Did you know that milk is often the culprit behind bedtime problems and early morning wake ups?

When it comes to sleep, I am a firm believer that milk should only be offered at mealtimes. And here’s why…

Milk has just enough sugar in it to give your toddler a burst of energy before bed that makes it harder to settle down and fall asleep! It is also a BIG motivating force behind early morning wake ups.

When it comes to making the transition from a crib to a big-kid bed, there are two questions that need to be answered. The first is when, and the second is how. If you’re reading this on the blog, chances are that you came here looking for some advice about teaching your little one the skills they need to sleep through the night. And if that’s the case, then the answer to the question of “When” is, quite simply, “Not now.”

With all of the information that’s available online, and the advice of your friends and family who have managed to get their kids to sleep, why would you want to invite a stranger into your home to get your child sleeping through the night?

I was so relieved when my baby started sleeping through the night, that I didn’t even care what hoops I had to jump through or how long it took to get him to sleep. And that was where I went wrong. Because babies who need help falling asleep turn into toddlers who need help falling asleep. And the older he got, the longer it took and the more ridiculous the hoop jumping became. Which is how, like so many parents, I got suckered into sleeping with my toddler every night. 

This is a difficult question to answer without getting into some specific details, which is unfortunate, because when parents ask me this, I know they’re looking for a quick, concise, time-based answer. “Three nights from now,” or “Six months old,” are the kind of responses they’re hoping for, and the kind I wish I could give them, but there are a lot of factors to consider, and some things to understand before you can narrow down the timeline. The first thing I feel parents need to understand is this...

If there’s anything that can send your child’s sleep off the rails, if there’s an arch-enemy for sleep training, it is, without a doubt, the dreaded condition of over-tiredness.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m a firm believer that feeding our kids a healthy, balanced diet is essential to their well-being. I might even agree that it’s the single most important factor when it comes to our children’s health.

But sleep is, if not equally as important, a very big contender.