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Sleepfull Baby Sleep & Toddler Sleep Blog

Welcome to the Sleepfull Baby & Toddler Sleep Blog! Find expert advice and practical tips to improve your child's sleep from Dr. Aubrie aka the ‘Baby Sleep Dr.” We cover safe sleep, sleep training, sleep regressions, developmental milestones, and healthy sleep routines for newborns, babies, and toddlers. Our goal is to help your family achieve restful nights by tackling one sleep issue at a time!

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When should a toddler move to a big kid bed?

Transitioning your toddler into a “big-kid bed” can be an exciting time for your little one! It can be fun to create a new space for them, as well as give them a new sense of independence. However, transitioning to a toddler bed too early can cause more harm than good. Waiting until you know your child is for sure ready for this big change will lead to the best success possible! Here are the most common signs your toddler may be ready to make the switch to a toddler bed!

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Updated AAP Infant Sleep Safety Guidelines

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently released its updated 2022 recommendations on safe infant sleep. These safe sleep guidelines are mainly directed around preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), which causes about 3,500 infant deaths per year, as well as other sleep-related infant injuries and death.

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5 Tips on How to Handle Your Baby’s Separation Anxiety

Struggling with your baby's separation anxiety? Explore 5 expert tips to ease this common developmental phase. Learn how to foster secure attachment, maintain routines, and handle bedtime protests with confidence. Create a safe, reassuring environment for your little one and make goodbyes easier for both of you.

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Once You Sleep Train, Will You Ever Need to Re-Sleep Train?

Parents of sleep-trained babies (or parents considering sleep training their baby) often ask me if they will need to re-train their baby at a later date if they’ve already been sleep trained. There are a lot of components that can go into this scenario, but my answer is generally, no.

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Contact Naps: Are they “good” or “bad”?

I’m often asked about contact naps and if it’s “good” or “bad” to hold your baby for every nap. Contact naps (when your baby sleeps on your body for a nap) are common during the newborn phase since this is often how newborns prefer to sleep. My answer? It could never be “bad” to allow your baby to nap on you. My question I pose to parents wondering this, though, is how they feel about contact naps as the only method of napping long-term.

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How Trying Everything is Getting in the Way of Your Baby Sleep Success

When it comes to baby sleep, and getting your baby to sleep well, I often hear parents say that they have “tried everything”. The issue with “trying everything” is that it doesn’t leave the time and space for complete consistency to be successful. It’s actually the factor that’s inhibiting so many parents from seeing progress and success.

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6 Signs Your Baby is Ready to Drop a Nap

Are naps overwhelming in your home? If they are, this is really common and you are not alone! From the number of naps a day your baby needs, to getting them to a point of taking long naps (but not too long of naps)… it can become a lot.

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Everything You Need To Know About Your Baby's "Witching Hour"

If you have a new baby in your home, you’re likely familiar with the term “witching hour.” While not all babies experience it, the witching hour is very common for babies 8-12 weeks old. So if this is a daily occurrence in your home, you are not alone!

The witching hour occurs when a normally content baby becomes extra fussy (maybe crying constantly), refuses to sleep or eat, and is very difficult to calm. This may sound similar to colic, but they are not the same. While colic symptoms last for about 3 hours a day, the witching hour typically only lasts for 1-2 hours per day, and can occur anytime between 5-10 pm.

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Baby’s Wake Windows or Tired Cues: Which is More Important?

If you’re familiar at all with baby sleep training or baby sleep terms, you’ve likely heard of “wake windows” and “tired cues”. You’ve been told to pay attention to both of them, but which one trumps the other?

Do you put your baby down as soon as you notice those very first tired cues? Or do you wait until the end of their wake window? The truth is, they should be used together, AND in conjunction with an eat-play-sleep flow.

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The Newborn Curl: Is your newborn rolling already?

Rolling is such an exciting developmental milestone for your baby! But, it can also be a bit of a back-and-forth game for parents who are waking up in fear 1 million times a night to roll their baby back over onto their back. Knowing the basics of baby sleep is a complete game-changer for parents, especially in the newborn phase; and knowing how to handle various rolling scenarios is one of the most important! If your newborn does seem to be able to roll, this is actually highly unlikely and most likely an involuntary reflex called the “newborn curl.”

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