Millpond’s Sleep Specialist Guide to Surviving Christmas

8th December 2017 0 Comments

Millpond’s Sleep Guide to Surviving Christmas

Help your child sleep well over Christmas!

Mandy Gurney founder of Millpond Sleep Clinic, lets you into her bedtime secrets for a sleep filled Christmas!

Familiar routines…..

Always keep to your usual bedtime routine. Even if you start it later than you normally would, it’s important to follow the same series of simple steps that your child associates with going to sleep.

Children love the familiarity and security that a routine brings which is especially important if they are away from home.

Wind down…..

Quieten your little ones well before it’s time for bed. Say goodnight to everyone and take them with you to a quiet room. Spend about 10 to 15 minutes in quiet activity such as reading or doing puzzles.

Adapt to surroundings…..

If you have concerns that your child will struggle to go to sleep on the first few nights away from home or with guests in your house, aim to do the bathing and bed time story reading yourself for the first couple of nights until your child is used to the changes.

Say goodnight…..

Say goodnight and settle your child as you would do normally. The first two nights will set the precedent for while you’re away so focus your energies on these.

Don’t worry!

If it does all go pear shaped, make sure that as soon as either you or your family and friends return home, normal routines are reinstated. After only 3 or 4 nights your little one will be back on track.

TOP TIP

If you’re staying with family or friends, bring familiar items from home such as a favourite soft toy, blanket or even their bedding, which has the familiar smell of home as comfort and reassurance

Getting your child’s sleep back on track after the holidays

If it all goes pear shaped and your little one’s sleep has been affected by being away for Christmas or having family to stay, don’t worry. It will only take 3 or 4 nights to get their sleep back on track.

Once you are home or your guests have left, resume your normal bedtime routine immediately.

Start the routine with a 5 min warm relaxing bath with minimal interaction.
Pre dim the bedroom lights.
Read a story or two.
Cuddle and kiss goodnight.

What about your sleep?

Christmas can be exhausting for parents; sleeping is the time when our bodies recover from the excesses of life. Over the holidays eating and drinking too much can upset your sleep patterns.

See our top tips:

Keep hydrated. Drink plenty of water or soft drinks throughout the day.
Avoid that last nightcap! Although having a nightcap can make you feel drowsy, alcohol decreases the amount of REM sleep we get. Missing out on REM sleep will mean you wake feeling exhausted. Give your body time to process the alcohol you have drunk before you try to sleep. It can take an hour or more for the average person to process one unit of alcohol.
After Christmas lunch try drinking herbal or mint tea instead of a cup of coffee. Caffeine will interfere with your sleep drive as it blocks sleep inducing chemicals in the brain; so it is best to avoid caffeine at least six hours before bed.
Get some fresh air and perhaps take the family for a walk, this will improve the quality of sleep for everyone.

The party season and the Christmas holidays often mean late nights, so don’t forget to get some quality sleep yourself – even if it’s just a few hours, so that you start the New Year on the right foot.

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When feeling overwhelmed by tiredness and in need of real sleep help, Millpond’s ‘Teach Your Child to Sleep’ is a much welcomed, well researched resource. This is an easy read with a practical nurturing approach that walks you and your child through to a good night sleep.
Rozanne Hay, UK Representative and Director for Continuing Education IACSC International Association Of Child Sleep consultants
The Millpond approach is non-prescriptive and [their] book offers lots of choices for parents to match their own goals and parenting styles. I would heartily recommend it for anyone already experiencing problems with sleep or to set up good sleep habits proactively.
Melissa Hood, founder of The Parent Practice
This baby and child sleep guide is the perfect combination of accessible science, Mandy’s years of experience and a mother’s warmth. I love the way things fall into place with Mandy’s clear and thorough explanations!
Diana Hill, co founder of Essential Parent
Millpond’s brilliant blend of commonsense, encouragement and understanding – plus a highly logical strategy that is easy to implement – changed hell into heaven literally overnight. My entire family is thus indebted to Mandy and her team.
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I am a GP and would recommend Millpond to any sleep deprived parents; you cannot put a price on sleep. Thank you so much. I only wish I hadn’t waited 19 months.
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We are so happy that we put our trust in you to help us with what has been a huge problem for our family for almost 2 years. We are finding time to relax and time for each other and I did not realise how much we missed this time.
Ben
As a family, we were sleep deprived. The tailored plan for our son made it personal. I am really pleased with what we’ve achieved during the programme and I am thankful to Juliet and Millpond.
Evrim.
We were at rock bottom. Our son has a neurological condition, so I was nervous and and wanted a sleep clinic who had experience of this and would adapt to the needs of our son. Our lives literally changed overnight!
Shurron
Within weeks our son was waking only once a night. The investment we made into Millpond was one of the best we’ve ever made. It gave my son a solid night sleep and consistency. It gave me and my husband our sanity back.
Shurron
I am delighted. I was aiming to go from 6+ wakes at night and feeding to sleep 100% of the time to 1-2 wake ups and some ability to self-settle. After doing the plan for less than 6 weeks my daughter started sleeping through the night.
Katie
My daughter is now having quite a bit more than the average sleep for her age and it’s lovely to see her waking up naturally. I’m also waking up naturally and feeling much more refreshed for having a regular sleep routine myself!
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We are so happy we could jump for joy, we wish we had spoken to you ages ago. Using Millpond has built our confidence and made us feel on top of it at last. You really gave us some life back!
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I live in Switzerland so it is really quite remarkable that Millpond was able to help me over the phone and by email. When you have slept you can deal with anything!!
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We still can’t believe that such small changes have made such a difference to us and Alice. She has even slept through while on holiday in a travel cot.
Louise
We are just so sorry we did not get in touch sooner as we went through 18 months of no sleep.
Ann Marie
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! We never thought life could be improved so greatly. You showed us the light. Luka is much happier and loving his sleep now.!
Diane
Alex is sleeping beautifully again and is now quite happy to lay in his cot singing until 7.30/745 am ( Godsend!) and sleeps very happily through the night again. Thank you so much!
Sandy
Very happy to say that Joshua, who you helped us with, is now sleeping a regular 11 hours a night uninterrupted. In fact, getting him up some mornings is a real challenge!
John
Mandy has been an absolute saviour at a time which was starting to feel quite bleak in terms of our little one’s sleep. The personalised advice and guidance has been invaluable.
Mary
“My husband and I reached out to the Millpond Sleep Clinic when our son was 10 months old. We had spent months in vain trying a variety of sleep training tips that we had picked up online, in a desperate attempt to get our son to sleep for more than 2 hour stretches! Nothing seemed to work. I remember crying whilst breastfeeding for the 5th time one evening, desperately begging my little one to sleep. We felt like we had been failing for a long time, as my circle of mum friends had all got their babies sleeping through so much earlier. I needed to get more sleep, with the return to work looming ever closer.

When we called Millpond, we were quickly introduced to Juliet who immediately took the pressure off us by providing a detailed “plan of action” based on what she had heard about our son’s sleep routine. After just a few nights, we already started to see big sleep improvements, and we worked confidently towards reducing our son’s night wakings and the duration of his night feeds. After a couple of weeks we had gone from 4-5 night wakings to just 1… and a few weeks later, our son started to sleep through! The biggest relief ever.

Throughout the whole process Juliet had been knowledgeable, kind, reassuring and made herself available to answer our questions over email between our sessions. Her experience as a mother herself, and highly trained sleep professional shone through. We can’t thank you enough for helping us through a rough time – and seeing us through to better days (and importantly, nights!!)
Cheryl