I’m a sleep coach so my kids must sleep perfectly, right?
Last night Holly (6 months) woke at 11 for a feed just as I had gone to bed. She then woke again at 1.45 am and I tried to settle without a feed but she drained another bottle at 2.15 am, it took until 3 am for her to go to sleep enough to be put down without crying. Just in time for Max (nearly 3) to start shouting for us, I sat with him from 3 am until 5.15 am as he wanted to get up and go downstairs. I said our sleep phrase “it’s sleepy time Max” and reassured him I would stay with him. He fell back to sleep at 5 am! Holly then started crying and when I went to her was soaked right up her back with wee so needed a full change, which, of course, meant she was then completely awake!
The point of my post is to say I’m not perfect and my kids don’t always sleep all night long. I can’t force them to either, however having the knowledge I have really helps.
What I am able to do (most of the time) is rationalise about what’s going on with them which makes me feel a bit better mentally and also enables me to have an idea of what to do tomorrow to try and make tomorrow night better.
For both of my kiddies, they’re suffering from over tiredness at the moment.
It’s partly due to still catching up following Christmas where routine
really went out of the window, and partly due to having 2 kids now and it being much more difficult to maintain a schedule that perfectly suits them both.
I’m 6 months into being a Mum of 2 and I haven’t managed to get our evening routine quite right for Holly. She doesn’t get as calm and quiet a bedtime routine as she probably needs as I’m also entertaining a 3-year-old. This sometimes means I miss her ideal bedtime window (also the TV is on for Max).
For Max, he’s dropping his nap. Some days he has it others he doesn’t. On the days he has it, he often has too late a bedtime (9 pm or later) on the days he doesn’t it’s 7 pm.
The problem with having no nap is that he’s asleep before his story finishes and crashes into his first sleep cycle. This means he’s restless overnight and wakes really early in the morning.
The problem with the late bedtime is that he still needs to get up at the same time for us to go to work! This can just mean that the over-tiredness builds and builds and can really have a big impact a few days down the line.
My plan of action!
I will get them both up 7 am and start our day at the normal time as lying in can cause more issues, a regular wake up time helps maintain the circadian rhythm! Max will probably need a short nap around lunchtime but I will cap it at 30 minutes so he can still build up enough sleep pressure for bedtime at 7.30 or 8 pm.

Holly’s naps are actually pretty good, they’re about the right length for her and spread evenly across the day. I just really need to focus on giving Holly a calm bedtime routine starting 45 mins before bed and keeping the lights really low. I know these little tweaks make all the difference, just need to practice what I preach!
Part of what I do with my sleep packages is give you a really good understanding of sleep, information, and tools to understand what’s going on so you can tweak your routines when needed to make things better now and with your little one’s changing needs. I support you for as long as you need to put the plan into practice.
If you would like to know more just drop me a line, happy to meet for much-needed coffee!? xx