Why it’s Time for Me to Sleep Better
I think it’s fair to say that most people assume that as a sleep coach, I have my own sleep in order…wrong. It really wasn’t until I started training in my profession that I truly started to understand sleep, it’s function and just how important it is.
As a new parent, I became obsessed with how my baby was sleeping (I am going to do a separate blog on this as I feel it’s an important topic to talk about and share my own journey through this time in my parenting journey) and sacrificed a lot of my own sleep/good sleep/bedtime habits to try and benefit my babies sleep. Honestly, you don’t know what you don’t know. I think back to some of my choices in that first year and think “WOW woman, what were you thinking?!” I wasn’t though. It was my coffee filled, sleep deprived, what the hell am I meant to do, brain doing the not so rational decision making. Thank god they have now been fired and replaced by a new employee.
We are though, especially in those early months, surviving each day so to speak. Some sacrifice is necessary as we have a new little human(s) who need us for everything, however there are some things we can do to keep our own sleep habits in check and as time passes and you form more of a consistent routine as a family, you can find ways to ensure everyone is sleeping well and not just your baby.
Here are some of the things I have done and am currently doing to help keep my ZZZ on the higher end. Please note that everyone’s sleep needs are different and what works for me, may not work for you. These are just easy to implement choices that can help promote better sleep. Be kind to yourself, some days we get it wrong however aiming to be better most nights than not is a great place to start.
Watching what I am eating drinking throughout the day and especially after 12pm. Sugars, caffeine and alcohol (is that an Oasis song?!) are all triggers for me. I am naturally a bit like the Duracell Bunny so anything that enhances my energy sends me off in the opposite direction of the land of nod. Be mindful of what you are consuming if your sleep isn’t in a good place. Make informed choices if you want to try and see if certain things are impacting your sleep.
Winddown time before bed. If you can take one thing away from this blog let it be this. Think about your babies bedtime routine and how important it is to them sleeping well. Would you let them watch 7 episodes of Ozark, whilst scrolling through Instagram and then pop them in bed, turn off the bright light and ahh, sleepy time galore. Nope. So why do we do this ourselves? My hands are up here, I was guilty of this. Make a cut off point. Put the phone down, electronics off, have a mini bed time routine (pj’s on, brush teeth, read book/puzzle/word search etc. eye mask on, light (amber one if any) off, sleep) and be consistent, aiming for the same bedtime each night. If it works for our babies, it will work for us.
Start the day at the same time. Are you getting a “she’s just saying all the thing’s I am recommended to do with my baby vibe?” Spot on. Starting the day at the same time (even the weekends) helps to regulate our body clocks. We want a regulated body clock and also to win the lottery but lets start with regulating our body clock. Especially if sleeping well is a problem. Get daylight straight into your eyes as soon as you wake, introduce a short morning routine where you do the same process each morning (wake , stretch, think about something that makes you happy, lay for a few minutes to allow everything to waken, get out of bed, open the curtains, look out into the world…something like that). This is such a simple and easy thing to change and introduce. The big ask on you is to be consistent and committed to this new normal. I believe in you. You’ve got this!
