Blending Into The Sea Of Online Mompreneurs

Child sleep problems can persist into adolescence and adulthood. Studies have linked child sleep problems with learning and memory issues as well as aggressive behavior and obesity. Sometimes, problems associated with adolescence such as depression, anxiety, and drugs stem from sleep deprivation. Simply put, children need restorative sleep for healthy cognitive and physical growth. In many cases, the daytime sleep goals are met over the course of multiple naps. If they do not meet their daytime sleep requirements, it will be difficult to compensate for all the lost daytime sleep during their nighttime stretch which will encourage the disruptive sleep cycle all over again. Understanding your child’s specific daytime and nighttime sleep goals is crucial. The only way to meet daytime goals is by prioritizing naps. A night full of calm and restorative sleep is made possible by adequate naps through the day. Next, watch for your child’s sleep window and facilitate a nap at the right time. For babies 6 months and older, it is beneficial to provide a minimum nap length of 45 minutes, which is the duration of a restorative sleep cycle. Children thrive on patterns.

Flip The Switch

They are trying to make sense of the world in every way, and they look for patterns to anticipate what comes next. Routines, which are based on patterns provide a child with a sense of security. Routines are made when we practice the same thing with consistency. The way we respond to our child’s sleep patterns sets the basis for how they react and what they will come to expect the next time. Too much of a change will only lead to chaos as your child is not able to make sense of your behaviors when the pattern is disrupted. This is what is necessary to eliminate the future tears and frustration. Many parents fall prey to inconsistency because they are exhausted, overwhelmed, desperate, confused and racked with guilt. Here are some typical examples. Sometimes mompreneurs may feed their child to sleep and then other times they try to put their child down without that feeding. The result is usually a hysterical and inconsolable baby at bedtime. Can you see what it is like for your child not knowing what to expect? That’s why they are crying nonstop. Don’t worry if this sounds all too familiar.

We're In This Together

It is possible to begin a practice of consistency today. Make a routine for your child during bedtime and do everything you can to follow the same pattern at the same time every night. Also, decide on a good way to respond if your child does wake up in the middle of the night. Whatever you do, keep it consistent. Parents are so utterly exhausted! Did you know that parents lose an estimated 44 days of sleep in the first year of a child’s life? That is 1055 hours of lost sleep. 21% of these children will continue to suffer compromised sleep habits beyond their third birthdays. In fact, studies predict that many parents do not go back to full nights of sleep until their child is 6 years old! How will that affect your life and your business? How long can you continue to operate in this sleep deprived condition of brain fog and diminished energy? What do you think your productivity will be like if this continues? This is an issue that must be addressed immediately. Children are learning new skills every day of their lives. It’s important to understand that for children 6 months to 5 years of age, sleep is a learned skill just like everything else. And yes, just like everything else, they may form undesirable habits around sleep. Sleep crutches are not necessarily bad. However, as they get older, they will need to do away with these sleep crutches in order to become independent sleepers.

Keep On Breaking The Rules

My guidance at this point would be to identify at what stage of readiness your child is. This will inform your ability to gently wean off of the sleep crutches so that they don’t become overly dependent on you to provide soothing support at every sleep cycle. These 5 steps can help you create a calm and consistent routine around your child’s sleep so they fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. That means that you can get the sleep you need to have the energy, focus, and productivity to support the balance of being a powerhouse mompreneur, a confident mother of an independent sleeper, and the leader of a harmonious household. Mompreneurs hire me to identify their unique strengths so that they are no longer invisible and are able to stand out authentically in their crowded market. My mission is to show you how. The one thing every mompreneur needs to know when they are feeling invisible to their potential clients is that there is only one you. Instead of being lost in the crowd, you can stand out easily when you are clear and committed to showing up as yourself in business. Your uniqueness is what will separate you from the crowd. When you don’t know who you really are and how you want to show up, this often leads to copycat behavior. This is exactly why you risk blending into the sea of online mompreneurs. When everyone sounds the same and acts the same, why would someone choose you? Your potential clients will choose you over another, precisely because of who you are. When you identify your unique strengths and are able to express them in your professional capacity, you will be well on your way to creating a brand from the inside out. However, in the world we live in, we are accustomed to being bombarded with other people’s thoughts and feelings about us. Social media and advertising messages infiltrate our every thought. Because of this, we are conditioned to live from the outside in, always using other people’s experience of us as our measuring stick. This is not the best way to live and it’s not a good foundation on which to build your business. It’s important to be able to connect with who you are and what makes you unique. How can you differentiate yourself from others if you are trying to live up to what they think about you? Building visibility based on what other people think about you can be quite hard.