Do Milestone's Affect Sleep?

YES!

They for sure do. Rolling, sitting up, crawling, standing, walking… all of these things are SO fun to practice, especially while a child is “supposed” to be sleeping.

It’s pretty natural for children’s sleep patterns to be affected by “regressions” and milestones, but we tend to use them as an excuse anytime our child’s sleep goes a little haywire, likely from being overtired, not being offered the opportunity to nap, late bedtimes, learning a new skill, etc.

So what’s the 411….well, milestones should only affect sleep for 2-5 nights! How do you get back on track? Practice those skills during the day so baby masters them and becomes less impressed by their new skills! Literally as I am writing this, my son is on day 3 of wanting to practice sitting up during nap times and has woken up early the past two mornings to sit up, and has sat up for a good 20 minutes in the beginning of his afternoon naps. Is it frustrating and was he a little cranky the last two evenings because of it? Yes, but, it’s temporary! I offered him an early bedtime to help compensate for his new exhausting ventures, ha!

So, how do we want to respond to milestones?

Practice their new skill, provide routine and offer your kiddo an earlier bedtime if they’ve been losing sleep. It seems that every time we blink our kids are learning a new skill or teething, but in reality, your child CAN achieve great sleep while still going through these experiences!

Head over to my sleep services page to learn how you could be 14 days away from SLEEP!!