Alex Dobbs | Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant

Is there a better gift than sleep? Don’t you wish Santa could just sleep train our babies for us? 🤣 #babysleeptips #newmom #newbornsleephelp #babysleepconsultant #momlife

Is it “wrong” to rock them? Many parents choose to rock their babies to sleep for naps and bedtime. I am frequently asked if this is a “bad” habit. The answer just depends! ⬇️ 👶🏼First of all, if your baby is a newborn (younger than 4 months old), you don’t need to worry about creating a “bad” habit by rocking your baby to sleep. Newborns cannot learn to self-soothe. Rocking them to sleep is going to be necessary most of the time. Yes, it’s great to give your baby some space to practice independent sleep, but you should intervene as needed. Rocking your newborn to sleep is not going to ruin their chances of learning independent sleep skills in the future. 💕Next, rocking your baby to sleep is not an issue unless is it no longer sustainable for YOU. If you are perfectly happy with rocking your child to sleep and you are ok with the way nighttime and naps look, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. A habit is only “bad” if you can’t imagine continuing to do it for the foreseeable future. 😴If your baby is 4+ months old and is having frequent night wake ups and short naps, the habit of rocking them to sleep can be a huge contributing factor. Most of the time when your baby wakes up in between sleep cycles, they are going to need you to rock them back to sleep. If you are rocking your 4+ month old baby to sleep and seeing frequent night wake ups or short naps, teaching independent sleep skills will be life changing for both you and your baby. ✨you don’t have to do this alone! Comment “info” to learn more about how we can walk through this process together. 👶🏼newborn parents: wondering what you should focus on in the newborn months rather than independent sleep skills? Comment “newborn” to check out my 0-4 Months Sleep Essentials Guide. ➡️save for later ❤️follow for daily sleep tips #babysleeptips #newbornsleeptips #babysleepconsultant #rocktosleep #pediatricsleepconsultant #nightwaking #shortnaps

🚨5 reasons for short naps 👇🏻 A short nap is anything less than 1 hour long. Short naps can feel exhausting and frustrating. Here are 5 reasons your baby may be taking cat naps: 1. Sleep environment - if your baby is older than 2 months, try moving naps into a very dark room with a sound machine. Blackout curtains/blinds are a must! 2. Nap schedule issue - an overtired or undertired baby is most likely going to take a short nap. Follow age-appropriate wake windows and ensure your baby is getting adequate daytime sleep for their age. 3. Sleep associations - if your baby is older than 4 months and needs assistance falling asleep at nap time, they are most likely going to need that assistance again if they wake between sleep cycles. A few sleep associations that can lead to short naps are rocking/feeding/patting to sleep, laying with your baby until they fall asleep, or laying your baby down “drowsy but awake”. 4. Hunger - babies should be offered feeds every 2-3 hours during the day. If your baby is going down for a nap 2 hours after they had a feed, they may wake up 30 minutes later because of hunger. 5. Age - some babies just aren’t developmentally ready to lengthen naps until closer to 5/6 months old. I know this can feel frustrating. Here are a couple things you can do to help your baby lengthen their naps as soon as possible: -rock them back to sleep or finish off with a contact nap if they wake after less than one hour. -teach them to fall asleep completely independently if they are 4+ months old. ❓ready to teach your baby to fall asleep independently and take consistently long naps? Comment “info” to find out how we can do that together! ➡️save for later ❤️follow for daily sleep tips #babysleeptips #newbornsleephelp #shortnaps #babysleepconsultant #pediatricsleepconsultant

Sleep training is not for everyone, but is a totally safe and effective way to get better sleep for both you and your baby. No need to feel guilty for needing more rest 🤷🏼‍♀️ #babysleeptips #sleeptraining #babysleepconsultant

The transition from crib to toddler bed is a big one! Your toddler is experiencing many developmental changes and will naturally test boundaries. I recommend delaying the transition from crib to toddler bed when you can. It is a big change and you will most likely have a much smoother transition around 3 years or later. If your toddler has figured out how to climb out of their crib, it is no longer a safe sleep environment for them. At this point you’ll need to start thinking about moving them to a big kid bed. #toddlersleeptips #cribtotoddlerbed #toddlerbed #sleepconsultant

Why I didn’t do these things 👇🏻 There are 3 things I did not do with my baby in order to get better sleep. 1. Worry about contact naps in the newborn months. You can’t spoil a newborn. The first 4 months are all about laying a foundation for better sleep. Our job is to teach our baby’s body when to sleep and how long to sleep. It is ok if that requires a lot of intervention from you. My 3rd baby was a sleepy guy and we did contact naps almost all day for the first 4-5 months. It did not ruin his ability to sleep train or develop future independent sleep skills. 2. Drop feeds when I sleep trained. Did you know you can teach independent sleep skills without dropping night feeds? With my baby, we sleep trained around 5 months old. At that time we kept 2 feeds per night. Eventually after 6 months old he naturally dropped down to 1 feed per night. Finally, I followed his lead and he naturally dropped the last feed and started sleeping through the night around 9 months old. 3. Feed to sleep. While I cuddled and rocked my baby, I never wanted to rely on feeding to sleep. Of course, fresh newborns are going to naturally fall asleep at the end of the feed. This is normal. But where parents can get stuck in an exhausting cycle is when they rely on feeding to get their baby to sleep. I always made sure to use nursing as a way to feed my baby, then used rocking and pacifier to help him get to sleep. ❓let me know what questions you have in the comments! ❤️tap follow for daily sleep tips #babysleeptips #newbornsleephelp #babysleepconsultant #pediatricsleepconsultant

How it affects sleep ⬇️ Reverse cycling is going to lead to more frequent wake ups at night. If your baby is not taking in enough milk during the day, they are going to wake more to feed at night to reach the calories they need. Your baby may be waking every few hours at night from hunger. So what can you do to fix this issue? 1. The first is to work on prioritizing full daytime feeds. Make sure you are offering your baby a feed every 2-3 hours during the day (even if it means you have to wake them from a nap in order to feed them). Work on keeping them awake for their feed (undress down to diaper, tap on them, talk to them, help the stay awake for a full feed before they pass out). If your baby is a distracted eater, try doing feeds in a quiet room with less stimulation. 2. Teach independent sleep. Teaching your baby to fall asleep independently is going to help you determine whether your baby is waking for comfort feeds or out of hunger. It’s also going to be your first step towards night weaning. 3. Gradually reduce night feeds. As you teach independent sleep, you can gradually reduce the amount of milk your baby gets in the middle of the night. This will then help them take in more milk during the day. Ready to reduce night feeds? I’m happy to walk you through this whole process. Just comment “info” to get started. (By the way, if you have a newborn 0-3 months old, it is normal for them to wake for feeds every 3-4 hours at night) ➡️save for later 💜follow for daily sleep tips #babysleeptips #babysleepconsultant #reversecycling #nightfeeds #sleepcoach

8 months may look like this ⬇️ While every baby and family is different, here are a few things you may experience with your 8 month old. 😴most 8 month olds take 2 naps a day (ideally 1-2 hours each) and average about 3-4 hours of daytime sleep. If your baby is on a 2 nap schedule, they may stay awake around 2 hours before nap 1, around 3 hours before nap 2, and around 4 hours before bed. This is called a 2-3-4 nap schedule. Of course, this doesn’t work for every baby. This is just a base to work from. For example, baby may do better with 3-3-3 or 2.5-3-3.5. By 8 months old we should be able to get on a predictable clock based schedule with lengthened independent naps. 💤some 8 month olds are still taking 3 naps a day and averaging 3.5-4.5 hours of daytime sleep. On a 3 nap schedule, 2 of those naps are ideally 1-2 hours while one typically remains a cat nap (30-45 min). If your baby is on a 3 nap schedule they may be staying awake 2-2.5 hours at a time. Typically closer to 2 hours first thing in the morning and can stretch as the day goes on until it’s up to 2.5 hours before bed. 🍼some 8 month olds are still hanging on to 1 night feed and some sleep through the night with no feeds. 😵‍💫there can be a sleep regression around 8 months. This regression can affect any part of sleep (shorter naps, fighting naps, fighting bedtime, more frequent night wake ups, etc). Hang in there. If you stay consistent about independent sleep habits it should pass within 2 weeks! ➡️save for later 💜follow for daily sleep tips #babysleepconsultant #8monthsold #babysleeptips #8montholdschedule

Explained ⬇️ 1. It is ok to help your newborn get to sleep. Rocking your newborn to sleep and implementing contact naps is a normal part of the first few months. Newborns need help getting to sleep. They cannot learn to self-soothe. Helping them get to sleep will not ruin their ability to learn independent sleep skills in the future. 2. It is normal for your baby to have a night feed until 6-9 months old. The average amount of night feeds a baby needs is: 0-3 months: 2-3 feeds 4-5 months: 1-2 feeds 6-8 months: 0-1 feed 9+ months: 0 feeds. 3. Sleep training does not have to include dropping night feeds. You can teach your baby independent sleep skills while still feeding them in the middle of the night. You can let your baby drop night feeds naturally or cut them when it’s developmentally appropriate. 4. All babies are different types of sleepers. Some newborns will sleep 8 hours straight. Some are up every 3-4 hours for the first 4 months. Try not to compare your baby’s sleep to others around you. You are doing great. 5. Remain consistent yet tuned in. There’s no need to throw all sleep habits out the window at every regression, tooth, and cold. Find a balance between providing your baby with extra comfort when needed and staying consistent with sleep habits. What did you wish you knew before you had your first baby? Let me know in the comments ⬇️ ❤️tap follow for daily sleep tips #babysleeptips #newbornsleephelp #babysleepconsultant #pediatricsleepconsultant

Feel stuck? Are you up all night with your baby? Do you spend all day trying to help your baby nap? It doesn’t have to be this way. I’ve helped hundreds of families get more predictable, restorative rest for both them and their children. Better sleep IS possible. Comment “discovery” to book your free discovery call. #babysleepconsultant #babysleeptips #newbornsleephelp #sleepcoach

Wondering how many middle of the night feeds are “typical”? While every baby and family is different, these are the average amount of night feeds most babies need: 0-3 months: 2-3 feeds per night 4-5 months: 1-2 feeds per night 6-8 months: 0-1 feed per night 9+ months: 0 feeds Wondering how to start cutting back on night feeds? Check out my FREE guide, 7 Steps to Sleeping Through the Night. Just comment “guide” and I’ll send it to your DMs. (This DM may be blocked if you aren’t already following me) #babysleeptips #newbornsleephelp #nightfeeds #sleepthroughthenight #babysleepconsultant

All Cal cares about is mega wrex and snacks 🤷🏼‍♀️ #momlife #welistenandwedontjudge #babysleepconsultant