Early postpartum? You can expect a lack of sleep. Listen to this episode and learn what you can do to create a solid sleep foundation and support your baby’s – and yours! – sleep habits early on.
032 | Andi Metzler, Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant
Andi’s sleep consulting journey
Andi Metzler founded Sleep Consulting to help other parents that struggle with a sleep routine. Inspired by her life-changing sleep training experience, she had to jump on an airplane to meet Dana Obleman and learn about the successful sleep program, which has helped over 57,000 families.
Simply put, Andi wanted to learn from the best. While most sleep coaches are “self-taught” or have taken a cheap online class, she’s invested heavily in her career as a sleep training professional.
She’s trained under one of the most well-respected experts in the field and is proud to be a Certified Sleep Sense™ Consultant and founder of Andi Metzler Sleep Consulting.
Top baby sleep tips
One of the most important things to recognize is your baby’s wake window. A wake window is the time your baby is awake between sleep cycles.
This window changes as your baby grows, but being in tune with when your baby needs to sleep early on is a great way to predict sleep and help you recognize the signs of when your baby needs to sleep.
How do you help a baby get to sleep?
Babies sleep best in complete darkness, so dark that you can barely see your hand in front of you.
Investing in black-out blinds is a good start in getting your baby the sleep they need. Also, consider the room temperature (ideally between 68 and 72°F) and use white noise.
The opposite goes for when they are awake. You want it to be bright and filled with sound and expose them to the sun during playtime (depending on their age), so your baby will recognize what happens during awake time.
A baby sleeping well means you’re sleeping well.
The most critical baby sleep tip
Next to your baby’s awake window, you want to follow the three-step rule of “eat, play, sleep.”
Paired with knowing when to put your baby to sleep, you can regulate feeding, awake time, and sleep more efficiently and, in doing so, efficiently regulate your own need for sleep.
Topics covered
Why sleep is so important, from baby to parent (02:23)
Sleep deprivation during postpartum (03:55)
Getting your own best sleep in the early days of postpartum (11:22)
Establishing the day (14:56)
Eat, play, sleep (16:26)
Nighttime routine (18:01)
Why sleep begets sleep (22:03) sleep window
Anyone can put your baby to bed (27:12)
The resentment (32:47)
Final question (34:56)
Resources
- 7 Tips To Get Baby Sleeping Well
- Book a discovery call with Andi
- Baby sleep tips: Overcoming Short Naps
Additional resources
- You’re Not a Bad Mom; It’s Just a Sleep Regression
- How to Survive the Four-Month Sleep Regression
- Newborn Sleep Shaping: The Key to Healthy Sleeping Habits?
