I know it can be a bit of an emotional thing. The memory of bringing baby home from the hospital still feels new, and all of the sudden we are faced with the decision of whether baby is ready to be moved from the bassinet to the crib.

There are three main types of stimulation: overstimulation, understimulation, and healthy stimulation. Today we’ll tackle understimulation.

Has anyone else been here before?

Sleep has been better for a while. Baby has slowly started to wake less and less. You begin to feel more like yourself. You can carry a coherent conversation without losing your train of thought. You’re feeling hopeful that you’ve passed through the valley of exhaustion from multiple night wakings. The brain fog is clearing and life is gooooooood.

And then sleep changes.

When I find a parent hack or product that is a game-changer in the mamahood, I have to share the love.

This product is a MUST. As parents, we shudder at the thought of anything terrible happening to our children … so much so that we often push the thought out of our minds. But the reality is that children get hurt and we need to be prepared.

There are a number of factors that influence sleep, but these 3 are the most common challenges when it comes to short naps:

We’ve all been there before. It’s near the end of our baby’s wake window, and we’ve given them a little feed or snuggle to help them fall asleep. Yep, they are OUT. Time for us to take a little reprieve. Whew.

Anna McMillan from Little Winks Sleep shares helpful tips for hosting families in your home with little ones.

What can you do to make their extended stay with you more comfortable?

What can you ask for ahead of time to help overwhelmed parents?

You know what they say, the days are long but the years are short. One moment you’re trying to figure out why baby cries whenever you lay them in the crib, and the next moment you’re wondering if your “big kid” is ready to transition into a big kid bed.

In the current housing climate, square footage can be difficult to come by. As lovely as it is in theory for siblings to have their own rooms, it’s not always practical for us as parents. We live in fear of getting even less sleep than we currently do, because one sibling might wake the other and we might end up lying in bed at night with our partner playing “name that cry.”

This is a common question: Is my child experiencing a Nightmare or a Night terror?

As parents, we completely understand your anxiety about your child’s experience at night. We want them dreaming of raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, not the Gorgon monster from Stranger Things.

Nightmares and Night Terrors are very different experiences, but actually have similar causes. Needing to pee, overheating, and unprocessed anxiety are among them.

You know that moment? Sure you do. That moment when life feels just a bit too good …

You’re sleeping until 7am

You have the time to actually work out or finish a full cup of coffee during a nap

Your baby’s bedtime routine is so on-point that you’ve been able to #netflixANDchill?

You begin to feel human again.

Anna McMillan shares her personal experience as a mom who left her baby for the first time with other trusted family members. She explains the steps she took to prepare herself and her baby for her baby-free weekend.

So you’ve had an amazing get away, camping, Disney, family, whatever it may be… It’s time to come home and the reality of getting everyone back on track is less than appealing.

There’s something so freeing about being on holiday that we relax our routines, go with the flow a bit more and embrace the spontaneous more than usual.

When we come home it’s time to get things into a good rhythm for everyone so then you’re able to return to the groove that makes your home run like a well-oiled machine.

OK so let’s be real mama’s … how many hotel rooms ACTUALLY have extra rooms… and if they do, then it’s a big bill for a couple weeks if you’re away. So most likely you’ll have your baby or toddler in your room while in a hotel or resort right? Right.

You know all those jokes and unsolicited advice people say when you’re pregnant? You know, the “Better sleep now. When the baby comes you’ll never sleep again!” And you look at them and wonder if they realize you’re growing a human inside of you that causes morning sickness, heartburn, takes up space, and makes sleep pretty darn difficult.

When it comes to making the transition from a crib to a big-kid bed, there are two questions that need to be answered.

The first is when and the second is how.

Now, if you’re reading this on my website, chances are that you came here looking for some advice about teaching your little one the skills they need to sleep through the night.

Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar…

Your baby wakes up in the morning after a solid night’s sleep. You feed her, change her, play with her for a little bit, take her for a little walk outside, then rock her to sleep and put her gently into her crib for her morning nap. And then, 30 minutes later, she wakes up fussy and irritable and, despite your pleading, bargaining, and offers of riches, refuses to go back to sleep.

Separation anxiety typically starts to occur around 6-8 months of age, when your little one starts to realize that things continue to exist, even when they’re not in sight. It’s a cognitive milestone known as “object permanence” which is defined as, “the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be observed.”

It hits you when you least expect it.

Life is cruising along fairly well. I mean, sure, “fairly well” these days means exhausted, overwhelmed, and celebrating the little things, but welcome to parenthood.

Then the dreaded thing happens: Baby gets sick.

One of the keys to baby getting great sleep is understanding and following awake time.

Awake time is the length of time that baby can be awake in-between naps without experiencing a cortisol release and becoming overtired.