Welcome to Camille's
|
|
Bedtime routine
The point of the bedtime routine is to give a predictable and soothing end to the day that is positive, reassuring and familiar. The bedtime from a child’s perspective – This is the time of preparing for separation. Consistent bedtime routine is key! Here are the three most important elements of a fantastic bedtime routine 1 -- It needs to have a predictable rhythm: Think of having 3 or 4 elements you do before bedtime -- Every single day and in the same order -- (as much as possible) . What you are already doing is lovely - a wash, nappy, into pyjama, book and feed. But the location can be changed so it gives a more clear message about what happens. I would suggest you do the above up stairs. The objective of the bedtime routine is to repeat that predictable rhythm and to fill your child’s love tank. If Camille needs winding down, do activities for that before the bed time routine. Perhaps a fun tickle fight to release energy followed by a massage to chill and calm. These are both wonderful activities to fill the love tank! 2 -- It needs to be not too long and not too short: If it is too long, she will loose focus and start playing and being distracted again. If it is too short, she will just not have enough time to fill that love tank. For an older baby like Camille, the routine might be lasting around 30 minutes. 3 -- It needs to be calming and reassuring: So YOU need to be calm and in a good place of mind. Bedtime can be very stressful: we are all tired (us and our little ones), there seems to be a ton of things to do at that time of the day around the house and sometimes we just want to rush and put our children to sleep quickly so we can get on with doing everything and still have a little time to rest. But it is when we rush, that our children take even longer to go to sleep. They pick up on our anxieties and stress and become dysregulated. They then need more help to become regulated again before being able to focus on the bedtime. So it will take longer. Get prepared! In a practical and in a mental way.
Be consistent: do the same things in the same order, every night!
|
The next steps are to work on adjusting the distribution of naps and to optimize your own sleep.
Camille's naps are very good and you are helping her nap in this way by holding and feeding her. You have said you are happy to carry on doing this, and I support you. You have also said you would like to have a go at helping Camille sleep away from you sometimes. So this next few days you will work on two tasks, as well as carrying on consolidating the bedtime routine and the quick wins. |
Naps
|
Optimize your own sleep
I invite you to let me know as once we share an intent out loud, we are more likely to commit to it and to work on making positive changes. |
Call on 27th May |
Points to work on this week
How to wean off movement in pushchair during napsYou are going to start with what is working now - rocking the pushchair. Your goal is to move from this base technique to your goal (a full nap in a still pushchair).
You will take a few small steps towards your goal and there will be some back and forth between rocking the pushchair and being still during each nap. I will give you some suggestions to help guide you onto the next steps, but it is completely fine to go with your instincts when planning which steps to take. Feel free to adapt this plan by adding or skipping steps as you go along. |
Think of these steps like shifting gears in a car. You should always be in a specific gear, not in neutral, to move forward! |
Step 1: You will rock the pushchair until Camille nearly falls asleep. Once nearly asleep, you can slow down the intensity of the rocking. If your baby fusses, you can go back to rocking until she is calm. Once she is calm, rock more and more gently until she is asleep.
You may need to go back and forth a few times but try to have your baby fall asleep with very gentle movement. Step 2: Start with regular intensity of rocking, but soon change to gentle rocking and move towards no rocking. Again, you will need to go back and forth between gentle rocking and stillness but try to have Camille fall asleep on a still pushchair. Step 3: Start with gentle rocking. Work back and forth between gentle rocking and being still and aim to have Camille falling asleep when the pushchair is stationary. Step 4: Aim for a very short period of gentle rocking before stopping. If Camille wakes from a nap, go back to the level of rocking you are working in the specific step. If she does not start settling, go back to rocking at the previous step level. Then work back and forth towards more gentle rocking and stillness. If she wakes but still seems tired, encourage a feed to help her settle back into sleep. You may contact nap if you think it will help her extend that nap and use your judgement to see if it is better to just let her sleep on you or to try and place her back in the pushchair. One of your goals was to move away from co-sleeping . So below you can find 2 ways of doing that. Remember that any changes you make at night, very likely will at first give you less sleep. But later it will bring you more and longer sleep.
The idea is to separate the feeding from sleep and to increase Camille’s confidence in sleeping with less contact. |
Option 1 - The slow and gentle way (making changes just early in the night)
The mid speed way (making changes at bedtime and a few hours more)
The fast way This is the most efficient way to make changes to sleep, but it is likely to result in some exhausting nights for you. If you choose this option, make sure you can catch up with some sleep the next day during the daytime.
You could offer a feed before you go to bed and at around 3 am, at a time she is naturally waking up. You can try a dream feed at your bedtime. |
Option 2- This is similar to the option 1 and you can blend the two methods so it works better for you, but using the floor bed will give you more sleep and less tiers from Camille. Phase 1: Separating the feeding from sleeping
Phase 2: Implementing Constant Presence
Your child ideally learns that they don’t need to worry or check that the parent is there because the you are always there. You will also model the night time expectations of staying in bed and sleeping for the Camille. Many children respond very well to a floor bed and by the end of the week no longer need a parent. You may need to continue with phase Phase 3: Weaning off the floor bed
|
Again, think of these steps like shifting gears in a car. You should always be in a specific gear, not in neutral to move forward! |
It was great working with you in the last 8 weeks. You have made some good progress with Camille's sleep situation through some hard work and consistency. I hope you can find some time to celebrate your achievements!
In order for you to achieve your goals I would suggest
The more consistent you are, the quicker you will see changes!
In order for you to achieve your goals I would suggest
- You focus on having a rhythm to the day guided by the meal times, wake up time and bedtime
- In the next couple of months, encourage a pattern of naps (usually shorter naps in the morning and evening and longer one at lunch time)
- Keep on working on the night time strategies suggested on the plan.
- Keep on encouraging Camille to fall asleep and soothe in other ways in addition to feeding to sleep
The more consistent you are, the quicker you will see changes!
Get in touch via Whatsapp (07904 643451) or email (hello@calm-sleep.com) from Mondays to Fridays if you need support or have any questions. And we can always arrange a quick zoom call at any time, if you need it.
|