This episode of Voices of Your Villages answers one of the most common questions I’ve gotten as a sleep consultant over the past six years, which is, “How do I teach my kid to fall asleep independently?” 

Babies can start practicing falling asleep independently as early as infancy - shoot for once a day where that kiddo isn’t falling asleep at the breast, in your arms, or at a bottle. This will allow them to start building the toolbox they need to be able to do this - habit is real, and routine is powerful. 

Kiddos learn what to expect based on how we respond to them. If they cry and we do x, y, and z, that is what they will expect to...

In this week’s episode, I was jazzed to chat with our sleep consultant, Rachel Lounder, all about newborn sleep. Newborn sleep is vastly different than sleep after 4 months of age and Rachel and I dove into the details of how to best support your newborn and maintain your own sanity. 

From birth to four months, Rachel shares that the name of the game is keeping periods of wakefulness short. This prevents too much sleep pressure from building. Too much sleep pressure results in an overtired and overstimulated babe who has an even harder time falling asleep. In newborns, the length of naps can vary widely and that’s okay. The length of naps is not as important and...

In this episode of Voices of Your Village, I was jazzed to connect with my long-time colleague Teresa Stewart to chat all about nap transitions. Teresa has master's degrees in both child development and maternal and child health. She has always been passionate about supporting children and families. Although she worked in policy and advocacy early on in her career, her own experience of motherhood led her to more direct education and support work. She spent many years teaching classes and overseeing programs for a company called Isis Parenting. Suddenly the company closed, overnight. This eventually led to starting her current business running online groups, sleep consulting,...

In this week’s episode of Voices of Your Village, I’m chatting all about sleep and why sleep is so crucial not only for our health as parents and caregivers but also for the health of our tiny humans! Sleep gives your heart and blood vessels a break. It is the time when the body can slow down enough to repair and heal. While we sleep, the chemicals flowing in our bodies strengthen and fortify the immune system. It’s when your body recharges and refuels. Sleep is also the time when your brain clears out unnecessary information that you don’t need to remember and stores things into long term memory that you do want to remember. 

I also dive into...

This week we are diving deep into the topic that covers 90% of my sleep consultations: SLEEP PRESSURE.

When we look at sleep, there is always more than we see on the surface. So with our tiny humans, we may see behavioral things (like bedtime resistance) but if we dig a little deeper there is often something else happening. And many times, it is sleep pressure that needs tweaking.   

Sleep pressure is like being the right amount of hungry. I don’t want to be a little hungry and only need a snack and I also don’t want to be hangry. I want to be the perfect amount of hungry so that I’m ready to sit down to a complete and revitalizing meal. The...

Today I’m sliding in with a bonus episode all about daylight savings time.  Pre-kids, daylight savings meant snagging that extra hour of sleep in the morning. With tiny humans, daylight savings has the potential to be tricky.  I’m coming in with two plans, Plan A—if you want to prepare and make changes ahead, and Plan B—if you want to see what happens and adjust from there. 

The two biggest factors in sleep are LIGHT and SLEEP PRESSURE (stay tuned—we are diving deep into sleep pressure in next week’s episode). So we are going to use light to our advantage. If you’re planning ahead, we’re going to start...

I am so excited to bring to you our first episode of Village Chatter. We created this series based on topics and questions that have been of interest to you! Today’s podcast is centered around questions surrounding sleep. If you wish to be part of the next series of hot topics and questions, head over to the Facebook group Seed and Sew: Voices of your Villages and join us!

The first question I talked about was in regards to sleep on the go. Although this can get tricky, there are some things that can be done beforehand to set the stage for an easier transition. It is so important from the beginning, to establish consistent routines. Even if you are on vacation and the...