Sleep Suggestions For Frequent Wakes

Is your baby waking frequently at night?

I want you to know that frequent wake-ups aren’t your fault and there’s rarely only one reason behind them.

I can’t say why they are happening without the context of a consultation, but you don’t need me to tell you how tough and tiring frequent wake-ups can be, and how they impact everything!

Being honest, there’s no magic sleep secret to moving forward from frequent wakes. The key on my approach is figuring out why they’re happening for YOUR Small, and working on that. But I’m hoping that by sharing the first six sleep questions I ask on my consultations, you might be able to make sleep strides straight away!

6 sleep suggestions that could help you and your Small to a more settled night’s sleep:

Have you ruled out any red flags that could be causing an underlying reason why their sleep is super unsettled?
Are their naps optimised for them and their sleep needs? Too little or too much sleep during the day can massively impact their nights. My free nap gap guide is a great place to get started - you can get it emailed to you over here.
Is bedtime the best time for them? A bedtime that’s too early or too late can impact their nights. My general guidance is that bedtime is no earlier than 7 pm IF you can, as this often causes unsettled sleep and frequent wake-ups.
Is their bedtime boundary working for them? It’s always ok to support them to sleep, but keeping it as simple as possible can make a big difference. Is there a way you can optimise them falling asleep in their sleep space? My bedtime boundary E-Course can really help you with this if needed.
If they’re waking frequently to feed are they getting a bit of food FOMO during the day? Having quieter feeds during the day can help. Are they taking a decent final feed before bed? Or are they too tired to feed and crashing out on the breast or bottle? If yes, moving this feed slightly earlier or up their bedtime routine could help.
Are they actually awake and asking for your support? Frequent wake ups are so stressful and it’s normal to try and prevent or pre-empt a wake up from happening. We think we’re helping them but sometimes we can be disturbing them or doing something that they aren’t actually asking for!