Katie Fischer Sleep Consultancy

Katie Fischer Sleep Consultancy Family Sleep Coach - specialising in toddlers & primary age children and CBT-i for adults

20/01/2023

Does sound help or hinder your sleep?

What you hear or your child hears can have either a beneficial or adverse impact on initiating sleep and the quality of nightly rest. Warning signals, erratic or artificial sounds, like a siren, for example can be perceived as threatening, triggering flight or flight mode.

Whereas non-threatening rhythmical white & pink noise sounds found in nature – heartbeats, wind, steady rain, rustling leaves or ocean waves - tend to have a more soothing effect and are linked with the resting activity of the brain. This could be why some people find they improve sleep.

If external noise disturbs your sleep cycle or your child’s, playing masking background sound as a CONTINUOUS sleep cue from bedtime through to morning may be the answer.

👇 If you haven’t heard of PINK noise, this consists of all the frequencies we can hear, but it’s more intense at the lower frequencies, creating a deeper, softer sound than white noise.

🔍 2 research studies have found that steady pink noise reduces brain waves, which increases stable sleep, so choosing the right kind of sounds to slumber by might be helpful for noise cancelling as well as supporting deep sleep.

Does pink noise help you or your child get better sleep?

20/01/2023

Do you struggle to sleep 8 hours most nights even if you try?

Perhaps you already get lots of exercise in your week or you limit your caffeine and alcohol.

Don’t sweat it – 6-7.5 hours might be the magic number for you.

Sleep duration isn't the only factor though - sleep quality is important too - so what's happening during those hours in bed and whether time spent sleeping is actually restorative in the morning and through our waking hours.

Check in with how your feel 30 mins after waking once you're up, moving, exposed to light, hydrated etc. Do you feel alert and refreshed?

Is your sleep satisfaction still the same in the early evening?

19/01/2023

How much sleep does your child really need? 🔍

So many sleep programs for infants and children frustratingly promote 12 hours of sleep at night.

However, based on current research from the National Sleep Foundation for recommended sleep ranges by age, when some children reach the age of 1-2 years, their sleep need has already naturally reduced below this and is being adequately met with less.

We need to be aware too that sleep need is over 24 hours, so if your 2-year-old is still enjoying a 2-hour nap, this is likely to come off their nightly total to some degree and 9 or 10 hours at night might be all they need to top up and thrive.

Of course, there may be some children that love a long nap and still sleep a longer stretch at night. This is because sleep need is heavily individual.

Most of us are somewhere in the middle but a proportion will have either a higher or lower sleep need at either end of the spectrum. Children with lower sleep needs are the often the ones who, as babies, seemed wide-eyed, very alert and resistant to sleep against your best efforts! Children with higher sleep needs might be the ones that willingly take themselves to bed when they’re tired and often need to be woken in the morning. You may notice that siblings don't often sleep the same.

If you’re having bedtime battles, frequent waking, split nights or early rising, add up how much your child is sleeping over 24-hours.

Does it typically still fit within a healthy, normal range for their age?

If so, try these timing adjustments:

✅ If your child still naps, reduce daytime sleep to support a longer duration or better sleep quality at night

✅ Move your sleep scheduling closer to your child’s sleep need to reduce awake time in their bed – this might be with a later bedtime, earlier wake up time or combination of both

Have you felt like sleep is a failure when your child doesn't make 12 hours?

17/01/2023

Traditional sleep training and working with a Holistic Sleep Coach look VERY different.

I champion you as a parent, build your knowledge and confidence to shape sleep and address behavioural challenges that seem daunting or overwhelming, as well as support you with manageable, gradual changes towards more independent sleep for your family, whatever your goals are.

If sleep is going awry or starting to feel unsustainable, start by exploring the easier adjustments before jumping into the BIG behavioural stuff.

Are your timings hitting your child's sweet spot?

What can be optimised in your child's daytime routine or where your child sleeps?

What obstacles can you remove to calming down for sleep at the end of the day?

What might be disturbing your child's sleep cycle at night?

Babies spend the majority of their time in utero sleeping, so the notion of teaching your child the 'skill' of sleep mak...
16/01/2023

Babies spend the majority of their time in utero sleeping, so the notion of teaching your child the 'skill' of sleep makes no sense at all!

It's something they can already do because it's an essential and universal biological phenomenon.

For some of us, drifting off to sleep can certainly seem to happen more effortlessly and flexibly but there are many factors that influence the timing, length and quality of our sleep, such as personal sleep need and genetics, age, health background, sleep scheduling, how strong the cue for sleep is in our bed night to night, habitual behaviours and lifestyle choices, sleep environment and how we manage stress and worry.

If you're struggling with long, protracted bedtimes and night time drama, remember that we can't force a child to fall asleep any more than we can ourselves. Imagine someone telling you that you must sleep when you're not feeling drowsy, when you're feeling tense and wired or when your body is still getting cues that are programming your brain for a daytime level of alertness?

Your child's appetite for sleep is driven by their prior wakefulness and circadian clock interacting with the timing of light and food to create a daily 24-hourly rhythm and regulate alert and sleepy windows.

As parents, we're not sleep makers but sleep shapers. What we can do is support a child's emotional regulation and ability to relax, create age-appropriate opportunity for sleep that meets their individual sleep need and layer environmental and parental cues that help them transition between day and night and play and rest so that they can drift off more calmly, independently and automatically.

15/01/2023

Find out more about my background as a sleep coach and how I can help you or your family with better sleep.

Are you looking to work with an experienced sleep coach to address problems sleeping for yourself or a child using evide...
14/01/2023

Are you looking to work with an experienced sleep coach to address problems sleeping for yourself or a child using evidence-based, family-centred strategies?

I specialise in working with toddlers, preschoolers and primary age children, as well as insomnia therapies for adults.

The changes we can achieve together through my holistic approach will be transformative – not only by improving your nightly sleep quality or your child’s, but also by breaking the cycle of sleep-related anxiety and helping you feel more energised, organised and in control of your life.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by conflicting parenting advice or don’t know where to start to help your child sleep more reliably and independently?

Do you feel you’ve tried everything and it’s just not helping you fall asleep or stay asleep?

Get in touch to find out more - www.katiefischersleepconsultant.co.uk.

I can guide you towards the right solutions for you or your child, and support you through manageable steps of behavioural change to achieve your sleep goals.

Address

London

Telephone

+447730533004

Website

,

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Katie Fischer Sleep Consultancy posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category