April 5, 2015

BabySleepExpert

1) Sleep matters: Sleep Consultants or Sleep Coaches clearly understand the benefits of healthy sleep, not only for your child but for parents too: improved health and wellness, better coordination and safety, increased capacity of memory and learning, as well as a happier mood and temperament.

2) Overwhelming information: From books, advice from well-meaning friends and family, to good old Google – there’s a lot of (mis)information out there. A sleep expert will help you wade through it and offer the real evidence and experience based expertise and support.

3) Certified Sleep Consultant:  Unfortunately, the term sleep consultant is not protected, meaning anyone can use that title. There’s a lot of self described experts out there. Look for a Certified Sleep Consultant or Certified Sleep Coach.  My certification process involved over 80 hours of training, along with mentored practical training with families. I’m part of an association which mandates an accredited certification, standards of practice, along with continuing education.

4) Continuing Education:  Ensure your sleep consultant is staying on top of the growing body of sleep research. I’m committed to ongoing professional development. In addition to keeping current with the latest research on pediatric sleep, I’ve participated in various symposiums and conferences with world renowned sleep researchers and physicians.

5)  Parent: Choose a sleep coach or consultant who is also a parent. I’ve been tired too (yes, this tired). I understand balancing different needs for different children at different stages. I appreciate where your children are developmentally and the enormity of the task of raising your tiny humans. You want the best for them and to be at your best for them.

6) Ongoing support:  Your sleep coach or consultant will evaluate progress objectively, while providing support emotionally.  As an educator, sleep coaches can offer information to help parents make the best decisions to reach their long term family sleep goals.

7) Planning:  A sleep coach can help you with your infant, but also help you strategize for when that infant turns into a toddler and eventually a preschooler, or when another sibling joins your home. When new circumstances arise, we can tackle them together.

8) Self Regulation:  One of the first tasks for babies as they mature is to self regulate their eating and sleeping. Self-regulation is an important step in emotional and social development.  Difficulty in self-regulation can lead to challenges when children are faced with emotional, cognitive or social challenges.

9) Strong Families: Even within a family unit, each parent can have a different way they’d like to approach sleep. Let the sleep coach be the unbiased party who can work with your family objectively, while allowing parents to be supportive of one another. Everyone can be better and accomplish more with a good night’s sleep. One of the best ways to have a joyful, thriving, cohesive and loving family is to be a well rested family.

10) The Bicycle Effect: Learning to sleep is like learning to ride a bicycle.  Just like riding a bike, once you’ve established the ability to sleep well, those skills are always there. You might be out of practice from time to time, but that learned ability does not disappear.  Teaching a child to sleep well is a gift that will last a lifetime.  An entire family gets the healthy sleep they need, but that child will learn they are capable.

 

 KristaGuenther Krista is a mother of 3 (+1 dog who believes she’s people), a wife to a wonderful husband, and the owner and founder of Sleeperific.  Even though she’s been in the sleep consulting biz for 4 years, she still gets really excited when she’s hired by a sleepy family.
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December 31, 2014
new year resolution

Be a more fabulous, well rested version of yourself!

I’ve never been much for new year’s resolutions. Since becoming a parent, I’ve become increasingly sentimental. Year end is when I take stock of the time passed, and reaffirm the hopefulness I have for myself and my family in the future.

At the top of my resolution list is better sleep, mostly for myself (and of course continued sleep for the rest of my family). As a mother of three (plus a dog who thinks she’s people), along with running my own small business, my sleep quantity and quality is often compromised. And I KNOW how important sleep is, but I still allow it to slide. I wanted to remind you (and myself!) that sleep is not a luxury enjoyed by the lazy, the inefficient or unproductive. Quite the opposite: sleep is an absolute necessity to bring out the best in you and your family.

Here’s 4 ways sleep make us better, which are good reasons you should be sleeping better too:

Sleep makes your healthier – There’s a growing body of scientific literature which  links heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, compromised immune function and obesity to poor quality and quantity of sleep through sleep deprivation studies.  Longer term studies (consistently going without adequate sleep for years, decades) are just starting to uncover how our lack of sleep can cause disease or cause disease to worsen.

Sleep makes you smarter – Sleep leads to more brain power in a couple different ways. Without sufficient sleep, it’s difficult to focus on the task at hand, which inhibits the ability to learn. Added to that, sleep plays an important role in consolidating memory, which we all need to learn new information and skills. And that’s just what’s been observed in grown-ups.  Those tiny, precious, developing minds in children, where brains are doubling! tripling! in size in a matter of years… sleep is a much more precious commodity.

Sleep makes you happier – I’m the first to admit being pleasant and patient is downright impossible really hard after a poor night.  I’m not alone in feeling grumpy, temperamental and listless after a lack of sleep. Compromised sleep is a risk factor for depression (and depression is a risk factor for compromised sleep… vicious cycle). This is a great video which ties together items 2 and 3 in this list.

Sleep makes you better at everything else – In order to make good on all those other resolutions, you need to sleep well first. Admit that your sleep has far reaching impacts.  Whatever you want plenty of, less of, or to excel at in 2015, sufficient sleep will help you meet your goals.

“The way to a more PRODUCTIVE,
more INSPIRED  and
more JOYFUL life is getting enough sleep.”

Arianna Huffington

From my family to yours, I wish you a productive, inspired, joyful and sleep-filled 2015.

xxoo Krista

Use the hashtag #sleeperific2015 to tell us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest YOUR personal sleep tips to help make 2015 a better rested one for you and your family.  I’ll retweet, repost and share my favourites!

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December 27, 2012

Merry Christmas, in the Hospital

Warning: this post contains personal information about not so flattering ailments.

You’ve been warned!

Our accommodation in Austria were amazing!  St. Nicholas (Austrian Santa Claus) made an appearance at the hotel, handed out some presents.  We ate and ate and ate. In Europe, Christmas Eve is a bigger event than Christmas day – so dinner was about 10 courses long. Everything was beautiful, delicious and impeccably served. The kids even managed to stay sitting, stay patient, reasonably and awake through the entire meal.

We finally wound down, got the kids to bed (“Santa doesn’t come unless you’re sleeping”) and went to bed ourselves. I woke up around 3AM and felt funny. I’ve had a UTI before, and I suspected that might be it, but everything was just off. I also knew I usually eat fairly cleanly and simply, and the meal I’d just had was far from that. I passed it off to my stomach feeling a bit funny from the rich food and excessive wine.

We had a normal Christmas morning, opened some presents, had some breakfast (although I had little appetite) – played with the kids at the indoor play centre and the Kinder Club. I skipped lunch and tried to nap. By 3PM I was feeling awful and was passing blood. I tried to go into the sauna based on some awesome on-call advice from my amazing naturopathic doctor, Dr. Jennifer Castle from the Urban Athlete. Just to try to induce a fever and get my body to fight this off. Little did I know that the sauna was located in a “Nude Only” part of the hotel. The usual me would have found this hilarious and would have loved the people watching. The sick me wanted to curl into an invisible ball and put on blinders to any bits and pieces in my sight. I left within about 20 minutes after arriving, when all the skiers returned from their day on the slopes. By the time I ended back in our room I was throwing up and had a headache. My family had headed out on a horse drawn carriage ride, and I knew they’d be back soon. I knew I needed someone to peel me up from the bathroom floor. So I stayed there, hugging the toilet until they returned.

We decided to head to the hospital since the next day was still a holiday and I was feeling weak and pretty uncomfortable with a headache, fever, nausea and I was still passing blood. I wasn’t likely to get better without any sort of treatment. My husband made a quick call to the insurance company (which did not feel quick to me) and the hotel concierge ensured an ambulance was on it’s way.

I was so lucky my husband was able to come with me while we were able to leave the kids with Oma and Opa. We were taken to a.ö. Krankenhaus St. Vinzenz in nearby Landeck. Within minutes (yes, minutes, not hours, not days, MINUTES), they had admitted me, begun a medical history (in English – all of my care providers spoke at least a little English which was far superior to my German) and administered an EKG and CT scan (since I’d hit my head the day before on the toboggan run and was experiencing a massive headache). They were kind, efficient and funny (“You have a bladder infection, gastroenteritis and concussion. Frohe Weihnachten!”). I stayed overnight while they monitored me and gave me IV fluids and IV antibiotics, and released me the next day. They actually were able to speed up my release because my family had travel plans to head back to Germany. So the doctor came to see me as soon as she could (which again, was within minutes). How amazing is that?!

I felt terrible about causing so much trouble and fuss, especially on Christmas, but I’m so grateful I had my family took care of me (and my kids!) when I was not feeling well.  I’m also extremely grateful for our insurance, and the swift and efficient health care system in Austria.  If you’re going to spend Christmas in a hospital, it might as well be a hospital in Austria.

In light of the events, I have some updated travel tips for you:

1) Seriously consider the health care available within the country you are travelling to when little ones are in tow.  We were lucky and blessed that Austria has what I would consider to be superior care than Canada (wait times for admission, testing and diagnostics were far less than what we would have experienced at home).

2) Know the ins and outs of your out of country health insurance.  We knew we needed to call prior to receiving any medical care (which seems weird in more urgent circumstances… I’m not sure how we would have handled that, or how our insurance would deal if they were told about our trip to the hospital after it happened).

3) Mastering a few basic phrases (please, thank you) in the native language of your destination is a pretty common preparation to make for travel.  Add “hospital” or “doctor” to the list.  A couple smartphone apps (online and offline) that can help you out with that.

4) Grab a business card from your hotel (or jot down the address of the place you’re staying) and keep them in your pocket/purse for the duration of your stay. In addition to making it easy for taxis, we needed detailed contact information for our insurance company.

5) Make copies of your passport(s), health card, physician’s name with their contact details and insurance information. This could be as simple as taking pictures on your smartphone. Medical staff wanted to see these, insurance needed this information as well. And this doesn’t just mean that one parent is responsible: Ensure both you and your traveling companions know where these copies are located and how to access them. Better yet, each parent/care provider has their own copies in case one of you is incapacitated.

6) Everyone knows to turn off the cellular on your phone to avoid roaming fees. But do you (and your travelling companions) know how to turn it back on?  Do you know how to dial from a mobile within your host country? Do you know how to dial from your country to another country? This isn’t completely straightforward. Check out these suggestions for dialing within Europe.

I really hope none of you have to go to the hospital while on vacation. But it never hurts to prepare for the worst and expect the best.

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December 25, 2012

Tips for a Successful Holiday

smaller_xmas2012

– Take advantage of the extra capable and willing hands that are around this time of year.
– Bend some of your sleep rules.
– Try not to let the holiday stress take over.
– Celebrate with those you love the most.

From my family to yours, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

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December 24, 2012

Postcards from Austria

Photo 2012-12-22 2 06 11 PM

We love Germany and Austria.  We got in some great skiing.  Our hotel offered lots of great activities for the kids, including child care, indoor play centres, swimming and watersliding.  We even went tobogganing.

Photo 2013-01-05 3 35 58 PM

Note the happy faces! Little did we know that down the mountain, with our 2 and 4 year old was INSANE. It was icy. Steering on an alpine sled is all about sturdy, grippy, hard soled footwear. I had on smooth bottomed Ugg-style boots. We went around our first corner to a family standing there rearranging themselves. I had 3 choices: taking out the family, going off a ledge with my 4 year old or stopping ourselves in a fairly uncoordinated way. We opted for the last option and took a pretty serious tumble – she was fine (I pulled her out of the way before Oma almost drove us over), but I hit my head pretty hard – more on that to come. The little guy loved it though. I could hear his requests for “faster, faster” from further up the hill.  Our fearless little adventurer.

Photo 2013-01-05 3 34 47 PM

 

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December 19, 2012

And we lived to tell you about it.  Photos courtesy of my phone.

It turns out my almost 2 and almost 4 year old CAN carry luggage.  They were actually upset when we tried to carry it.

The luggage upped their cuteness factor while walking through the airport and waiting at the gate.  Mrs Claus (did Santa trade her in for a younger model?) actually found them on our way to the gate to give them candy.

In spite of the cute factor, I know there were still other folks at the gate who were still saying a silent prayer “please don’t let my seat be near them.”  But with a full flight and a whole crew of people flying on standby, not everyone’s prayers were going to be answered.

We did our best to prepare the kiddies.  Everyone was well rested going into the flight.  We had our pajamas, eye masks, ear plugs, and lovies in tow.

But it was a bit of a myth to think that they were actually going to sleep. What you can’t see in this picture is my son, standing in the seat, bouncing up and down, entertaining/annoying the row of seats behind us. 

This was at 12AM local time (which was why the overhead cabin lights were out), or 6AM destination time.  He didn’t sleep at all up until this point.  His bedtime is usually 7PM.  That would make this his second (or possibly his third or fourth) wind.

But I kinda forgot that there were SO many sleep rules that were already being broken, that I didn’t have to worry about one or two more.  Like turning off electrical devices within 1-2 hours before bedtime.  What you can’t see is two tired little faces mesmerized by the Backyardigans.

They finally faded around 1:30AM.  Our older daughter sprawled out on the floor (yes, the floor – we offered for our daughter to sleep on the floor of an airplane.  Once again, we will be passed over for the elusive “Parent of the Year” award).  We justified it that my down jacket was a nice, cozy bed for her to sleep on.

The son slept partially on Dad’s lap, stretched across the seat between us, with legs on my lap.  I finally faded when I knew they were sleeping.  We arrived at 4AM Local Time, or 10AM Munich time.  Our German Vater was waiting to pick us up at the airport and take us home.

After a day of catch up, and one good night’s sleep, I think everyone is on Local Time.  Which leaves me pleasantly surprised.  Circadian rhythms take some time to adapt, but I guess when you’re typically fairly well rested (that would be weird if my kids weren’t good sleepers, right?!), it helps make the bumps easier to navigate.

Our daughter doesn’t usually nap, and there are several Sleeperific tried and true nap rules that are being broken here, but when she only sees or Opa for 3 weeks per year, we’ll let it slide. 

We’re off to Oma’s secret surprise 60th Birthday Party tonight.  Wir lieben dich Oma! 

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November 28, 2012

My husband’s parents lives in Europe. Our family is making the trek to visit over Christmas.  Although we’ve been to Europe before with our first child (see below, on one of our previous trips – note the Bosu Ball and my husband’s awesome footwear)…

it’s always different when you travel older children.  I’m having a few anxieties about it for the following reasons:

1) Luggage: It’s winter.  It’s cold.  That means winter boots, snow pants, jackets, mittens, hats, sweaters, long underwear need to be packed.  X 4.  2 out of 4 family members can’t carry luggage.  1 out of 4 has a biological need to run around and explore that surpasses his biological need to cooperate and follow instruction.  Effectively, he’s luggage too.  He’s luggage that’s closely resembles a 35 lb bag of snakes.

2) 1 pair of boots per family member?  For anyone who knows me, you’ll understand why this is a next to impossible situation.

3) It’s a long flight. On our way east, it’s an evening flight. So the flight is set to take off later than the little traveler’s bedtimes.  My children have not been up past 9PM more than once in the past year.  And my youngest will be in our laps for the flight.  For over 8 hours.  He hasn’t slept in our arms in over 1.5 years.  Did I mention he’s a 35 lb bag of snakes?

On the way back home, the timing of the flight makes for the longest day ever.  My daughter shouldn’t be too bad, but the little one will be trouble… revisit the biological needs identified above.

4) Jet lag.  x 4

5) We’re off to the land of beer and sausage, but also milk, cheese and butter.  My youngest has a dairy allergy.  Even bread that’s made with milk will send him into writhing stomach pains.

So what’s my plan?

1) Become a packing ninja.  I’ve already started test packing.

2) I have no idea.  I have no single purpose, looks good with everything, keep my feet warm, can play in the snow boots.  Maybe I need new boots?

3) Aiming to have them as well rested as possible before we even leave for the airport. Getting to the airport in lots of time to have some food, change into jammies, and read some stories at the gate.  Hopefully, boarding and take off all happen at the appropriate times, and they’ll settle in for some long naps.  I actually purchased eye masks and ear plugs for the kiddies so they can hopefully block out the noises and just get some rest.

For the flight home: Loaded iPad.  Books.  Color Wonderful Markers.  In flight movies.  Accepting other suggestions.

4) The aim is to let everyone sleep as much as they want on day 1, while still trying to protect their night sleep.  Day 2 is when we push everyone to be on European time.

5) Avoid EVERYTHING that could have dairy in it.  I believe my son will enjoy indulging in the other German food groups.

I know we’ll have fun. I’m really looking forward to the time away and taking in the European Christmas.  Stay tuned to find out how we manage.

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September 12, 2012

I always check on my kids before I go to bed at night. I like to know they’re safe and comfortable. There’s something about a sleeping child that makes me swoon a little. And I know I won’t always be able to do this. I know that someday, she’ll be all grown up. She’ll be 18, and might say stuff like

“Screw you Mom, I’m moving in with Chad.”

I’ll be glad I’ve captured moments like these.

 

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August 17, 2012

Really?  How did you get started in this?  Why are you doing this?  Seriously – sleep consulting for kids?

These are just a few of the questions I’ve been asked since pursuing children’s sleep consulting.  Here’s the long winded answer.

This all got started for me because we really struggled with my son and his sleep.  REALLY struggled. My older daughter was easier to manage.  Don’t get me wrong. It’s never easy and we worked hard there too. I’ve always prioritized sleep for her (the happy by-product of which was sleep for tired parents). But implementing a few basics made all the difference.

My son was a different story. We welcomed Gus on a chilly January morning in 2011. He was big. He was beautiful. His arrival brought immense joy and immense change for our family.

He had emergency surgery at two weeks old (which I literally feel saved his life! Dr. Braga at McMaster Children’s Hospital – you are a hero to our family). But as a result of his rough start, we got into some terrible habits. He was eating every couple hours (doctor’s orders!). I knew he needed to be fed with this frequency; his weight was so low for the first month, he was doing some catching up. But by the time he was ready to slow down with his growth, and our pediatrician gave the thumbs up to let him guide the frequency of feedings, he didn’t know how to sleep longer than 1.5 hour intervals. AND, he developed what everyone else was calling “colic.” He was eating all the time, and within minutes of eating, was spitting up and crying inconsolably. So feeding every 2 hours meant 20 minutes of eating, almost 140 minutes of back arching, writhing discomfort, loud-enough-to-wake-my-sleeping-toddler crying, and repeat.

As a result, I was a zombie. A cranky, short fused, couldn’t-even-put-my-pants-on-the-right-way mess. I was starting to spiral towards depression. I couldn’t console my baby; I couldn’t help my baby sleep; I remember admitting to my husband that I didn’t love our son the way I loved our daughter; I started to understand why some parents shake or abandon their children, which only made me feel more inadequate and incompetent. What kind of parent was I? I’m no saint. I had meltdowns. Each meltdown served to make me and everyone around me feel worse. I clearly remember sitting and crying with my son and daughter on many occasions.

It’s an understatement to say I was running on empty. I knew I wasn’t being a good parent. Actually, I wasn’t good at anything when I was that sleep deprived. My relationship with my husband was suffering, my toddler was unhappy, even my gentle, loving dog steered clear of me. I knew Gus wasn’t sleeping enough for him to be happy and healthy. I knew there had to be a better way.

But when I tried to find resources, there didn’t seem to be many options for mothers looking to educate themselves on sleep. When my son was sick and losing weight as a newborn, we were initially diagnosed with a “feeding issue.” I had about 10 nurses, lactation consultants and physicians watch me breastfeed in the span of two weeks (which I now find mortifying, but my modesty was checked at the doors of the hospital when my baby was not well). I went along with all the professional suggestions and advice, even though I felt confident in his eating ability and in what I was doing.  After all, I had exclusively breastfed my older daughter for 6 months, which is right about the time she grew out of her infant car seat – rated to 21 lbs (that means she was pretty much a giant). So I had to do something right?! My point is that information about breastfeeding is about 10x more accessible. But when the feeding stuff was taken care of, I didn’t know who to turn to for real, tangible advice about sleep. Sure there were forums out there which offered support from other parents. But hearing “It’s ok, it’s completely normal for your baby to wake that many times” or “that’s just colic. . . it will get better in a few more months” only made me sink deeper into despair (ok, admittedly it was more like yell, cuss and slam doors first with despair coming second).

So what did I do? I researched the crap out of sleep (and this mysterious “colic” that everyone kept talking about). Even though I was exhausted and regularly fell asleep with a book on me, I perservered. Turns out, I actually found this sleep stuff fascinating.  So anything I could get my hands on about children’s sleep, I read it. I implemented pieces from here and there, based on what I felt like was in line with our family and our parenting style. We figured out the “colic” bit too. GERD along with a dairy allergy.  Who knew? Antacids and cutting out dairy did the trick to make him more comfortable.

It wasn’t until I started following some rules and strategies to optimize his sleep that I started to see improvement. The results of our efforts were life changing!  Our son was sleeping better!!!  He was exponentially happier!!  I don’t doubt his sleep has helped his health as well. With better sleep, I regained my sanity and sense of well-being.  I was able to reconnect with my husband, making us a stronger foundation for our young family. I restored my relationship with my daughter. Even my dog and I called a truce when I found the energy to run with her again.

And who doesn’t love a happy, well rested cutie?!

Gus is now 19 months. He’s funny. His giggle is infectious and makes my heart swell. He’s adventuresome. He’s taught my 3.5 year old a lot about climbing and jumping. He’s affectionate. Myself and our dog are frequently the lucky recipients of his generous hugs and kisses. He’s got this whole charming thing going on that makes it hard not to smile, even when he’s poured his spaghetti on the floor and is wearing his bowl on his head. His sleep is still something we work hard to maintain, but I know it’s well worth the effort.

I got a bit more serious about my enthusiasm for children’s sleep and I completed my certification as a Children’s Sleep Consultant with the Family Sleep Institute. My instructor has been doing this for almost 20 years. She’s an amazing mentor and friend to have.

I love sharing the power of sleep. I love working towards a common goal with awesome families. I love when families get better rest and begin to feel and do better. I love the opportunity to create positive change.

I’m thrilled to have a job I feel passionate about.

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