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Want your child sleep better this Winter?

Here are a few tips to assist your child to sleep better during this cold weather!

Yesterday was one of the coldest days of the year (brrrr). This has prompted me to write this post to help your bubs to be as snug as possible, hopefully getting you both some more shut eye!

A question that I often get asked is ‘how should I dress my baby on the really cold nights’. My first suggestion is to always dress your baby for the coldest part of the night.

Sleeping bags or sleep suits are a fantastic option! They keep your baby/child covered throughout these cold chilly nights and (thanks to the TOG rating) help take away some of the guess work.  TOG stands for 'Thermal Overall Grade'. It is a measurement that can show how much a particular fabric insulates. Even when using TOG rated clothing, it is always best to check on your child/baby regularly to ensure that they are cosy and not too hot.

To assist you in deciding which TOG rating to dress your child/baby in, here are some guidelines but please keep in mind that this does not take into account the type/quantity of clothing that your baby has on underneath, your baby’s general health and wellbeing or the temperature of the baby's bedroom (as this may change throughout the night or day). 

One of my favourite brands of baby and toddler sleepwear is ‘Love to Dream’. Love to Dream. Love to Dream offers a wide range of options to choose from including swaddle bags for babies, sleeping bags for younger toddlers and warm sleep suits for toddlers that are in beds. They are easy to use, offering comfort and warmth (with a variety of TOG options available).

*Above: Love to Dream Sleep Suit

If your toddler is sleeping in a bed and finding it difficult to pull the blankets up when cold, another option would be to layer them up with more clothes. For example PJ bottoms, singlet, long sleeved tee, PJ top and some nice warm bed socks. This will help them keep warm should the blankets come off during the night.

We hope these tips will take some of the guess work out on what to dress your baby/toddler in overnight and will get you both some decent shut eye. If you are still experiencing sleep troubles, please contact Dreambaby for a fully customised sleep plan and guided support. Dreambaby uses gentle settling techniques and we would love to help improve your family’s sleep. Feel confident using Dreambaby as we are fully trained professionals and all of our services come backed by guarantee.

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How to Manage the End of Daylight Savings!

Not only is it that sad time of year where we bid farewell to the lovely warm weather but we also have the end of daylight savings to deal with too!

Often parents worry about the impact that daylight savings may have on their baby’s sleep.  For example, if your baby normally starts the day at 7:00am, after day light savings ends your baby will be starting the day at 6am *yawn*!

We can easily wind our clocks back but unfortunately we cannot just flick a switch that will adjust our baby’s internal clock

Even though it’s only an hour, some babies (especially younger ones) do not cope very well with this small change. Not only can it cause early morning starts but it also has the ability to throw out naps and bedtime, causing your child to be overtired and little grumps!

So, how do you tackle the end of daylight savings? Here are some options from Dreambaby on how to manage the end of daylight savings:

1.    Go with the flow:

Well this is actually an option. You can continue on as usual and ignore the end of daylight savings. This will mean that you keep to your old schedule but everything is an hour earlier (including bedtime).

2.    Just ‘Wing it’:

If you have a baby that is good with adjustments to his/her schedule, you may be lucky and they may not notice the change. Or it could be the complete opposite, (especially if your baby is) and your baby may become very over tired and naps/night sleep may be thrown completely out.

3.    Be prepared & have a plan: 6 Day Plan

If you are unsure on how your baby may cope with the adjustments, it may be best to have a plan to slowly adjust his/her sleep.

Over 6 days add 10 minutes all day naps & bedtime. For example, say first nap is currently at 10am (prior to daylight savings ending). The goal would be to move first nap out to 11am 6 Days before daylight savings ending.

For example:

Day 1 first nap: 10:10am

Day 2 first nap: 10:20am

Day 3 first nap: 10:30am

Day 4 first nap: 10:40am

Day 5 first nap: 10:50am

Day 6 first nap: 11:00am

We hope that one of these options will help to make the dreaded end to daylight savings that little bit easier for you and your family. However, if you are like many Mum’s and already too tired to implement yourself or if you would feel more comfortable with some assistance, that’s where Dreambaby can help!

Or are you wanting to improve your baby’s naps or night sleeps? Dreambaby has successfully guided and supported many families on their journey of improving their baby’s sleep.

We DO NOT use the Cry it Out Method! Our methods are much more gentler. We understand all families are unique and that is why we will take your parenting style and your baby's personality into consideration when customising our sleep training especially for your needs.

All of our services come backed by guarantee. A good nights sleep could be just around the corner. Why wait?

WEB: dreambabysleepsolutions.com.au

FB: facebook.com/dreambabysleepsolutions.au

Email: info@dreambabysleepsolutions.com.au

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Testimonials

"I would highly recommend Michelle, she was absolutely amazing! I followed her advice and within 3 days I was able to put my son to bed and walk out (that is huge for us)! He is now staying in his own bed and mummy and daddy get to enjoy their sleep again. Thanks again from one very happy well rested mummy!" -Nicole, VIC

​"Cooper had been walking 7-10 times per night for almost 5 months. When he was 9 months old I sought out Michelle's help and advice. Within 2 nights he was only waking once a night, within a week he started sleeping through. This was all done through following what Michelle said about routine and settling and was gentle on Cooper and on me. I couldn't possibly recommend speaking to Michelle enough!!" -Lisa, TAS

How we will improve your baby's sleep!

At Dreambaby Sleep Solutions, we work with babies and toddlers aged from 0 to 36 months old, guiding and supporting parents to resolve sleep issues, such as:

Overnight Wakings: Reducing or eliminating night wakings.

Dummy dependency: We can offer some suggestions on dummy use that won’t interfere with your baby’s sleep. Or is it time to ditch the dummy; we can assist in showing you how.

Naps: Teaching you how to lengthen naps.

Early morning waking: Providing strategies to teach your baby an appropriate time to start the day.

Co-sleeping: If co-sleeping is no longer suitable or you would like your bed back, we can help you achieve this.

Rocking/cuddling/shushing baby to sleep: If any of these have become an issue, we can teach you ways to get your baby to sleep without needing your intervention.

Transition: Assisting you to make the transition from bassinet to cot or cot to bed as smooth as possible.

Feeding to Sleep: If this becomes a problem, we can assist by teaching your baby how to fall asleep independently.

Based on the information that you provide, we will create a customised sleep plan especially for your child. An example of some areas that we may work with you on to improve your improve your baby’s sleep include:

Settling techniques: Showing you techniques that will help your baby settle faster and will also improve his/her sleep (not just put your baby back to sleep).

Independent sleep: Teaching you how to assist your baby to sleep on his/her own, not relying on you to put him/her to sleep.

Sleep environment: Providing advice on what the ideal sleeping environment for a baby is.

Night time waking: Helping you manage over night wakings and even stop completely.

Day time routine: Assisting you to create a daytime routine which will also improve naps and illuminating overnight wakings.

Night time routine: Teaching you how to establishing an effective bed time routine.

Overnight feeding: Determining which feeds your baby actually needs (if any).

“Will I be leaving my baby to cry?”. If you are envisioning that you will be leaving your baby alone to ‘cry it out’ for a long period of time and not go in to give comfort, NO WAY!! How could we expect anyone to do this, when we couldn’t even do this ourselves. Our techniques are designed to work with what is the best fit for your baby/family and what you are comfortable with,  

“My child has never slept through the night”. Our training has had a lot of success, some babies that have never slept through, have even slept through after the first night!

Every baby is unique and we would love to hear about your baby’s sleep; it’s what makes us tick!

Please contact us:

W: dreambabysleepsolutions.com.au

F: facebook.com/dreambabysleepsolutions.au

E: info@dreambabysleepsolutions.com.au

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Are you PRO-dummy or ANTI-dummy?

Who would have thought that these little things can potentially disturb a baby’s sleep so much?

They have a soothing/calming affect on babies.

They can help your baby settle for sleep.

They make car trips that bit easier

When babies use a dummy during sleeps and naps, they reduces the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Sucking can relieve pain. It may help your baby if he/she sucks on a dummy when he’s having immunisations, for example.

Back in the day before I was a sleep consultant, I’ll never forget the night that I first gave my son a dummy. It was probably close to 3am and I found myself washing clothes just for some white noise (ahhhh the things we do when heavily sleep deprived). Then it clicked, just get out a dummy! It was an instant godsend for me and my bub!

Some babies develop a strong dummy dependency. It is not uncommon for these babies to wake sometimes as often as every 30-40 minutes (in between sleep cycles), crying out for their parent to reinsert the dummy.

Rather than suggesting straight away that the parents should stop using the dummy, my approach is a little different. If the parents are looking for ways to keep the dummy so it doesn’t interfere with their baby’s sleep, I offer a list of suggestions that may help them to be able to continue using it.

As a last resort (or if the parents decide that it is time to remove the dummy), I will advise what is the best way to go about removing it all together.

Dummy use really is up to the parent to decide if it is or isn’t suitable for their baby. Don’t let anyone try and tell you which is best, least of all the person at the supermarket who feels the need to tell you that your baby doesn’t need a dummy.

If the dummy may be causing your bub to wake at night, I would love to hear from you! Please send me an inbox.

W: dreambabysleepsolutions.com.au

F: facebook.com/dreambabysleepsolutions.au

E: info@dreambabysleepsolutions.com.au