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motherof.ie

🌿This family came to me via a referral from the

🌿This family came to me via a referral from the lovely @settledpetals and I was so happy to be able to help them to achieve a better night’s sleep for their little one, and for themselves.

🌿They came to me worried, stressed, and with a baby who’s sleep was very unsettled and who appeared to hate her sleep space! We came up with some goals to work towards over our two-week support period and I have to say, it was such a pleasure to work with this family, their communication was amazing from start to finish and they allowed me to tweak their little one’s sleep over a period of time in order to get more settled days and then nights.

🌿There was never a goal for this little girl to sleep all night, as I had explained to the family that it was very normal for a baby of this age (10 months old at the time) to still need to wake for feeds, but after a period of time, she actually stopped waking for feeds of her own accord, which we were all surprised by!

🌿When I get a review like this it just makes me feel so happy that I have chosen to go down the path that I did. Being able to support families, educate them on what is normal for infant sleep and give them the confidence to make changes, or not, while listening to their baby and responding to them accordingly really makes my day, every day.

#sleepconsultant #irishsleepconsultant ##gentlesleepcoach #sleepcoach #irishsleepcoach #client review #5starreview #irishmammy #irishmum #irishmom #irishdad #motherhood #fatherhood #babysleep #babynotsleeping #babynotsleepingwell #normaliseinfantsleep

🌿A family that I worked with recently is the in

🌿A family that I worked with recently is the inspiration behind this post. They had been under the impression that if their baby woke in anything other than a happy mood, they MUST need more sleep. Or if they appeared to still be a bit sleepy, they would spend ages, mostly in vain, trying to get their baby back to sleep. When I did a full study on their baby’s sleep, I discovered that it was nothing of the sort, it was just sleep inertia.

🌿What’s sleep inertia? Most people wouldn’t be familiar with this term unless it’s something they have come across themselves wondering why they or their child was having these symptoms. My own niece was like this after every nap, no matter how much or how little sleep she had for her nap.

🌿In basic terms, sleep inertia is when you wake up from slow wave sleep and feel groggy, cranky, a bit sickly, you might have a headache or just feel a bit crap in general. It can last anything from 10 minutes to an hour or so, you might have experienced it yourself if you’ve taken a nap that’s a little too long in the day time, or maybe fallen asleep on the couch and woken, feeling disorientated, cranky, angry almost. It is the reason why, if I am going to take a nap, I set a timer for 30 minutes, because I now know that anything longer than that for me and I end up feeling like this and wishing I had never taken the nap in the first place!

🌿Of course there are times when our little ones will wake prematurely from their nap and will need more sleep, but it is not the case for every child, especially the one’s who, no matter what you do, won’t go back to sleep. We don’t just instantly go from fast asleep to wide awake, and sometimes when we wake from a deep sleep, this is the result.

🌿Some children (and adults) are more sensitive to transitions, so the transition from being asleep to being awake could be adding to their feelings of discombobulation, especially if they are being woken up and not waking naturally. In this case, you might want to try a more gentle wake up technique...continued in the comments -

🌿I've been quiet on the posts here of late, but

🌿I've been quiet on the posts here of late, but I have been working away on lots of little things in the background to keep me ticking over during my maternity leave, as well as growing my second baby. Christmas came and went as did New Years, and now, we find ourselves in the middle of January and I don't even know where the time has gone!

🌿One of the things I have been involved with is The Child Parent Hub, with an old pal of mine @patricegentlelittlesleepers
I was so honoured and excited when Patrice invited me to join her on the expert panel of this wonderful group on Facebook. I will be supporting families questions, and sharing tips in the Hub, alongside both Patrice and Julia Pichl of @la_le_lovesleep

🌿This group is free to join and any member can ask a question of our experts, and have a response which not only helps them, but will
help other members who may be going through the same thing. Other members can of course offer peer support too. It's truly a wonderful, judgement free, helpful place for parents and caregivers of young children to feel listened to and supported.

🌿Join us here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/769067357639778/

#experts #thechildparenthub #motherof #sleepsupport #gentlesleepcoach

🎅Merry Christmas to all of my lovely followers,

🎅Merry Christmas to all of my lovely followers, to all of the families that I have worked with, and those who I will work with in the future. I hope you all have a lovely day tomorrow!

🎅I wanted to share this post earlier in the week but time ran away with me, as usual, so here it is now, on the wire, which is my style in general anyway!

🎅I always hope that parents won't get stress inducing comments about their parenting, but for some, it happens, so I wanted to share this to perhaps help you to move past any of those comments, or looks, or remarks, without it causing stress or upset, which our children can pick up on.

🎅Smile, nod, and say "thanks I'll look into that", before changing the conversation if you feel you need to. I am sure some of my friends and family think that mine and my husbands parenting choices, sleep choices, food choices etc for our son are crazy, but he is ours, not theirs, so we (and he) gets to make those decisions, not anyone else.

🎅I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, I hope that Santa is good to each and every one of you, and for those of you who have time off, I hope you all enjoy it, get to rest, get to eat some delicious food and have some fun and downtime with your babas!

#sleepconsultant #irishsleepconsultant #irishmammy #irishmum #irishmom #irishdad #motherhood #fatherhood #babysleep #babynotsleeping #babynotsleepingwell #normaliseinfantsleep #parentingchoices #merrychristmas

🌿I have a section in the sleep questionnaire th

🌿I have a section in the sleep questionnaire that all of the families I work with receive about this, and this is the reason why.

🌿Mouth breathing and snoring CAN be a red flag for lots of different reasons, it might not be anything, but it always worth getting it checked out when you are next at the GP or nurse for a visit.

🌿As it says in the post,this all applies to adults too, who may have been sleeping this way since they themselves were an infant. It is never too late to get something like this addressed. We are not meant to snore when asleep, of course, it can be due to the position we are lying in, or lots of other reasons, but always worth getting checked out.

#sleepconsultant #irishsleepconsultant #irishmammy #irishmum #irishmom #irishdad #motherhood #fatherhood #babysleep #babynotsleeping #babynotsleepingwell #normaliseinfantsleep #snoring #babysnoring #mouthbreathing

🌿A lot of the families I work with tell me how

🌿A lot of the families I work with tell me how stressful they find wake windows and fitting their baby into them.
🌿The majority of the time, in my experience, it's a round peg - square hole scenario.
🌿Don't try to fit your baby into a generic schedule, watch your own baby for their own unique sleep cues and then use their own individual amounts as their 'wake window' if you want to, or don't! It's up to you
🌿If a generic schedule is working for you, I am delighted and obviously don't change anything if something is working for you.
🌿If a generic schedule is stressing you out, like it did for me to the point where I was honestly not coping at all around this time 2 years ago, then ditch it, and go by your baby and what their own sleep needs are, they are all individual and just because your friend's baby is sleeping great using a schedule from an app or a book, it doesn't mean that yours will, and that's ok.
🌿My son was always a good bit outside the times for generic schedules, so I would be trying to get him to go to sleep and he was just NOT TIRED!
🌿This is why I don't post schedules for babies on my grid, in my stories or in my Q& A, which I know some people don't understand, but if it stops even one parent from becoming as uptight and stressed out as I was, then it is worth it for me
🌿When you work with me one to one, I will figure out, with your help, what your baby's individual sleep needs are and suggest timings that work for them and for your family, which of course can be tweaked along the way.

#sleepconsultant #irishsleepconsultant #irishmammy #irishmum #irishmom #irishdad #motherhood #fatherhood #babysleep #babynotsleeping #babynotsleepingwell #normaliseinfantsleep #wakewindows #sleepneeds #stressedparents

🌿I am joining in on the Black Friday craziness,

🌿I am joining in on the Black Friday craziness, tis the season and all that.

🌿Offering 15% off any of my sleep packages that are booked before next Friday, 2nd December.

🌿Get in touch today to avoid disappointment as my availability is limited, I will open a wait list if necessary.

#blackfridaysale #blackfriday #sleepconsultant #irishsleepconsultant #irishmammy #irishmum #irishmom #irishdad #motherhood #fatherhood #babysleep #babynotsleeping #babynotsleepingwell #normaliseinfantsleep

🌿The next in the series of "What's Happening wi

🌿The next in the series of "What's Happening with my Baby's Sleep" for you all.

🌿I get a lot of questions on the topic about babies who are around 11/12/13 months who are going through a perceived sleep regression, or as I prefer to call it a sleep blip. Nothing is actually regressing, it’s just that your baby, who may have been going through a more settled period of sleep, is now quite unsettled.

🌿The blip that can happen around this period can seem like a continuation of the blip that happened at around 7/8/9 months, depending on your baby, some will go in and out of these blips with very settled days and nights in between, others don’t. This will depend on each individual baby.

🌿At around this age, you might see your baby starting to crawl, stand independently, walk, maybe their language skills will start to develop, they may start to become more independent, they may begin to push boundaries and may have separation anxiety. All of these are developmentally normal and all of these can disrupt our little one’s sleep. Your baby may start to refuse a nap, take shorter naps, begin to wake earlier, have split nights or be more upset at bedtime (or all of these!)

🌿At around 12 months, a baby’s sleep needs may change, leading to parents panicking and dropping one of their baby’s naps cold turkey, which will ‘work’ for a few days until a massive sleep debt is built up, and then the nights and naps are even worse than before, leading to more stress, worry and sleeplessness for the whole family. Generally, babies are not ready to drop to one nap until around 14 – 18 months of age (it’s a large window!) some will be slightly younger, some will be older, again, this will depend on your baby, but the majority of babies are not able to deal with the larger awake periods that one nap will bring at 12 months old.

🌿Is your baby going through this, or any other sleep blip at the moment? DM me to find out how I can help you and your family through it.
#12monthprogression #12monthregression #twelvemonthregression #twelvemonthprogression #sleepconsultant #irishsleepconsultant #irishmammy #irishmum #irishmom #dublinmums #irishdad #motherhood #fatherhood #babysleep

🌿I posted a link in my stories during the week

🌿I posted a link in my stories during the week to a blog post about how to enjoy Halloween, food wise, with your little ones.

🌿Here are some tips with how to cope with it sleep wise. I am the most uptight person about stuff like this myself, so I know how hard it is to unclench, but honestly, unclenching will mean that everyone will have a much better time, and it's only for one night...plus the clock change is happening tonight and so they are likely to be a little bit out of sorts from that anyway, even if you did preparation work for it.

🌿My son is dressing up as Beetlejuice ❤️ I can't wait to see him in his costume...what are your little ones dressing up as?

🌿PS: It's totally acceptable for you to eat most of their stash after they go to bed...shhhhhh!

#sleepconsultant #irishsleepconsultant #irishmammy #irishmum #irishmom #irishdad #motherhood #fatherhood #babysleep #babynotsleeping #babynotsleepingwell #clockchange #halloween #sugarrush #hyperkids

🌿Yahoo - I have reached over 500 followers whic

🌿Are you in a flap over what you will do regard

🌿Are you in a flap over what you will do regarding the upcoming clock change? Could you not care less? Regardless of what category you fall into, it's happening, unfortunately! So here are some tips to help you and your little one to cope with the change.

🌿Some children will barely notice and some really will, you will know your child best, and your own temperament best, so you can pick whichever method, or lack of method you prefer.

🌿I am definitely an option two or three person, and will be expecting my semi sensitive son to be a bit all over the place for the week or two afterwards.

#sleepconsultant #irishsleepconsultant #irishmammy #irishmum #irishmom #irishdad #motherhood #fatherhood #babysleep #babynotsleeping #babynotsleepingwell #clockchange #daylightsavings #fallback

Encouraging you all to lean in to your little one

Encouraging you all to lean in to your little one and try not to force things when you meet resistance, instead, meet them where they are, not where you want them to be.
Please excuse the mirror covered in toddler handprints ❤️

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