If you plan on having kids, you should pencil in a few accessories into the budget. A crib, a stroller, and a high chair are all mandatory when bringing home a new baby.


And, of course, you’re going to need a baby monitor. I honestly don’t think I’ve worked with a family without a pretty sophisticated baby monitor set up in the nursery. These days, they fall right alongside those other items as “essential” baby equipment.


And hey, not for no good reason, right? Baby monitors, even the most basic ones, provide some much-needed peace of mind for parents when they’re not in the room with their little ones. 


Unfortunately, they’re a bit of a double-edged sword because, for all the peace of mind they can provide and have the exact opposite effect. I often see parents running into their baby’s room the moment they hear the slightest peep out of the monitor. 


They check to make sure baby’s in a comfortable position, they check their temperature to make sure they’re not too hot or too cold, they check their diaper to see if they might need a change, and after they’ve confirmed that everything’s as it should be, they head back out of the room, sit down for a few minutes until they hear another rustle come through the speaker, and then they’re back in action, repeating the whole process.


Seriously. I’ve seen it happen with more than a few families. And I assure you, I’m not exaggerating even a little bit!


Now, if you’re reading this and thinking, “What’s so strange about that?” then it’s possible that you are, in fact, addicted to your baby monitor.


Interesting little side note here, did you know that the first baby monitor was invented back in 1937 as a result of the infamous Lindbergh baby kidnapping? 
​It’s true! Eugene MacDonald, then president of Zenith (a familiar name in electronics for all of us old-timers), heard about the incident and commissioned designer Isamu Noguchi to create a radio device to transmit sound from the baby’s room to a receiver elsewhere in the house. Good luck snatching a baby out of their crib now, you stupid kidnappers.


Over the years, monitors have become increasingly sophisticated. First, they switched from radio to digital signals, did away with the wires, and added two-way communication so parents could speak to their babies as well as hear them; then came the video monitors, wi-fi capability for better picture and sound, and now, now they can monitor a baby’s heart rate, oxygen levels, movements, breathing, sleeping position, even whether or not baby’s got a wet diaper.


And therein lies the problem.


On the one hand, I think it’s great that we have the technology to monitor our baby’s vital signs and make sure they’re not in a dangerous sleeping position. 


On the other hand, it’s not exactly good for your mental wellness or your baby’s sleep if you’re in a state of hyper-vigilance throughout the night and rushing in to “fix” things every time baby fusses a little, or the temperature in the nursery rises by a half a degree.


Now, I know the absolutely gut-wrenching anxiety that parents have about keeping their little ones safe. There’s absolutely no instinct in the world more powerful than the desire to protect your kids. Still, there’s a big difference between exercising due care and obsessing over unnecessary details. 

Bear in mind that baby monitors have not proven to be effective in reducing the incidence of SIDS.

Bear in mind that baby monitors have not proven to be effective in reducing the incidence of SIDS, so even with the millions, probably billions of these machines in nurseries around the world, they haven’t really done anything to prevent the one major catastrophe that parents are desperately trying to avoid.


Again, I don’t want to discourage the use of a monitor. But if you’re going to use one, remember what they were designed for. They’re for peace of mind and to inform you of a potential emergency, not to act as a call button demanding immediate attention every time you hear your baby stirring at night. 


Allowing them to fall back to sleep when they wake up in the night is important and actually essential if you want them to learn the skills they need to enjoy nights of restful, rejuvenating sleep regularly.


If you want to minimize the potential for SIDS, injuries, or other nighttime mishaps, check out the American Academy of Pediatrics guide to safe sleep. You’ll find some incredibly valuable information there. 


Most notably, put your baby on their back to sleep, keep the crib clear of any possible airway obstructions, don’t smoke, breastfeed if possible, and use a firm mattress and a tightly secured fitted sheet. That will go a lot further toward keeping your baby safe than even the most technologically advanced baby monitor ever could.


In short, if your baby monitor gives you peace of mind, keep using it. However, it’s time to make a change if it’s stressing you out. 

Ready to make a change for your family?
I can help you teach your baby or toddler independent sleep skills so they have control over their own sleep so they are sleeping peacefully through the night and napping like a champ. All while supporting you, mom, to gain peace of mind around baby's ability to sleep well and letting go of the baby monitor addiction. 

Book Your Free 20-minute Sleep Evaluation Call now and lets chat about what's going on in your family and how I can help. 

Happy 2023, everybody! It’s a whole new year full of potential and opportunities!

If you’re like me, when the calendar flips over, you set some lofty new goals to improve your quality of life. 

Get more exercise, eat healthier, land a new job, save some money, and spend more time with family; there’s no shortage of resolutions we can make to make ourselves and our families happier and healthier. Creating a “New Year’s resolution” has been around for hundreds of years.

Sadly, around 88% of people seem to fall short of their resolution goals, but I have a great strategy to help you join the happy minority who set their intentions on January 1st and succeed.

How? Well, you probably won’t be too surprised to hear that it involves sleep. (Surprise!) But don’t get the wrong idea! I’m looking at four of the most common, non-sleep-related new year’s resolutions and explaining how a good night’s sleep can scientifically maximize your chances of achieving each of them.

So check it out! Here they are, along with the percentage of people who swear they’re going to achieve it on an average New Year’s Eve.


Lose Weight - 40%
If you’re not getting the recommended 7 hours of sleep per night, it might be affecting your ability to lose weight. 

That may seem a little counterintuitive to some people. After all, the more time we spend awake and active, the more calories we burn, right?
The problem is that sleep plays a crucial role in moderating two vital hormones called ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin sends hunger signals to your brain, and leptin does the opposite, signalling fullness and suppressing hunger. 

A 2004 study found that ghrelin levels were almost 15% higher in people who didn’t get enough sleep, and leptin levels were 15.5% lower, causing them to feel hungry more often. So if you’re determined to lose weight this year, getting enough sleep can go a long way to helping you reach that goal.


Get more exercise - 52%
Getting in shape is always an admirable goal. Getting your heart rate up, staying active, improving flexibility, and building strength are all excellent ways to help you stay healthy and feel your best.

But if you’re not getting the sleep you need, getting motivated to hit the gym or go for a run can be a much more significant challenge than it needs to be. You’re likely to get tired out faster and not see the results as quickly as you would if you’re regularly enjoying a good night’s sleep.
​
Sleep is the body’s regeneration phase, so even if you work out vigorously during the day, your muscles won’t regenerate bigger and stronger if you don’t get the recommended amount of sleep at night. Or, as the gym fanatics would put it, “You ain’t gonna see those gains, bro!”

In short, getting the biggest return on the effort you put into your workout requires a good night’s sleep. Seeing those results is an excellent way to stay motivated. 


Spend more time with family - 37%
We’re all looking to make the most of our time, but we also obviously have responsibilities that must be attended to. Whether you’re working a 9-5 job, running a small business, or a stay-at-home mom, by the time you’ve tackled everything that needs to be done in a day, there’s hardly any time to just get together as a family and enjoy each other’s company. 

We can’t increase the number of hours in a day, but we can increase our productivity, freeing up time to do the things we love, and to do so, all you need to do is get to bed on time.
According to Dr. Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program, “Many people believe that in order to get more done, they need to sacrifice sleep.” However, this study shows that, quite to the contrary, poor sleep is associated with lower productivity in general, and specifically across a wide range of areas.”

So, simply put, even though you may be getting to bed earlier, that extra sleep will increase your productivity to the point where you’ll actually have more time during the day to spend doing the things you love.


Eat Healthier - 50%
Check this out. A 2013 study found that sleep deprivation led to significantly higher cravings for foods high in fat and/or sugar. 

You can check out the article for all the science-y stuff, but I’ll let the study’s authors explain it in layperson’s terms.

“What we have discovered is that high-level brain regions required for complex judgments and decisions become blunted by a lack of sleep, while more primal brain structures that control motivation and desire are amplified.

These results shed light on how the brain becomes impaired by sleep deprivation, leading to the selection of more unhealthy foods and, ultimately, higher rates of obesity.”

So, getting enough sleep can actually make it easier for you to eat right. How great is that!?

And there you have it, people. If you want to set yourself up for some new year’s resolution success, there’s one habit you can focus on that’ll make all the others much easier to achieve. Get to bed on time, turn off those screens at least an hour before you hit the hay, leave your phone in the living room, and take the time to wind down before bed. 

And if you’re not sleeping well because your little one is waking up at night, we should talk! Solving your baby’s sleep issues is the first step to solving your own, and I’ve helped hundreds of families do exactly that. 
​
Book your Free 20 Minute Sleep Evaluation now. 
​

If you're the parent of a baby who's just figured out how to roll over,  is learning to crawl, or who's teething, this may come as the least surprising scientific discovery imaginable. ​Developmental Milestones often cause disruptions in a baby's sleep.  In a 2015 study published in Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, researchers looked at the sleep patterns of babies before they started crawling, while they were learning to crawl, and a few months after learning to crawl. The results stated that "Along with the overall improvement in sleep consolidation, periods of increased long wake episodes were also manifested; the rise in sleep disruption was temporally linked to crawling onset."   To sum it up, the results showed that babies appear to have more night time wake ups around the time that they learn to crawl.  (Nighttime wake ups were monitored by a motion sensor on the baby's ankle and were only counted if the baby was moving around for more than five minutes.)
 
To quote that same study, "In dynamic systems, downward trends in performance and in behavioural control often mark the emergence of new abilities. This pattern has been identified in diverse domains of infant development, including manual reaching, vocal production, and language acquisition."  In other words, things tend to get worse before they get better, and when your little one starts talking, you can expect some random chat sessions in the middle of the night. 
 
Teething is another one of the usual suspects when it comes to disruptions in a baby's sleep. If baby has sore gums, that discomfort is probably going to make it a little tougher to get to sleep and stay asleep.  A study from the April 2000 issue of Pediatrics looked at symptoms that could and could not be attributed to emerging teeth. It found that during the four days before a tooth emerged, the day it popped out, and for the three days following, there was a statistical increase in wakefulness and irritability. Any parent who has dealt with a teething baby has seen how the discomfort that comes along with it can be disruptive to your little one's sleep, understandably so. Though teething is one cause of disrupted sleep, language and movement skills may be responsible for more frequent nighttime wake-ups.
 
Much like the rest of us, babies get excited when they start to learn a new skill.  While watching my little one learn to crawl, it reminded me of when I first discovered how to use  Shazam to identify a song playing over the speakers in Starbucks. I was ridiculously excited!  I couldn't wait for another song to come on so I could try it again.  I started singing obscure '80s pop songs to see if it could nail them down and showed it off to everyone who would listen. To your baby, learning to talk, learning to roll over, or learning to crawl, elicits pretty much the same response. They get a real thrill out of this newfound skill, and they are going to practice it over and over.  In the morning, in the afternoon, and when they wake up in the middle of the night, and that excitement is going to make it a little more difficult for them to get back to sleep.
 
I see a lot of parents looking for a "solution" in this scenario, and in trying to get their baby's sleep back on track, they tend to lose consistency. They'll move bedtimes around, start rocking or feeding baby back to sleep, change up the bedtime routine, anything they think might help.

But the best advice I can give you is to hold steady. You're probably going to have to go in and soothe your baby a little more often during this period. You'll have to help get them out of the uncomfortable positions they manage to get themselves into.  You will likely have some frustrating nights where your little one will drive you a little batty with their babbling.

And although you can't fix the situation, you can make things substantially easier on both you and your baby. Adopting a bunch of quick-fixes to get your baby back to sleep is likely to end up creating dependencies that will last long past the time baby's figured out how to get themselves back to sleep. So please don't give in to the temptation to rock or bounce them to sleep, don't let them sleep in the swing, don't take them for car rides, and above all, don't nurse or feed them back to sleep.

Offer them some comfort, tell them it's still bedtime, help them get back into a comfortable position if they've gotten themselves pushed up against the side of the crib, or roll them onto their backs if they've flipped, but make sure to let them get back to sleep on their own. That way, once they've got this new skill mastered, they'll still have the ability to self soothe when they wake up at night.

It's likely to be a bit of a challenge, and it may feel at times like one skill gets mastered just in time for another one to start developing, but hang in there. The whole time this is going on, your baby is also developing the ability to consolidate nighttime sleep better. 

​So stay consistent, and you can expect even more of those glorious sleep-filled nights once the storm has passed.
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If you need more help navigating your baby's sleep regressions or help getting their sleep on track and you want a do-it-yourself approach then our expertly curated sleep training guides will give you the tools that you need to see success. Stop the endless Google searches and find all that you need in one place. 

As a pediatric sleep consultant, there are a few questions I’ve grown accustomed to hearing. People are understandably curious about whether or not their child is going to cry, and if so, for how long. They want to know how long it’s going to take before baby starts sleeping through the night, and when they’ll be able to do the same.

And even though they never come right out and say it in so many words, they want to know if there’s some kind of magical solution that will solve the problem instantaneously without any effort, crying, or protest.

Holders of the Child Sleep Institute IMH Badge have completed a university-level course in Infant Mental Health. This course is offered periodically by the Infant Mental Health Program at the Ontario Hospital for Sick Children.
 
By signing up through the Child Sleep Institute, class participants also have the opportunity to discuss the course with other class members. This results in greater knowledge retention and understanding.
 
The CSI IMH badge is only awarded to members of the Child Sleep Institute Program who have provided a copy of the Completion Certificate awarded by the Infant Mental Health Program.

Certified Sleep Sense™ Consultants undergo an extensive 3-month training program and are required to attend several “continuing education” events each year in order to maintain their certifications. Because of this extensive and ongoing training they are fully qualified to give all the tools, guidance, and support that you will need to get your child sleeping through the night - and napping well during the day!
 
The Sleep Sense Program has been around since 2003 and has helped over 100,000 parents find a quick gentle solution to their children's sleep problems.
 
Hiring a Certified Sleep Sense™ Consultant gives parents the peace of mind that you will have support and guidance through the process with you every step of the way!