Sleep

In this edition, we’ve been flooded with questions about sleep — especially how lighter nights can disrupt routines when the seasons start to shift. If that’s your right now, you’re not alone.

I hope what I’m sharing here helps you bring back the calm, give your little one the routine they crave, and reclaim those relaxing evenings you need too.

So it’s slowly coming to that time of year again when seemingly those who sleep well start to make changes with settling at night and early morning wakes.. as a sleep consultant with my clients I would be lying if I didn’t say November to March is a dream with dark evenings and dark mornings as babies and children aren’t being disturbed by the light and therefore more melatonin in their bodies and less suppressed due to the DARK!!

One of the key factors in my Food and Sleep Programme tried and tested now 1000’s of times is Magic Porridge and why. because of the ingredients promoting a good night’s sleep.. the young babies from 5.5/6 months starting to work with me would begin with just Tastings and also first exposure to nuts which is so important and recommended after years of research with children and allergies as part of my Allergen Food Ladder in their first 2 weeks. Still, equally the older babies have it as a pre-bedtime food, toddlers may choose to have it in the form of Magic Porridge Muffins which are healthy, slow releasing and a variety to Porridge and even the older recruits to make sure they are full and extra natural melatonin may have the same or Magic Porridge smoothie before bed.. It’s Magic all the way but secretly they are foods to foods to implement sleep

So back to the phone ringing a lot around the middle of April onwards with parents seeking more advice after their dream sleepers are now ready to start the day at 5am and nothing is stopping them.

Dark room and over the years lots of recommendations for blinds that are fully 100% lightproof, I have my favourites for the clients and they are a must-have on the list.

No night lights, toys that light, or shreds of light coming in from the window or under the doors because this undoubtedly affects the babies and children upon wake-ups.

My goal is to teach parents how to enable their babies, toddlers or older children three plus to sleep calmly, learn to settle during sleep cycles and more importantly just like the womb not to be fearful of the dark, for it to be a norm. If you are sleeping deeply and want to address any issues with the older children with night wake-ups, nightmares, finding themselves awake especially around 4-6am when they or their bodies haven’t had enough sleep and there is any distracting light so their melatonin is reducing.. they are more animated, much harder to resettle and can often engage more in upset, hysteria so much so it would leave parents feeling their babies or children could be unwell, teething when they aren’t and anything they can think of OTHER than getting them back to sleep to fully end their night.

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Babies and children who wake moaning, upset, or crying are often showing clear signs that they haven’t had enough sleep. In my 40 years of experience, we don’t simply accept that as the end point. Instead, we work consistently — sometimes over several nights — to recognise when more sleep is needed, to lengthen sleep cycles, and to support children back to sleep in those early hours, ideally in darkness.

Some of the key principles of the Sleep Programme have always been to address the following:

Food — and plenty of it during the day.

This may mean gradually establishing solids or supporting a smooth transition with structured meal plans. It’s important to quantify how much milk or how many breastfeeds are needed, ensuring babies receive sufficient calories and healthy fats from around six months of age.

As dairy products are slowly introduced from six months, we build these up gradually. At the same time, milk feeds typically reduce — from four, to three, to two — until eventually all bottles and formula are phased out by one year. For breastfed babies, continuing two feeds a day can provide valuable antibodies and additional immunity through to two years and beyond, in line with WHO and NHS guidelines.

Separating milk from sleep.

From six months onward, bottles or breastfeeds should not be used to settle a baby to sleep or to resettle them upon waking. Feeding should be structured around sleep rather than becoming a sleep association.

The subject of milk is one I feel especially passionate about. I love to see babies and children eating well, feeding themselves with interest and enjoyment — not simply feeding as a form of entertainment. While achieving the right balance of calories, fats, and overall nutrition is vital, it is also an area that deserves thoughtful challenge, particularly when considering CMPA, overload of calories and fats, and the growing struggles we are seeing in this generation.

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Top 5 Tips

• No milk, feeds or water around sleep and wake-ups
• A day filled with good food, iron-enriched, calories and fats and a variety of nutrients to absorb each other well
• Magic Porridge so slow releasing carbs to go to bed to enable extra ‘natural melatonin’ and help with those pesky wake-ups
• Dark rooms sometimes like a cave, my clients may say, especially in the Spring/Summer season up to the end of October, but enable babies and children to link sleep cycles well
• Quiet Time before sleep and I have two parts of it on my programmes, we have a wind-down period and then a repetitive pattern nightly before lights out so again babies and children can link well!

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