Better Baby Sleep: Up Your Parenting Game!

Howzit 👋 

This morning, I've been diving into something totally unexpected for me: video games and metrics, and how they can actually make our lives more fun, especially when it comes to helping our children get sleep.

Here's what's been on my mind (my husband works in tech so we talk about it a lot):

• Have you ever noticed how video game designers seem to understand people better than psychologists? Seriously, they've got that magic touch when it comes to keeping us hooked for hours on end!

• Let's talk about those so-called "lazy" people who can marathon a video game for 12 hours straight. Maybe they're onto something – perhaps real life just needs a bit more excitement.

• Turning baby sleep into a fun game is all about measuring progress from where you started (like going from 5 wake-ups down to 2), not against some impossible standard (like expecting them to sleep through the night).

• Because if we're constantly chasing an unattainable ideal for our baby's sleep, it's like playing a frustrating game with no clear rules.

• Taking a page from Elon Musk here, we can keep a close eye on our baby's sleep patterns in real-time to fine-tune their routine.

• As parents, we want what’s best for our kids, but sometimes it's hard to put a number on it – literally!

• Want to level up your baby's sleep routine? You could try tracking their sleep habits every day to spot areas for improvement and celebrate those small victories. My fave is Sprout Baby. This app has a sleep tracker along with other features like feeding and growth tracking. I love Sprout too because I used it throughout my pregnancies to track my symptoms and things. (See pic below of some of my fave symptoms.)

• Just like in a video game, we can turn setbacks into opportunities for growth and learning on our baby's sleep journey.

• By embracing “failure” as part of the game, we can turn sleep struggles into valuable learning experiences.

• Think about how often you check your baby's sleep metrics. You can’t obsess over it. It's all about finding the right balance between staying informed and not driving yourself crazy with worry.

• Instead of flying blind, I suggest that you create a sleep dashboard to guide your decisions and track your progress over time.

• When it comes to measuring sleep, don't forget to consider how your little one is feeling too – not just the numbers!

• It is good for husbands too, especially if yours like data. Together you can turn feelings into concrete goals by building/ assigning numerical values to things like sleep quality and comfort.

So, why don’t we get gaming and turn our sleep challenges into a video game?

What do you think?

P.S. Can you believe I missed that there was a clock change yesterday? It’s actually going to work in our favor though, because it gets light so early here. The kids slept until 6 am this morning (would’ve been 5 am yesterday).

Anyway, hope you enjoy your Monday!

And hold your babies close,

Love

Tammy Peak aka

the Sleepgoddess