[00:00:00] Missy Morrison Charko: if you're doing the bedtime routine and you're already worked up or you're very tense than baby, toddler, school age child, they're going to be tense too because they know that it's a struggle, especially if we get to that toddler. And school-aged children. The child doesn't look forward to it, the parent doesn't look forward to it, and it starts to become a negative thing around sleep. And we don't want that. We want sleep to be a happy thing. 

[00:00:23] Dori Durbin: Hey parents, do you struggle with trying to get your child to sleep without becoming an exhausted grumpy zombie yourself? Maybe you've even tried several things like loading them up in the car and driving or going for long walks or singing lullabies and reading stories. Until you're literally horse in your own voice. And these tricks can really work sometimes, but if he's so much easier, if you had a simple routine that consistently allowed you to actually get some sleep. Well, here's great news. News.

[00:00:55] Dori Durbin: I brought a guest today who can help you. She's a certified sleep [00:01:00] coach for children, a certified pediatric sleep sense consultant.  The founder of say yes to the rest pediatric sleep consulting, which I love that name by the way. And she provides one-on-one support to exhausted parents so that they can get their child to sleep and not lose themselves. Welcome to the show. Missy Morrison. Churko.

[00:01:22] Missy Morrison Charko: hi, thank you so much for having me. 

[00:01:25] Dori Durbin: Yes, thank you, Missy one of the things that we we're talking a little bit about.

[00:01:29] Dori Durbin: When kids need new sleep routines, what is one of the most common mistakes or obstacles that parents make that generally causes them to go right back to their old habits 

[00:01:41] Missy Morrison Charko: again? I would say the number one issue that parents have when they're trying to make a change in any type of sleep habits is consistency.

[00:01:52] Missy Morrison Charko: So often we'll try something for a day or two, and if we don't see the change that we're looking for, we just. [00:02:00] Give up or if it's hard we give up and I so it can okay I can't impress enough how important is when you're gonna make a change in your child's sleep schedule or in your sleep schedule to be Consistent and to do it every day and give it some time.

[00:02:14] Missy Morrison Charko: It's not gonna happen overnight So give it a week give it two weeks and try to be consistent with it and I think there's another one that goes right hand in hand with that and that's Just being fearful of change. I think that's another one. Just being afraid to even take that step to change that sleep scheduler, to change those habits and not knowing if there's going to be the outcome that you're looking for.

[00:02:36] Missy Morrison Charko: Is it going to be a difficult journey to get there? All of those things kind of factor in. And so I think a lot of times we know we need that change, but we're afraid to take those steps to get there and see what that outcome is going to be first. Again, I think that's 

[00:02:52] Dori Durbin: With any situation that we're making big changes to, isn't it?

[00:02:56] Dori Durbin: It's like that fear of not knowing what's going to happen next[00:03:00] and your brain goes right to the unraveling instead of the 

[00:03:03] Missy Morrison Charko: success. Yeah. It's that fear of the unknown. And it's, and with our, in this day and age with society being so much in social media and Google and having access to.

[00:03:12] Missy Morrison Charko: so much information all the time. We're always have information coming at us that if we're Googling changing sleep or sleep training, sleep habits, there's so much information. It becomes very overwhelming for parents. And then we don't do anything. We just sit and say I know I should do this. I know I need to make a change, but I'm scared of what the change, what will come from that because I've read.

[00:03:37] Missy Morrison Charko: A, B, and C from three different places, three different, some misinformation, some that's not, and then it's just, you just don't try in the end, and that's difficult too, because then you're right where you started, and you don't get started right in there, if that makes sense.

[00:03:49] Missy Morrison Charko: Now I'm convolvulating sentences there, right? It 

[00:03:53] Dori Durbin: does, it does. It really does. And we were talking before I was admitting that when my kids were little, we would hop in the car [00:04:00] and we knew the routine. We knew the, like the, basically the drive that needed to happen. And if we drove long enough, then hopefully they fell asleep first.

[00:04:09] Dori Durbin: And then when we got them home, we got them into bed and I was laughing telling you this, I would crawl on the floor out of their room so that I didn't wake them up. And then I would lie in bed waiting for. How long that would last, right? Yes, 

[00:04:23] Missy Morrison Charko: and then you don't sleep because you're laying there waiting and wondering.

[00:04:27] Missy Morrison Charko: And you're waiting for that little sound in the monitor to just be like, Oh, they're up, and that's, and it's so common. Your story is so common. That's, that is, and I shared with you my story too. I used to do that with my daughter when she was nine months before I was in this world of sleep consulting and I would do the same and drive around and hope that she would sleep the whole time and I would drive until she was done her nap.

[00:04:51] Missy Morrison Charko: So sometimes it was a two hour drive in a circle. And it just it's exotic. It's exhausting. And then we're not getting that sleep during the [00:05:00] evening. Once you do crawl out of the room and get out of there and hope they stay asleep. Then you're waiting all night to see when they're going to wake up.

[00:05:06] Missy Morrison Charko: So then you're not getting restful sleep either, which is not beneficial for anybody. 

[00:05:11] Dori Durbin: And I would think after a while they would start to sense some of that stress of how bedtime was stressful for you. So bedtime is stressful for them. Is 

[00:05:19] Missy Morrison Charko: that. Probably true. It is absolutely true. That's something that I say to the families that I work with so often is you have to put forth as parents the calm and confidence because they can feed off of all of that.

[00:05:33] Missy Morrison Charko: So absolutely, if you're doing the bedtime routine and you're already worked up or you're very tense than baby, toddler, school age child, they're going to be tense too because they know that it's a struggle, especially if we get to that toddler. And school-aged children. If bedtime is a struggle overall and you've got bedtime battles going on, it's just a constant every night it's a struggle that nobody looks forward to.

[00:05:55] Missy Morrison Charko: The child doesn't look forward to it, the parent doesn't look forward to it, and it starts to [00:06:00] become a negative thing around sleep. And we don't want that. We want sleep to be a happy thing. We want kids to want to go to sleep. So that is. What happens is that, that, that vicious cycle, because they do, they feed off of our energy and so it does become a parent's not happy, then baby and child aren't going to be happy either.

[00:06:18] Missy Morrison Charko: Yeah. 

[00:06:19] Dori Durbin: So are there some common misconceptions that parents have about sleep? Because just like you just said, we tend to downplay our, the importance of our sleep, but also, like how this all filters in together with the family. So do you run into several misconceptions about the importance 

[00:06:35] Missy Morrison Charko: of sleep?

[00:06:36] Missy Morrison Charko: I do. And it ranges. Some of them are about exactly what I do with working with sleep training. So there's lots of misconceptions with that, but then there's just the giant misconception that. Oh, they'll grow out of it or, oh, they don't really need that much sleep. They're fine. They're, they look happy during the day.

[00:06:54] Missy Morrison Charko: They're okay. They're off to school. They're good. Things like that, that, oh, it's just not that big of a deal. And especially [00:07:00] for parents, we do it every day to ourselves. We say, oh, no, I don't need to go to bed yet. I'm going to scroll my phone for a little bit longer. I'm going to watch this show for a little bit longer.

[00:07:09] Missy Morrison Charko: And that's a habit we all are guilty of, me included. But we forget that, yes, we do need that time to zone down at the end of the day. But we also need to get that sleep, too, because what it does is it accumulates. It's actually called sleep debt. So if a child is not getting enough sleep or parents are not getting enough sleep, you start to accumulate sleep debt.

[00:07:29] Missy Morrison Charko: And your body actually starts to break down because you're just not getting that adequate amount of sleep that you need to restore. Because when we sleep, our body restores, our brain restores, it repairs, the cells in your body repair it's, there's so much for children. That's when everything they've seen, they've learned during the day gets absorbed in and then they, for the next day, then they're ready to go.

[00:07:50] Missy Morrison Charko: But if they don't have that adequate time, To go through the proper sleep cycles then the next day, they're not going to be able to learn as much. They're not going to be able to perform as [00:08:00] good at school and have the social friendships, things like that. All of that gets affected. So I, I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions is that sleep just doesn't really matter that much.

[00:08:10] Missy Morrison Charko: And it's one, one good thing with that though, Dory, is that recently there's been a big push from medical experts and health professionals saying, Sleep is as important as eating and breathing that it's a part of a healthy lifestyle and it's something we need to focus on more. So that push has been a really good thing.

[00:08:29] Missy Morrison Charko: So I think parents are starting to really understand how important it is. But I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions is, Oh, it's not a big deal. We do it to ourselves as parents too. 

[00:08:39] Dori Durbin: Yeah. Yeah. And just curious with, you were talking about social media a little bit with parents, but I also think.

[00:08:46] Dori Durbin: Do you think that's playing into the role with the kids too, like they're unwinding to things? Oh, yes. 

[00:08:52] Missy Morrison Charko: Yeah, it's especially it's I just oh, I just wrote an article. I just did something on this. There's a the [00:09:00] screen time especially for school aged kids and toddlers as well because that's typically when We start giving them tablets now or a phone to play with here and there more for the school age kids, though, that they're on their phones or they're on tablets or they're watching TV.

[00:09:15] Missy Morrison Charko: One of the biggest things that I push is that an hour, at least an hour before bed. And this goes for parents to at least an hour before bed. Those screens should be turned off, put away. They should not be anywhere near. And that's because the blue light that's emitted from these screens is actually hindering our melatonin production.

[00:09:34] Missy Morrison Charko: So then you're, it's harder to sleep. The other thing that goes hand in hand with that is that if kids are watching TV videos, playing video games before bed, It's winding them up. It's stimulating them. So when it's time to relax and get into bed, that's a hard thing for them to come back. We'd much rather see them reading a book, listening to music, doing some meditation, something that's calming before bed.

[00:09:58] Missy Morrison Charko: Preferably I like to see [00:10:00] screens turned off two hours before bed, but sometimes that's a big push, especially if parents have to get. Dinner ready, things like that if they're working but one hour, if everyone can strive for one hour prior to bedtime, you'll see a big difference in your child's behavior and the way that they go to sleep at night.

[00:10:16] Missy Morrison Charko: And you'll feel different for yourself too. And it's a hard one for parents to do, to turn off our devices at the end of the day, but give it a try for a couple of days, see what happens, that's a really good experiment 

[00:10:26] Dori Durbin: to try out

[00:10:26] Missy Morrison Charko: Yes, and there's a great another a great thing that you can do in your house to is to have like screen free zones in your house.

[00:10:35] Missy Morrison Charko: So certain areas that and those are the, the boundaries that you put up are, your bedroom is a screen free zone. Let's say the dinner table is a screen free zone. And like you said, do an experiment with your family. Do that for a week or two. See how it goes. See how things change.

[00:10:51] Missy Morrison Charko: I'll bet you that at the dinner table, you end up having way bigger conversations about your kid's day. You'll start finding out more about what they're doing, how their [00:11:00] friendships are going. If we just shut down a little bit from that, that all the screens and the social media, then it's, it can be a really big benefit to the whole family overall.

[00:11:09] Dori Durbin: Now, you said also, you mentioned just sleep consulting in general, that there are misconceptions about that and that you didn't even know what a sleep consultant was before you had one. That's 

[00:11:20] Missy Morrison Charko: right. Tell us about that a little bit. Yes. Yes. So as sleep consultants are a fairly new job in, in the world of health professions and wellness I would see in the last 20 or so years.

[00:11:32] Missy Morrison Charko: And there's some pretty big names out there that have been doing it for quite some time but now it's grown much, much bigger. Some of the misconceptions and some of the things to watch out for too for someone like myself, you want to make sure. hiring a sleep consultant or a sleep coach that they are certified, that they've gone through a reputable certification program.

[00:11:51] Missy Morrison Charko: Talk to them. Most of us offer free calls that you can chat, make sure it's right for your family. Ask the important questions that you need to have [00:12:00] answered. When it comes to sleep consulting and sleep training there's a lot of misconceptions. especially about sleep training. The Ferber method is something that's been pushed for a long time or the cried out method.

[00:12:12] Missy Morrison Charko: So a lot of parents are under the impression that is the only way to sleep train your baby or your toddler or your older child. That's the way to do it. And that's not true. There are a lot of really great ways now that we can be supportive, that we can be there to comfort our child while teaching them those independent sleep skills, sure, there still are going to be some tears here and there, I'll never say that it's going to be tear free because that's pretty much impossible, but there are ways that we can be there to support them.

[00:12:41] Missy Morrison Charko: support the children that are much better and make the parents much happier too. It's amazing when I talk through these things with families that I work with before they, hire me that they'll say, Oh, I had no idea that we could do something like that, that we just assumed that it was going to be cried out.

[00:12:57] Missy Morrison Charko: And that's not true. But always find somebody who's a [00:13:00] good fit for your family. And that is followed that has these options. If they tell you. Nope, you can only do forever method. Then it's most likely not the right fit. If you're, especially if you're not looking for something like that.

[00:13:11] Dori Durbin: Yeah. I noticed on your website too, that you said when you work with clients, that you assess their parenting style in figuring out what this new sleep routine is going to be. Give us an idea, if we were to come to you with, a newborn and we're starting things off, how would that look for the parent 

[00:13:29] Missy Morrison Charko: side?

[00:13:29] Missy Morrison Charko: Yeah, so for newborns, we definitely, we don't, I don't sleep train newborns because they're obviously too little and cute. And it wouldn't work very well for newborns when we work with newborns. When that happens, a family will come to me and we'll set sleep goals which is amazing. I love it when I get brand new families or even families that are pregnant that come and want to learn ahead of time.

[00:13:50] Missy Morrison Charko: So you're setting goals for what's to come in the coming months. Now with newborn sleep schedules, their schedule is going to be very up and down with on demand feeding, things [00:14:00] like that. But when we get closer to that three month age and. Four month age, if we had that education prior to what it's gonna look like then.

[00:14:08] Missy Morrison Charko: And parents have started implementing bedtime routines, things like that. 'cause you can start bedtime routines with just little newborns, even if it's just a little sponge bath and a little cuddle with a lullaby. Things like that you can start doing at night to start establishing healthy sleep habits.

[00:14:22] Missy Morrison Charko: And then once you get to those older months, ages three months, four months, then we start watching awake windows and following that, which can help. set up amazing schedules for your child going forward. So newborns, it's a lot of education first. And I think that's I, again, I love it when people come early because the more, the more prepared you are and nobody sends you home with a book with the baby.

[00:14:44] Missy Morrison Charko: That's for sure. There was no manual that came home.

[00:14:48] Dori Durbin: So then let's say for instance, One who has an older child maybe they're three or four and you want to reset their sleep routine. How does that look in comparison? [00:15:00] 

[00:15:00] Missy Morrison Charko: Yes. So when I start working with once, once we're past that newborn phase and we can work on sleep schedules. And I know you mentioned about like family dynamic on my website.

[00:15:09] Missy Morrison Charko: I, when I do my first calls, the biggest thing for me is finding out what is the family schedule? What are they, what is their work schedule? Can they actually even. Is this feasible for them? Because we have a lot of families that maybe you're on shift work where one parent works at night, one parent works during the day, things like that, finding out what works for them, finding out what their values are, is crying a big deal to them.

[00:15:31] Missy Morrison Charko: Is that something that we need to really monitor and make sure we're using a strategy that the parents are super comfortable. So all of that. Then I take that and I look at, the awake windows. And when I say awake windows, these are the times that our Children are awake between naps. So if you have a child that's still taking naps and then it's the time before bedtime between a nap or it's the whole day and we're making sure we find that awake window before we get to bedtime is the adequate amount that they're not overtired or undertired by [00:16:00] the time we get to naps and bedtime.

[00:16:02] Missy Morrison Charko: So finding that proper schedule for that child, finding what works because every kid's different but usually they fall in the averages where we can tweak it here and there. So I work with. Families for usually around three weeks at a time. So it's not a one time deal. It's not a one day thing. We work together with logging and seeing sleep patterns to find the ideal schedule for parents and for the child to so to make sure that it's working for everybody.

[00:16:28] Missy Morrison Charko: I hope I answered your question. Yes, no, 

[00:16:31] Dori Durbin: definitely. I think that's important to know because I think, sometimes we try to cram our lives into a funnel thinking that this is going to work for us because this funnel works versus trying to take our lives and redirect our attention, schedules can't always change to fit something new that you're trying. So how do you incorporate that into what you're doing? And it 

[00:16:53] Missy Morrison Charko: has to be typically when we're doing the initial sleep training part, when we're teaching the kids the [00:17:00] skills, the independent sleep skills, I always ask the parents to be super flexible in those first couple of weeks.

[00:17:07] Missy Morrison Charko: So making sure they're not taking any trips. Or have a lot of relatives coming to visit that and that they don't have a ton of activities that they have to be at Within that time frame so that we can really teach those skills and be super consistent for those couple of weeks And then after that I always recommend I'll give a little tip after that is doing 80 percent 20 percent rule So 80 percent of the time you're following that schedule 20 percent of the time, go live life, go travel, go do things.

[00:17:34] Missy Morrison Charko: Don't worry about it. Throw the schedule, as much as you can and go do things, go do mom and tot classes, all of that. But trying to stick to that schedule, whatever you find that works. Like I have a great example. I had a client who was, they live on a farm and they would have to go and occasionally go chase the horses or go do things with the cows, whatever it was.

[00:17:53] Missy Morrison Charko: So we had to find a schedule that worked for their family. And occasionally did it get off [00:18:00] schedule? Yes, it did. Did the baby do okay? Absolutely. They did great. So you just have to roll with it and be as consistent as you possibly can. 

[00:18:08] Dori Durbin: I remember missing naps and thinking that the world was going to end because that meant the rest of the day was off, and usually I hate to say this, usually it was something happened where someone else was watching my child. So if it was grandparents, if it was babysitters, we even had a nanny for a short stint. So do you have advice about that? Napping world? 

[00:18:33] Missy Morrison Charko: Unfortunately, that is very true that naps especially for the young kids.

[00:18:37] Missy Morrison Charko: If it doesn't happen, it can really be. pretty detrimental to the rest of the day. The biggest thing if the naps do get thrown off or a baby or toddler takes a shorter nap during the day, move their bedtime earlier. That is the best thing that you can do. So that way they're not getting overtired.

[00:18:57] Missy Morrison Charko: What happens when kids and babies get [00:19:00] overtired is it makes it much more difficult for them to fall asleep. And then that causes. Wakeups throughout the night or early morning wakeups because there's their body clock or circadian rhythm is all off So if it does happen do the early bedtime go a half an hour earlier Maybe even 45 minutes earlier just so you can save try to save a bit of it And then try to get back on schedule the next day But yes, it is important to make sure that we honor those nap times just because for the young ones that daytime sleep is pretty crucial for their whole day cycle.

[00:19:35] Missy Morrison Charko: Is it inconvenient sometimes for parents? Yes. You might not be able to do as many meetups with your friends, things like that. You have to plan, play dates around that, but in the end, baby's going to be happier. And you'll be happier at the play date than if baby misses, if the baby misses the nap.

[00:19:52] Missy Morrison Charko: So definitely trying your best to get that consistent schedule. And making sure that you're using the right awake windows. That is key. So many [00:20:00] parents come to me and they're like, I don't know what the awake window should be. And that's... That's one of the things that I think could, is one of the hardest things for parents is not knowing when is my baby supposed to nap?

[00:20:10] Missy Morrison Charko: When is my toddler supposed to take that nap? So finding those spots as well is really important. 

[00:20:15] Dori Durbin: And that's where that assessment comes back in and figuring out your routine and all those pieces. So when people are consistent and they're actually following plans, have you seen just crazy amazing transformations and like how the kids feel, how the parents 

[00:20:31] Missy Morrison Charko: feel?

[00:20:32] Missy Morrison Charko: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It is incredible. I mentioned you were having our little chat that I had a client just finish up this week that said to me. This was life changing and that right there is what I love to hear and that is not the first client to say that to me That's what's even more amazing that I hear that time and time again It is amazing that once we do get that sleep on track and the child is sleeping independently getting that Consolidated sleep at night that they [00:21:00] need and then the parents then are able to relax and have that sleep that they need Everyone is a better version of themselves the next day, and that's what's amazing.

[00:21:08] Missy Morrison Charko: So the feedback that I get is amazing, and there's always going to be hiccups in sleep. There's always going to be changes. It's ever changing as your child gets older. Things are going to change, so it's not always going to be. picture perfect. But if you have the education behind you and the skills and your child has learned those skills, they'll always bounce back from sickness, from travel, all of that.

[00:21:30] Missy Morrison Charko: It all becomes easier. It's pretty amazing. It really is. And it's, I love doing this because I just love seeing those transformations for families. That's 

[00:21:40] Dori Durbin: so awesome. I'm sure it probably, age wise, too, maybe you see more of those transformations as the kids are a little bit older? 

[00:21:46] Missy Morrison Charko: Yes, it's it, both sides.

[00:21:48] Missy Morrison Charko: I, I work with ages, we do the newborn education, but I work with ages 3 to 4 months up to age 12 is currently my age range that I work in. And I love all of the ages, but [00:22:00] I... I specifically really love toddlers and preschoolers and even the older, the school age children. Because yes, it's amazing, especially if a child let's say a child that's doing daycare or they're just starting preschool and they're really struggling with emotional outbursts, let's say, or they're having tantrums or they're having trouble making friends.

[00:22:18] Missy Morrison Charko: They can't stay awake at school, things like that happens. And then we get working with them when we work on boundaries, things like that, things that are really important that kids thrive on, they thrive on routine, they thrive on boundaries and then seeing them get that sleep they need and then hearing back from the parents that.

[00:22:37] Missy Morrison Charko: Oh, my goodness, the daycare said or the preschool said he had an amazing day, how happy he was, and that just to me, I think is amazing because it's never too late. That's the other thing, Dory, is that it's never too late to instill these habits with them. There is no age limit that says, Oh, by the time they're 10.

[00:22:55] Missy Morrison Charko: Oh if you can do this at any time, you can teach them these healthy habits at any time. [00:23:00] So it's pretty, it's going to be 

[00:23:01] Dori Durbin: encouraging for people too, because I think, we were talking about this earlier. You get this sense that once you establish this routine that your child uses, you're stuck and you're, that's the only way that they're going to fall asleep.

[00:23:15] Dori Durbin: And then if your routine changes or you can't fulfill that. Whatever that routine is, then it feels like everything unravels. So to know that you can change it, with three weeks time, that's 

[00:23:26] Missy Morrison Charko: really fast. Yes, it is. And that's another thing I hear a lot is really in three weeks. And I actually, most of the time I used to just do two weeks.

[00:23:34] Missy Morrison Charko: And the only reason I added a third week to working with my clients is because I like to make sure that third week that everything continues to go smooth and it gives me a chance to remind parents, stay consistent. Stay consistent. bUt usually within two weeks we see a huge amount of progress which is amazing.

[00:23:54] Missy Morrison Charko: And it's, I think it's really important to point out too, because I get a lot of families too, that'll come to me if they have [00:24:00] children with special needs. And they've been told by doctors that they cannot that their child will never sleep because maybe they have autism or they have.

[00:24:08] Missy Morrison Charko: Down syndrome, things like that. And that's not true at all. There are so many there. It's definitely a more detailed approach. And we make sure to be very specific. And we take it one very tiny step at a time. But all children can benefit from sleep. So that I think should be, it should be well known as well.

[00:24:26] Missy Morrison Charko: And I think it's not. I think there's some misconceptions there too. That's good. So if 

[00:24:32] Dori Durbin: you had advice to give, let's say a family with a newborn who was just, or maybe even pregnant still, they were setting up their nursery, are there any things that you would say should be in the nursery that will help with the whole sleep process?

[00:24:46] Missy Morrison Charko: I'm going to take it the opposite way and say, what shouldn't be in here for Christmas. Oh, that's fine. That's fine. Because so too, so often that's, I do actually do like visualizations of rooms when people come to me so that I can see what's in there. And [00:25:00] it's funny because we, and I did the same thing when my daughter was born, I decorated, I had everything, the mobile, the blankets and all that.

[00:25:07] Missy Morrison Charko: And then I learned very quickly about safe sleep. So the one thing you don't need much in there and most of the time your newborn is going to be sleeping in your room with you in a bassinet or in something to that effect so that they're close to you, especially with feedings and all of that. So typically the crib's going to sit in the nursery for a while anyway, but in the nursery itself, you want to make sure to have blackout curtains.

[00:25:31] Missy Morrison Charko: That's super important having a dark room and same thing if baby's sleeping in. In your bedroom in a bassinet, let's say same thing. You're going to want to have dark curtains in there too, because that dark is so important for their body clock and for their melatonin production. So make sure you have dark curtains.

[00:25:48] Missy Morrison Charko: You want to keep the house and the rooms nice, cool and comfortable. So typically between I talk in Celsius because I'm up in Canada, but 18 to 22 degrees Celsius or around 68 to 72 Fahrenheit[00:26:00] is a really good range. Just, and that's good for parents. To keep it cool and comfortable as well.

[00:26:05] Missy Morrison Charko: Definitely. Once you do start using the crib, we don't want anything in the crib. We just want a crib or mattress and a tight fitted sheet in the mattress. And that is it. So that is for promoting safe sleep. And you can always access all of the safe sleep guidelines at the American Academy of Pediatrics is a great resource to check out.

[00:26:25] Missy Morrison Charko: But yes, you don't want any blankets. No pillows, no stuffies, none of that should be in the crib until they're 8 to 12 months for a lovey, 18 months for a blanket or pillow. So we want to make sure we keep it every, really nice and free. We don't want any mobiles hanging above them. That's actually super distracting for them.

[00:26:44] Missy Morrison Charko: Super stimulating. We want to do the opposite. And then a sound machine is something that I do typically recommend, especially if you have other children in the house, if you have a dog in the house, if you have a next door neighbor who's noisy, if you live on a busy street, maybe you live in a city, [00:27:00] things like that, keeping it at a nice low decibel.

[00:27:02] Missy Morrison Charko: Keep it away from the crib, put it on the wall where there's the most noise, but sound machines can be very beneficial and help to soothe baby to sleep. Not everybody needs one but I typically do do recommend it. But little the less things, the better. You don't need much. And of course, keep cords away, things like that from the crib, anything that they could.

[00:27:21] Missy Morrison Charko: Pull on, yank on. We definitely want safe sleep. That's, that is probably the number one thing is safe sleep. Boy, 

[00:27:29] Dori Durbin: I tell you what, I did it all wrong. 

[00:27:31] Missy Morrison Charko: And I hear that too from a whole lot of people too. Because of crib, there's crib bumpers and all that. We want to avoid all that. Especially with suffocation and with SIDS.

[00:27:40] Missy Morrison Charko: That's the biggest reason that they promote all that. And always putting your baby on their back. to sleep is another big one too. That's a huge one too. Yeah, there's a lot. Sounds like a lot of rules, but it saves you money because you don't have to buy all these things. Yeah, I was going to say it seems so much 

[00:27:54] Dori Durbin: more simpler than what we're told.

[00:27:56] Dori Durbin: Yeah. So 

[00:27:56] Missy Morrison Charko: yeah, it's very simple. Like it really is. It's very simple. And a [00:28:00] lot of parents worry about that transition from the bed from the bassinet to the crib because the crib is much bigger and it seems so blank, right? Because you don't have things for them to snuggle in. They don't really need it.

[00:28:11] Missy Morrison Charko: They're really okay. Once they're in there and they just, they go to sleep, which is what you want, they're not worrying about the stuffy. And once they get to that age of 12 months, then it's absolutely okay to encourage the lovey or the little stuffed animal and the blanket later.

[00:28:25] Missy Morrison Charko: Sleep sacks are a wonderful thing. Wear sleep sacks. They are the best way if you want your child to have a wearable blanket so that you're not risking any type of suffocation. I highly recommend sleep sacks. They are amazing. 

[00:28:36] Dori Durbin: Okay. Okay. I'm learning a lot here. 

[00:28:39] Missy Morrison Charko: I can go on for hours. 

[00:28:41] Dori Durbin: That's good.

[00:28:43] Dori Durbin: This one might take you a second. What are the top three things you wish parents taught kids about their sleeping habits when they were 

[00:28:51] Missy Morrison Charko: young? That's a good one. I would say that the number one thing is making sure you're teaching your child [00:29:00] that sleep is a good thing, that it's a positive thing.

[00:29:03] Missy Morrison Charko: Talking to your child, especially if they're at an age, you can talk to them about if you have a toddler, why is sleep important? How does it help you? Does it help you play on the playground? Does it help you learn at school? Getting them involved in that, intrinsic.

[00:29:15] Missy Morrison Charko: Knowledge that they have will help to make all of it easier as you're establishing routines and things like that for babies. I think one of the biggest things for parents that they can do for their child, that their child will remember is starting to establish a bedtime routine for them.

[00:29:32] Missy Morrison Charko: Naptime routines. Does that'll stick with them? If they're, if your child has a routine as a baby and then as a toddler and then as a preschooler, they'll continue that as a. as an adult. It's somethi with them and having a be important for kids.

[00:29:48] Missy Morrison Charko: It's because it cues our body time for sleep. So that's you establish that. A Establishing the why, how much sleep we're supposed to get, making sure that sleep is important. I think I mentioned that are already, but and teaching [00:30:00] them those independent sleep skills. If you teach your child that early on, that's another thing they're going to take into adulthood.

[00:30:07] Missy Morrison Charko: So often I have parents come to me and say, wait a minute, my sleep is terrible. And most likely it's because. prObably didn't have great sleep as a kid either. So if you're teaching your children how to sleep independently and get that consolidated sleep and reminding them how good sleep is, even as a baby, they're going to take that with them into adulthood.

[00:30:26] Missy Morrison Charko: I promise. So that's, that would be my, that would be my answer. What a fabulous 

[00:30:32] Dori Durbin: answer at that. Very good. Very good. Missy, where can people find you and get more information about your coaching? 

[00:30:40] Missy Morrison Charko: Absolutely. So the number one place to find me is my website. So that's a say, yes, to the rest. com. That's a place where you can read more about me and who I am.

[00:30:50] Missy Morrison Charko: It's where you can book that free 15 minute call where we can just. chat about what sleep struggles you're going through. It is, there's no obligation to it. It's a chance for you to [00:31:00] see if I'm a good fit for you. If even sleep coaching is a good fit for your family. And I encourage that cause I think we're again, we talked about people being afraid.

[00:31:08] Missy Morrison Charko: Just take that risk, take that first step, because it may be the first step towards sleep for your whole family, and that is such an amazing gift that you can give them. But you can find me there at my website, and also you can follow me on Instagram at SayYesToTheRestToday. And I'm on Facebook as well at SayYesToTheRestToday.

[00:31:27] Missy Morrison Charko: And I give lots of tips, especially on Instagram. I try to post once or twice a week, not a ton, but enough to give tips. And and my, oh, and on my website I have a blog post. So that's a really great place to get a lot of tips each week and read my articles. So in that you can access on my website as well.

[00:31:44] Missy Morrison Charko: Well, 

[00:31:44] Dori Durbin: that's fantastic. I know I learned something and I Thank you for your time and your expertise 

[00:31:49] Missy Morrison Charko: absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.