Three words.
Inconsistent Daytime Routine
I know as a parent, it can be so hard to be consistent BUT it's what your baby & toddler thrive off of. It's what causes less tears, less frustrations & more predictability.
So when your baby or toddler is waking through the night multiple times one night, and then the next night only wakes one time. And on the nights they wake multiple times, it's never the same time from the previous night. And when they only wake once, it's never the same time as the last time... This is because your baby or toddler doesn't have a consistent daytime routine. What I mean by this is...
- one day they may have had less milk throughout the day and so now they need to make up for those calories at nighttime. - one day they maybe slept in and so their first nap of the day was later
- one day they maybe woke earlier so then you pushed their first nap earlier
- one day maybe they had 5 hours of daytime sleep and the next night day they only had 2 hours
So how do you be more consistent in your little one's day time routine? And how do you narrow down what's working and what isn't working?
The one thing I really recommend you doing is getting a piece of paper and keep track of your little one's routine, daytime sleep schedule & feedings for a week. What do you see that's consistent? What do you see that's inconsistent? And what is working/not working on those days? Then keep consistent with the things that ARE working and make a plan, that you know you can stick to, to eliminate the things that aren't working.
This is exactly what I do with parents during our one-on-one consultations & I really recommend parents to continue doing even after our consultation is done. Sleep changes so much for our little one's and if we aren't aware of what's going on, we can get behind and miss something. If you'd like to learn more about how I can help you figure out what is working for your little one & how to be consistent with it, you can book a FREE 20 minute consultation here.
Sleep Easy!