flexible child, don't stress too much. Know that it will take a day or two to adjust to the new time and offer bedtime or naps 30-minutes earlier (after the time change) for a day or two.

If you have an inflexible child, you can try to plan ahead and start prepping about a week in advance.

With the end of Daylight Savings Time, your child will be going to bed one hour “later” than their body is used to.

One way to ease your child into the transition is to adjust their schedule by pushing nap time and bedtime later by 15 minutes every other night starting one week before the actual time change.

Here is how it will look, assuming a bedtime of 7 p.m.:

• Sunday and Monday: bedtime at 7:15 p.m.

• Tuesday and Wednesday: bedtime at 7:30 p.m.

• Thursday and Friday: bedtime at 7:45 p.m.

• Saturday: bedtime at 8 p.m.

• Sunday: NEW TIME: bedtime at 7 p.m., according to the clock

Similarly, you will move wake-up time and nap times by 15 minutes each day. So if your child is waking at 7 a.m., don’t begin the day until 7:15 on days one and two.

If your child takes two naps and naps at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., move the nap times to begin at 9:15 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. on days one and two, and continue pushing them back 15 minutes each for the rest of the week.

Be sure to get your kiddo out in the sunshine during the day, as this will help their circadian rhythms adjust more quickly to the “new” time.

Also, remember that the sun will be rising earlier, which means it’s important to double-check that your child’s room is DARK to avoid an early wake-up.

Hope your Monday isn’t as icky as his pureed spinach and peas 😄
Happy Monday, Y’all!