Why is it that babies know when you’re going back to work.

Right when you start counting down the nights till your first day back babies are like BHAAMM ... “I’m going to start waking frequently and not going back to sleep in the night” mwahahahaha. Delphi hasn’t ever been the best sleeper but she’s been extra sleep thiefey at the moment. She obviously knows I’m back on night shifts come tomorrow.

Today I met with Helen from My Baby Sleeps (who also does TBTBC post natal sleep sessions) who’s a baby and child sleep expert/ parent sanity saviour & mama sleep provider (at least I think that’s her full job title). She gave me some really simple and easy ways to get Delphi (and more importantly ME 😉) some more winks in the bank. I thought I’d share a few ...

1. The 12 month sleep regression is a real thing sent by Mother Nature to shake things up when you think you’re finally nailing motherhood. 1 year olds get serious FOMO and in their world, you snooze you lose.

2. There’s a secret rule for babies who are at the 2 nap stage in their life. And that’s 2.5, 3 & 4. Those are their awake times. After 2 and half hours from morning waking they should have their first nap. 3 hours from their first nap they should have their second, then 4 hours after their afternoon nap should be bedtime. This means that you get a longer afternoon nap and they won’t be too overtired for bedtime.

3. Darkness is so important for naps as well as night time sleep because of the hormone melatonin. Melatonin means sleep. On this note- foil in the windows is an easy way to ensure a dark room (although it will look to your neighbours that you are farming cannabis as a way to deal with your sleepless nights or to fund your coffee addiction and midnight amazon prime shopping compulsions 😬 ) Your neighbours may gossip BUT you’ll have more sleep so.... 🤷🏼‍♀️

4. That our jobs as parents is to not “make” our kids sleep, but to provide nice relaxing conditions to encourage sleep or at least, a restful time free from bright colourful toys and noise. When your kid won’t sleep, a rest is just as good.

These are just a few general nuggets I picked up today and I’ve got a few things she’s set me to change this week that will help encourage sleep. You watch this space, in a couple of weeks I’ll be one of those Mums looking fresh faced bragging about her baby who sleeps the night. But for the mean time, whilst we’re making some changes & she’s taking that bit longer to settle, I’ll be sticking to my squinty eye tired face and granny Friday nighty. Oh and the gin, I’ll always be sticking to the gin.

Anyone else got a sleep thief for a 1 year old?