Natalie Willes Baby Sleep Trainer

Coffee can't get you more sleep. We can. Link in Bio.... #lifeafterkids #afternoonnaps #afterbaby #babysleephelp #babynaptime #babysleephack #babysleeptrainer #babysleeptraining #willieversleepagain #babysleeptrainingsuccess #babysleepsallnight #internationalcoffeeday

This week here at BST we are talking about Parent's biggest concerns when it comes to sleep training! Let us know what your biggest concerns are/were and we will be addressing them throughout the week. Don't forget we have a ton of free resources on our Baby Sleep Trainer Blog (link in bio).

What is the most random thing in your diaper bag?

What are you waiting for?! So many parents are waiting for the perfect time to sleep train...SO WHEN IS THE BEST TIME? Sleep training can start as early as 16 weeks of age, counting from a baby’s due date. Many families may find it better to wait until a child is a bit older to sleep train.... Sleep training at ages younger than 6-7 months may mean a child struggles with short naps making them fussy and tired throughout the day. But, tackling sleep training at an early age, even with its challenges, will help parents and baby get better sleep at an earlier age. Especially overnight.

So many times in parenting, usually after a (short) period of time when things seem to be going smoothly, something WEIRD starts happening with your kids’ sleep. This week is all about offering you some reasons WHY. Up first, is NIGHT WAKINGS making a comeback! When my clients ask me why their kids, who were previously sleeping through the night, are suddenly experiencing increased night wakings again (like in the 4 month sleep regression!) my first questions are... How old is your baby? And are they still receiving a night feeding? And here’s why. If your baby is over 5 months old, and getting 1 or 2 night feedings a night - additional unexplained night wakings may be due to the night feeding they’re receiving. Around 5 months and older, babies become very aware of the patterns in their life - like their night feeding(s). If they don’t *need* a night feed but they’re getting one anyway they may not understand why they are being assisted to sleep at one waking when they’re not actually hungry but are being fed anyway, but not at other wake ups.This can be the case even if they are sleep trained otherwise. So what do we do? Talk to your pediatrician and ask when baby can go 12 hours overnight without eating, if it’s ok to cut their overnight feedings cold turkey, and what you should do to maintain your own milk supply once you stop nursing overnight. Once night feedings are eliminated, night sleep typically improves in under a week! How old was your baby when you stopped night feedings? (Or when they stopped on their own?)

You know what no one really tells you, or even if they do tell you you still can’t really prepare for? All of the changes your body is going to go through POSTPARTUM. I felt like I became a completely different person! Postpartum anxiety did not help either. Our bodies do the most amazing things. It is a miracle to create a tiny human. It is a miracle keeping that tiny human alive.... It’s hard to put into words the journey that it is to find our new normal. To become mother. Or father. I know it can be SO hard to come to terms with all of the changes - inside, outside, and everywhere in between. My bestie was just telling me about the handfuls of her hair she brushes out every. single. day. 7 months later. So I just really wanted to say - I see you. I know what this feels like. It does get better. You do find your new normal. You will have happiness. Everything has its season. You’ve got this! <3

Important news flash...your baby’s sleep is going to change. And change. And change again. I don’t say this to worry any of you, I say this because managing expectations in parenting is HUGE for your sanity. Let’s explore why your baby’s sleep is going to be a constantly moving target (and why following a sleep training method and having a plan like I offer in The Baby Sleep Trainer Programs is sooo clutch in making through it ALL)...... #1 - Even if your baby is 100% sleep trained, they are going to have an off night. You can expect off nights or off days (for naps) to occur every 3-4 weeks. Why? They’re human. Think about your last night of off sleep. It may happen more often than you think, and you may not be able to place your finger on the culprit, but it’s life. #2 - Your baby is growing SO quickly that first year of life! Mental leaps, physical leaps, SO. MANY. LEAPS!! Their nap schedule is going to need to shift up to 3X in those first 12 months to accommodate their growth. They are going to learn to roll, crawl, stand, and yes, walk! All of those new developments affect sleep. Again, this is why it is so vital you have a plan to stay consistent with that will grow with your baby. #3 - Life is going to happen. Your baby is going to get sick, you might go on a vacation, you might move, you might have any other number of life changes. These things *don’t* have to affect your child’s sleep or derail their progress, but they are the #1 culprits for regressions. If you need more info about regressions, head over to my Instagram page @babysleeptrainer or my blog. But before you go, tell me how everyone is handling day 1 of the fall back time change??? Photo by: @thejasmineella

Is your baby sleeping through the night? How many times have you been asked this since your baby has been born?! Figuring out how to answer this question is problematic for a number of reasons... ... To begin, sleeping through the night is actually physically impossible for babies and adults alike! And that’s because we ALL wake up 3-6 times during the night (and maybe more if your baby is in the 4 month sleep regression) Remember, The Baby Sleep Trainer Program is here for you! We all wake up because we all go through very light sleep stages, and if we’ve learned how to sleep on our own (aka completely unassisted), then we quickly put ourselves back to sleep. As an adult, this usually looks like changing sleep positions, adjusting our pillows, flipping over, etc. and then we’re out again. Your kiddo can be the same! Your child can learn how to sleep 11-12 hours straight during the night (including these short wakings of putting themselves back to sleep). And yes, they can still get a middle of the night feeding too! What questions do YOU have about sleeping through the night? And how do you answer the question, Is your baby sleeping through the night? when you’re asked??

THE TIME CHANGE IS UPON US!!! THE TIME CHANGE IS UPON US!!! Sunday, November 1st is the official start of Daylight Saving Time ending or fall back starting. Are you worried?! DON’T BE! This is the easy one... Just follow my 4 easy, peasy clock-and-sleep-resetting steps, and you and baby will be snoozing on schedule shortly. Step 1: Do Nothing. Don’t change anything about your schedule until the morning of Monday, November 2nd. Trust me on this. Step 2: Split the Difference. Okay, so we all know we are losing one hour - or that the clock is resetting backwards by one hour at the stroke of midnight (that sounded magical, didn’t it?). Your job is to go about your same, daily schedule starting Monday morning November 2nd, BUT you’ll be doing it all 30 minutes EARLIER (which is actually 30 minutes later for baby pre-time change...stick with me) Example 1: Baby wakes up at 6am usually (pre-time change). On Monday morning you will get baby out of bed at 5:30am (which is really 6:30am pre-time change). Example 2: Baby usually wakes up at 6am, but you don’t get them up until 7am typically. On Monday morning you will get them out of bed at 6:30am (which is really 7:30am pre-time change). Step 3: Continue Your Whole Schedule 30 Minutes Earlier. So after wake up, if baby typically goes down for their first nap at 9am, you’ll put her down at 8:30am instead (which is really 9:30am pre-time change). Same thing for any subsequent naps that day. AND bedtime will be 30 minutes earlier too! Step 4: Resume Your Scheduled Programming. On Tuesday, November 3rd - follow your original schedule, pre-time change! It really only takes our bodies about 1-2 days to adjust to a one-hour time change, so go back to your usual schedule based on the clock! For example, if you usually get baby up at 6am, get baby up at 6am on Tuesday, November 3rd! YOU GOT THIS! Tag all your friends who need to know, and drop me your favorite GIF of your pre-baby morning routine because reminiscing is fun . My favorite is in the comments...

We knew that if we wanted to give our kids the best parents they could get, they needed well-rested parents that poured into each other. - Heather Frank @mother.ly For many of my clients their evenings became miserable, especially during that witching hour when your baby just can’t seem to settle. The exhaustion, irritability, quickness to snap at your partner...it can test even the strongest of relationships.... One of the biggest transformations I hear from my clients after sleep training is how excited they are to have the time back with their partner again. You get that one-on-one time in the evenings together, an opportunity to go out with friends, or just have a cup of tea and stare at the wall uninterrupted. My discount code for sleep training is good through the end of this week. Get the 15% discount on the Baby Sleep Trainer programs with coupon code lifeaftersleep. Head to babysleeptrainer.com to start enjoying the benefits of sleep! Did you struggle to have quality time with your partner after having a baby? If you sleep trained, how did it change? Tell me your stories!

I am thrilled to participate in the @MarchofDimes Health Moms, Strong Babies Facebook Webinar discussing 3AM Thoughts: Things that Keep Parents Up at Night. My fellow panelists and I will discuss breastfeeding, following safe sleep practices, and how to adjust to life as a parent. Join us over at @MarchofDimes Facebook Page this Thursday Oct 22 at 2pm ET.

LET’S TALK BABIES + GOING BACK TO WORK!! If you’re a working mama who had to go back after 3-4 months maternity leave, it may seem like a cruel joke that you’re: - expected to be totally productive... - expected to be on your game - are not supposed to act like you just had a MAJOR life change! If you’re severely sleep deprived as well, it’s an accomplishment just to make it into work with clean clothes on! Here are 3 dangers of sleep deprivation for parents going back to work: Decreased communication skills: In one study, researchers noted that sleep deprived individuals drop the intensity of their voices; pause for long intervals without apparent reason; enunciate very poorly or mumble instructions inaudibly; mispronounce, slur or run words together; and repeat themselves or lose their place in a sentence sequence. Poor memory: Short-term and working memory declines are associated with sleep deprivation and result in an inability to update strategies based on new information, along with the ability to remember the sequence of certain events. Poor mood appropriate behavior: Inappropriate mood-related behavior often occurs in outbursts, including irritability, impatience, lack of regard for normal social conventions, and unwillingness to engage in forward planning. Mamas, if you went back to work after having a baby, what were your biggest struggles?

One of the biggest and most surprising things I’ve learned as a sleep coach is that sleep training benefits not only baby, but the entire family unit. When a child is not sleeping well, especially overnight, it is truly as if the entire home is out of sync. Nothing can function properly and all relationships in the family can suffer. Parents often struggle to be fully present while parenting their children (both the ones that aren’t sleeping and any that are), and the marital... or parental partnership relationship typically suffers the most. Parents cannot function productively at work, they cannot safely operate their vehicles, they struggle to deal with stressful situations (such as a pandemic or an unexpectedly ill family member or a job loss). And these fractures in the functioning of a family deepen with time. The longer a child suffers from sleep problems, the more every aspect of the home suffers as well. I’ve also learned that the sleep training process is almost never as difficult as parents think it will be, and it’s typically easier to sleep train that to continue dealing with sleep problems for indefinite periods of time. Stay with us this week as we talk in more detail about what life is really like after sleep training. This week ONLY I’m offering a limited-time 15% discount on the Baby Sleep Trainer programs with coupon code lifeaftersleep. Head to babysleeptrainer.com to start enjoying the benefits of sleep now! You can also use lifeaftersleep to purchase a discounted gift certificate now and use later. https://www.babysleeptrainer.com/

You know what smells better than any pumpkin spice latte?! A little, freshly hatched, newborn baby!! I’m feeling all nostalgic as I got to snuggle on a good friend’s tiny new pumpkin today! For all my new mamas, what is the single thing on your baby’s body you stare at the most??... And for all my mamas who may be past the newborn phase now, what do you miss the most about your newborn time?? Feel free to drop your newborn pics in the comments if you want to share the cuteness with us...we can oooh and aaaaah and imagine the new baby smell we all love so much.

Nightmares, night terrors, and afraid of the dark? Oh my! Is the spirit of Halloween (or that creepy character from Spongebob...) sneaking into your kiddo’s psyche and disrupting their sacred sleep time?! What is the difference between all three anyway? (I wrote a detailed blog about it - definitely find the link in my stories today if this is your current struggle or question!) It can be so hard to discern what is happening - or rather what is WAKING our precious babies in t...heir sleep at night. Especially when they are pre-verbal. As a sleep coach who has worked with over 10,000 babies and toddlers, the FIRST thing I ask is whether or not your little one (who is struggling with night wakings) is sleep trained. Nearly ALL of nighttime sleep issues will be *completely eliminated* through sleep training. If your lil’ pumpkin IS sleep trained, then we figure out what could be causing these night wakings. Is it too much day time sleep, or too many naps? Does bedtime need to shift? After we rule out everything schedule-related, we then look at what is actually happening during these wakings. Nightmares can happen, but typically not until your kiddo is over 2 years old. And nightmares are nearly always related to something they’ve watched via media. I give you some solid tips on how to cleanse these nightmares from your nights in my blog, so definitely check it out. Night terrors can be pretty terrifying, but mainly for you - the parents! In a true night terror, your kiddo will never actually wake up. The episode usually lasts around 5 minutes if left alone. Some clients have reported that it happens a few times a week, and then stops for months or even years. We don’t entirely know why these happen, but if it is a frequent occurrence in your home, please consult your child’s pediatrician! And lastly, being afraid of the dark is not something we typically hear from our kiddos until they are much older. And the number one factor in how intense or dramatic this fear manifests itself in our kiddos’ behavior is how YOU (the parent again) RESPOND or REACT when it is brought up. Again, I hook you up with an awesome how-to-handle this in my blog which you can find in my stories today, or through the blog link in my bio! Is your kiddo experiencing any of these night wakings? How have you handled it?

I understand that vaccinations are a challenging topic, especially right now when our awareness, fear, and sensitivity about disease in general has become heightened in 2020. I know that there are many stories out there where vaccines have negative consequences. It’s almost impossible NOT to see these on social media. I get it. Such an immensely important decision for your child can be scary.... However, it’s important to make sure you’re getting a well-rounded view of all the facts. The World Health Organization named vaccination as one of the 20th century's most successful methods of disease prevention and eradication. The thing is, the diseases themselves haven’t disappeared, and not vaccinating can put your own child and others at risk. Before vaccines, just rubella alone, in 1964-65 infected 12 million Americans, killed 2,000 babies, and caused 11,000 miscarriages. Now, I’m not saying this to frighten you, but to be aware of what was happening prior to vaccines. Here is the data: 33 people had a life-threatening reaction (anaphylaxis) out of 25 million vaccines given, according to research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's 1.3 people in every million who gets a vaccine.

Sometimes I can be naive. Like last year when I posted a story about how me and my kids got our flu shots. I talked about why I think they’re vital and how one of the main reasons I’m obsessive about scheduling them every fall is so that my kids are in the habit of receiving them and hopefully continue the habit for themselves when they’re adults. Holy. CRAP. Did that story not turn out the way I intended. I was doxxed (I think that’s the correct term). I saw the underbelly ...of the antivax movement on Instagram and I was sickened and terrified. My stories were shared on several antivax accounts and I received thousands of awful comments, most containing unfounded and misleading information. It was awful. But guess what? We’re back this year with an entire week dedicated to vaccines. I don’t have to tell you that this year of *all* years is the most important for every person who’s approved to to receive a flu shot to get one. Flu shots save lives. I swear to you my motivation to get a flu shot is as much to protect myself as it is to protect others. Vaccinating yourself and your children against the flu is as much a selfless act as a selfish one. But this week I also want to discuss the importance of other vaccines too. And, I want to directly address the epidemic of misinformation our entire planet is suffering through right now, with it’s horrendous consequences (which will only get worse over time if we don’t find a way to stop the spread of lies around the internet). Some ground rules up front. Misleading and non-peer reviewed information will not be tolerated in the comments. If you bully someone, if you speak to someone in a rude way, I will delete your comment. Imagine we are all at a party at my house - if I wouldn’t tolerate you speaking to a guest at my party in a rude or bullying way, I won’t tolerate it on my posts. If you comment with information you consider scientific but which is *not* peer reviewed, I will delete your comment. Baby Sleep Trainer is STOPPING the flow of misinformation, not promoting it. Now, buckle up for this week’s exciting (and informative) ride.

Do you ever wonder why, now that your baby is sleeping through the night, you still aren’t feeling a certain mojo back in the bedroom? I need your help friends (This is baby sleep related-adjacent, lol)... So I have a close girlfriend who recently had her first baby. She and baby are doing great! She just recently finished sleep training, something her husband was VERY much looking forward to, because he was ready to get their room back. And their me time...if you catch my... drift. But guess what? She’s not feeling it! Baby is 5 months old now, and her libido is nowhere to be found. I have been trying to explain to her that this is TOTALLY NORMAL. With all of the hormones in her body from pregnancy, labor, breastfeeding, and raising a new baby, plus the lack of sleep she was experiencing just weeks ago (that lasted for months!), it is kind of crazy that she has the expectation for herself to feel like she did say 4 years ago. Now I know she is not alone in this. This is just another one of those issues that doesn’t come to light very often because it may be embarrassing or surprising or disappointing. So tell me, what would you say to her? Did you feel the same way? Did it ever change for you? When did it change and what did you do? Asking for a friend...literally.