Never Wake A Sleeping Baby...Or Should I?

Should you EVER wake a sleeping baby?

🥳 YES = your baby is healthy and your plan is to get them on or maintain an optimal schedule.
🤢 NO = your baby is sick or in the overtired red or orange zone. (If you're an app user - you know what's what!)

WHY? 🚌 SLEEP SCIENCE! In an adult, our body clock is programed to be awake/asleep at certain times - this is our circadian rhythm. Our circadian rhythm is controlled by the sun🌞. When our circadian rhythm matches the sun, everything in our body performs at an optimal level🥳. For ex. - each organ in your body has a schedule to optimally perform tasks. Take the gut. Your gut is programmed to process food while you are awake, & shuts down while you sleep. While you sleep, your gut slows down, absorbs food and processes toxins so that when you wake in the morning - if you're lucky = 💩. If your gut doesn't match the circadian rhythm, it gets confused and you wake up to... ⛑️ Ever been "backed up" during time zone travel? This could be why!

👩‍👧 Let's apply this to baby. Each baby (based on adjusted age) has a circadian rhythm😎. It's different than an adult's though, because their circadian rhythm includes naps. Before those naps, they have a build up of hormones that create a strong desire to sleep. While awake, they learn new skills. These naps are ESSENTIAL for their brains 🧠 because naps help them form their new skills into long term memories & form new neural connections to parts of their body (when you see twitches in fingers and toes, that's what's happening).

As a parent, do your best to keep your child's nap schedule close to their circadian rhythm. 👉 You should wake your baby when their day sleep is straying too far off their circadian rhythm. 👈 Our rule of thumb is +/- 30 minutes from their ideal. Our app 📱 keeps track of all of this for you. Link in our bio!

Why? This way, you are giving their body and brain a predictable schedule for their organs to "do their thang". The brain can prepare to turn new experiences into memories, and the gut can prepare to process toxins and foods. The body can prepare to prevent illnesses. It's a very beautiful musical ballad!