TinyWinks Sleep Consultant

Did you know that the first 3 years of your babies' life, their brain grows and develops faster than any other stage in their entire life?

A 3 year old brain is 80% of their adult brain size and 90% by age 5! Crazy right!?

Our babies have all the neurons (brain cells) they'll have for their life, and at least one million new neural connections are being made every second. It's these connections that make our babies' brains really start to switch on.

Connecting these neurons will support our babies as they learn to communicate, move, and form trusting relationships.

These first few years of our children's lives are crucial for making positive and healthy connections that will build the foundation for the rest of their life.

While it may not seem like our babies will have memory of their early life experiences, through repetition, these interactions are beginning to form their worldview.

Both positive and adverse childhood experiences will have a lasting impact on our child's brain development. It's true what they say that our body stores memories, this is especially true in those early years of life while these connections are being formed.

How we respond to our babies' needs will shape their worldview. By offering a loving and nurturing caregiver/child relationship, we are building a foundation of secure attachment as their brain learns they are safe and loved.

Some things we can do to support the developing brain:
• Nurturing touch and closeness
• Play, play, and more play!
• Smiling and talking with uninterrupted eye contact
• Calm and loving tone of voice 
• Music and singing
• Responding to our child's needs in a timely manner
• Offering positive new experiences and opportunities to explore the world around them
• Meeting our own needs! The first few years are so challenging as a parent... This is why it's so important to schedule some time out for oursevles so we can be more responsive and attentive with our babies during the difficult moments.

Can you think of any other ways you are building positive neural connections in your babies brain?

Have you found this information helpful?

Hey lovely followers 👋 Whether you're new here or you have been following my business since the beginning, I am so appreciative that you are here ❤️

About me:
I'm 37
I'm a mum of 3 - I have a 5 year old boy and 3 year old twin girls
I have a career background in counselling, family violence, and homelessness.

I currently support families who don't have their children in their care while I support them to rebuild their parenting skills so their children can return to a safe and loving home.

I am a trained Circle of Security Parenting (COSP) and Bringing Up Great Kids facilitator.

I became a certified infant and child sleep consultant after my twins were born in Covid, and I struggled with their sleep. I struggled with my own mental health that was a result of sleep deprivation and isolation, so I did the training primarily at the time to learn how to settle my own babies.

From there, I fell in love with how I could help other families get some rest and enjoy their parenting journey through the bleary-eyes.

I don't pretend to have all the answers, and every baby and family is so different, unique, and they will unlikely all fit into the same sleep guide routine but I love working with families to discover what suits their little ones sleep needs.

Through my personal and professional experience, I have a strong focus on attachment and maternal mental health, to support not only the childs sleep concerns, but also support the family unit thrive in these challenging and ever-changing early years.

This year I am looking to offer more virtual consultants (especially evening times as I know these work best for so many families), in home visits in my local area and face-to-face/online parenting and sleep workshops.

If you or anyone you know needs any support, or you are interested in some workshops, reach out, and we can discuss further.

Jocelyn
TinyWinks

For some families, the thought of formal sleep training can seem daunting, overwhelming and even unnecessary.

There are plenty of things within our control that we can focus on without needing to enlist the help of a sleep consultant or consider more intensive settling approaches.

We can't make our babies sleep, however we can create the right environment that is conducive to healthy sleep hygiene and can lead to more positive sleep outcomes.

THINGS WITHIN YOUR CONTROL:

- Sleep environment i.e dark room, white noise, swaddle/sleeping bag

- Follow age appropriate awake windows and nap routines

- Making bub comfortable i.e. feed, comfort, change nappy, warm enough

- Wind down routine before sleep

- Awake time activities to use up energy such as play/story time/exploring, offering natural light to support circadian rhythm when awake, connection from care givers

These are some fantastic basics for healthy sleep foundations you can add into your day to help support your little ones sleep routine.

Tips to transition your little one into child care -

- Find a centre you feel confident and comfortable with. Our children feed off our energy and will pick up any anxiety in us.

- Talk to the educators, give them a run down on routines at home. 

- Be mindful of their child ratios and ages within the room, sometimes it's simply not possible to implement the exact routine we would do at home.

- Take familiar sleep associations from home - comforters, dummies, sleeping bags. These can help your little one adjust to sleeping in a new environment.

- Be flexible. Children adapt to different environments and expectations. Its not uncommon for children to have different routines at child care to what they have at home.

- Maintain your routine on days they are home and allow for extra nap or sleep time if needed.

- On their child care days, have easy and pre made dinner ready to go. If they are overtired, its ok to skip some of the normal steps in your nightly routine to get them into bed sooner.

- After a day full of stimulation and emotions, connection and early bedtime will be your best friends in those early weeks!

- Be gentle. With you, and with them. Change can be difficult for all of us, especially for our little ones. It will get easier!

I'm back online mummas! ❤
Its been such a wild and crazy year.
Massive interstate move, another house move into our forever home and starting back at work as specialist DV counsellor.
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Everything is finally feeling stable again. My feet are steadily planted on the ground. We are out of the fog of the crazy baby stage as the girls are turning two in a few short weeks.
I'm getting back into health and fitness and finding "me" again.
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Now I want to start to get back into this community and keep on building.
Its been a slow burn and honestly I'm not a big "social media" consultant.
If thats the style of sleep consultant you're looking for I'm probably not your person.
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I am busy, my life is chaos, its a constant juggling act so finding time to make reels and posts is not a high priority, but I'm always here to offer 1:1 support to my clients. They are my priority!
Next year I'm going to focus more running workshops and opening the books to take on more consults with the option for home visits in the works.
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If you're new here, welcome. If you've been following along this staggered journey with me, thank you!
If you're here you're likely a parent so I know you get it and I dont feel I owe any apologies for my absenses over this year.
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But I'm excited for what the new year will bring and want to continue to bring you along the journey with me.
What would you love to see on my page in the new year?
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With the Christmas/holiday season ahead do you need or know a mumma who needs some sleep support?
If you need a Christmas gift idea for a friend or even yourself, why not buy the gift of sleep!? Reach out or tag a friend and we can book in a free chat ❤

https://www.tinywinks.com.au

Drumroll....... 🥁

And the winner of the Twinning Tuesdays giveaway is

Congratulations mumma, I will contact you directly to discuss claiming your amazing prize.

Prize:
60 minute consultation
Personalised sleep plan
1 email follow up support to use within 7 days
Value: $175

How exciting! 👏🤗

For those who missed out or need sleep support for their little ones, don't fear - DM me to discuss how I can support your family get some much needed rest 💫

Twinning Tuesday is here! 👭

To celebrate we're doing a GIVEAWAY!!

I hope this page can grow into an inclusive place to get much needed sleep support that fits with our individual circumstances when it comes to raising our little ones, especially multiples.

Managing twin/multiple sleep issues can feel daunting,  overwhelming and downright impossible to achieve.

I want to take that anxiety and turn it into knowledge and confidence to empower you to do what feels right to achieve the sleep goals you want.

To celebrate the first Twinning Tuesday I'm offering a special giveway for one lucky mulitple family.

Prize:
60 minute consultation
Personalised sleep plan
1 email follow up support to use within 7 days
Value: $175

How to enter:
Follow my TinyWinks page
Comment and tag a deserving multiple friend (or yourself)
Share this post to your story

It's that simple!

The winner will be drawn on Sunday 3rd April at 9pm EST

Anxious about clocks changing this weekend?
Rest easy and swipe across for some tips to get you through.

If you have any daylight savings questions let me know below 👇

When Casey was around four weeks old I remember asking a newly acquainted mum friend, 'Does this get any easier?'.

It makes me laugh now that I had deemed her an expert because she had a few weeks up on us.

She thoughtfully paused for a moment and said: 'It doesn't get easier, just different'.

Oof how she was right. All those leaps and wonder weeks that bled into each other. Punctuated only by teething and illness.

But then somehow it did start to get easier in small incremental ways that you don't really notice at the time. Suddenly you're not carrying muslin cloths everywhere because he’s stopped bringing up milk. Suddenly he’s stopped dribbling and the bibs get packed away. Suddenly you've no use for teething granules. Suddenly your back stops aching so much. Suddenly he will play independently for 10 minutes here and there, 20 minutes even. Suddenly he drops all naps and the day no longer revolves around nap battles and timing everything to a tee. Suddenly the gro-egg seems redundant. Suddenly your big jam-packed baby bag consists of just a cup of water and some raisins. Suddenly, and crucially, sleep is no longer a stranger.

Simultaneous gains and losses.

Babyhood. It felt impossible until suddenly, it didn't anymore. It lasted an eternity, yet no time at all. I soaked it up and wished it away. I’m glad it’s over but miss it beyond belief. It was so hard. But never better. Ever.

Art by:
Words: Karen McMillan (Mother Truths)

Twinning Tuesdays are coming starting next week!

Being a twin mum I want to shine the light on raising multiples whether it be sleep issues, feeding, maternal mental health and those handy twin must haves (I'm looking at you, toddler harnesses 🤣)

Every Tuesday I will post a Q&A specific for anything twins/triplets etc.

From the moment we give birth we are outnumbered so I'm here to offer all the support I can.

Let me below what you'd like to see on Twinning Tuesdays and I'll try to make it happen.

Q&A will be the beginning but would love to see this grow into more of an informative space as well.

Tag a multiple mumma so they don't miss out x

Has your little one recently started (or soon to begin) child care? Swipe for some handy tips!

As my own 14 month old girls started child care this week, I thought what better time for this post. I learnt a lot from my eldest who started when he was 9 months old and I understand the anxiety when it comes to sleep disturbances.

Whether your child is a perfect sleeper or has a bit more trouble when it comes to nap time, child care can add a whole other layer of stress.

Here are my go to tips for parents:

• Familiar sleep associations

By having something that is familiar to their home sleep environment, they will be my comfortable and have a sense of security at nap time.

If they don't have any familiar sleep props, this is a great time to introduce a comforter.

While you may get incredibly lucky, most child care centres aren't the same as their normal sleep environment when it comes to darkness, white noise etc, so having anything that gives bub a sense of familiarity will assist at nap time.

• Chat to your child's day care

I cannot recommend this enough. If we don't talk to them, they don't know. While they may not be able to recreate your little ones nursery, they can try to follow your routine, settling preferences etc.

They want your little ones to nap and feel rested as much as we do, so they are usually pretty supportive

• HAVE A PLAN B

Unfortunately, even with all of these tips, our children just won't sleep well (particularly in those early days/weeks) of child care. While it may get easier with time, there are some things you can do while they are home:

- Aim for early bedtime. If that means easy dinner and skipping bath time, that's ok!

- Let them sleep a bit longer at nap time if they need it. An extra 15/30 minutes at lunch won't throw off your whole day. If they are exhausted, let them rest.

- Try and maintain a consistent routine as much as possible to keep the days at home on track. Child care is new and unfamiliar, more than ever they will need that predictable routine of home.

Share your child care sleep tips below 👇