Nap Trapped

Want to subscribe to every episode and get FREE sleep tools? 👉 www.naptrappedpodcast.com

Sleep training is usually talked about in terms of wake windows, self-settling, and fewer night wakings. But what parents don’t hear enough about are the unexpected, life-changing benefits that come after sleep improves.

In this episode, Sally and Bec record fresh off a Camp Snooze morning check-in, and they’re still riding the high. On Day 5 of a small-group sleep training program with three 10–11-month-olds, every baby is sleeping beautifully, but that’s not the part that gave them chills.

It’s what changed for the parents.

From couples sharing a bed again for the first time in a year, to mums having long showers, drinking hot coffee, opening the curtains, and finally feeling confident in their baby’s ability to sleep, this episode dives into the ripple effects of better sleep across the whole family.

If you need reassurance that sleep work is about more than just nights in the cot, this one’s for you.

What you’ll learn:

The emotional and mental health shifts parents don’t expect after sleep training
Why confidence, not just consistency, is the real turning point
How better sleep changes relationships, routines, and daily life
The impact of sleep on breastfeeding, appetite, and feed spacing
Why sleep training supports the whole family, not just the baby
How feeling equipped changes how parents handle regressions, illness, and early wakes
The small moments, showers, hot meals, mornings alone, that actually matter most

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome back + why we recorded this episode in real time
01:30 Camp Snooze results, and why today felt different
03:10 When baby sleep improves but parents light up
05:00 The unexpected wins no one puts on their intake forms
06:45 Confidence, empowerment, and trusting your baby
08:15 Why sleep training prepares you for regressions and real life
10:00 The ripple effect on feeding, siblings, and family dynamics
12:40 The real reason sleep work is life-changing
14:40 Final pep talk for parents on the fence

🎙️ ABOUT NAP TRAPPED

Hosted by sleep consultants Sally Woods (The Sleep Concierge) and Bec Maher (The Sleep Centre), Nap Trapped helps tired parents solve baby sleep challenges with warmth, evidence, and zero judgement. Every week, we turn real struggles into practical solutions, with a side of coffee and honesty.

Links

📩 Get updates + exclusive tools: Subscribe at www.naptrappedpodcast.com

📸 Follow Sally & Bec on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thesleepconcierge/
https://www.instagram.com/_thesleepcentre/

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Want to subscribe to every ep and enjoy FREE sleep tools? 👉 www.naptrappedpodcast.com

It’s our Sleep Detectives episode, where we answer your real-life baby sleep questions (and somehow turn each one into a mini consult). This week we cover the messy middle of the 2–1 nap transition, toddlers waking to birds even with white noise, a newborn bedtime reset, bedtime whinging at 17 months, feeding struggles at 6 months, and those brutal 4am starts at 7 months.

What You’ll Learn:

How to approach the 2–1 nap transition if you’re stuck on a “long-long” two nap day

Why we often move to a short-long transition schedule before dropping to one nap

What to do when birds (curlews, crows, kookaburras) are triggering wake-ups, even with white noise

When to bring bedtime earlier for a 7 week old, and why anchoring your morning matters

When 10–20 minutes of bedtime whinging is normal at 17 months, and when to pull bedtime earlier

Whether you can work on sleep routines when milk feeds are a struggle at 6 months, and what to check first

The red flags vs the common “simple tweaks” behind feeding issues (teat flow, spacing, solids timing)

Persistent 4am wakes at 7 months, the checklist we run, and why 4am is still a night waking

Chapters:
00:06 Sleep Detectives is back, what these Q&A eps are
01:07 2–1 nap transition when you’re on a long-long nap schedule
07:53 Toddler waking from birds, white noise and sound buffering
12:15 Newborn bedtime, when and how to bring bedtime earlier (7 weeks)
18:49 Subscribe, free resources, and searching the episode library
23:58 Feeding struggles at 6 months, can you still work on sleep routines?
29:18 When feeding issues might be more serious, what we look for in logs and growth
36:45 Persistent 4am starts at 7 months while following the schedule
41:51 Dinner timing before bed, how much gap you actually need
46:32 Wrap up (and we record the next episode right now)

🎙️ ABOUT NAP TRAPPED
Nap Trapped is a baby sleep podcast hosted by Sally Woods (The Sleep Concierge) and Bec Maher (The Sleep Centre). Each week we help tired parents solve sleep challenges with warmth, evidence, and no judgement, with practical steps you can use immediately.

Want to subscribe to every ep and enjoy FREE sleep tools? 👉 www.naptrappedpodcast.com

If you’re aiming for a 7–7 schedule and your baby wakes at 6:15am, what time do you start the day?

From the moment they open their eyes? From when you hear them on the monitor? Or from when you actually go in, turn the lights on, and start the morning?

If you picked option one or two, you might be unknowingly pulling your whole schedule earlier. And that tiny shift, repeated over days, is often why early mornings keep creeping earlier, and naps start feeling harder than they should.

This week Sally and Bec tackle one of the most common (and sanity-saving) distinctions in scheduling: awake time vs UP time. They sound like the same thing. They’re not.

Awake time is simply when your baby wakes. UP time is when you start the day, and on a 7–7 schedule, that’s the anchor that protects your body clock and stops the early rising spiral. Your baby can wake at 6:20am and still be “on” a 7am schedule, because 7am is go time, lights, milk, noise, and the day officially begins.

Then we get practical with naps. You can keep the first nap anchored to the clock to protect the structure of the day, but when a nap ends early, wake windows matter. You count the next wake window from when your baby actually woke, not the time you hoped they’d sleep until. Otherwise you can stack too much awake time, tip into overtired territory, and suddenly bedtime is chaos.

You’ll learn:

* How to use UP time to keep a 7–7 schedule steady, even with early wakes
* Why nap one often stays anchored to the clock
* When to switch to wake windows based on the time your baby actually wakes
* How to handle early nap wake ups without wrecking the rest of the day
* The simple flexibility rule that keeps schedules working in real life

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts HERE

Or, watch below:

Chapters:
00:00 Happy New Year!
05:12 Listener question: counting wake windows correctly
07:45 Awake time vs up time explained
11:20 When long settling throws off your schedule
15:33 Should you count from eyes open or out of crib?
19:08 Happy wake-ups where baby stays in crib
23:41 Why rigid wake windows can create problems
28:15 The flexibility principle for schedules
32:50 Wrap-up and dinner plans

🎙️ ABOUT NAP TRAPPED
Sally Woods and Bec Maher are baby sleep consultants who believe exhausted parents deserve real answers, not judgment. Each episode of Nap Trapped breaks down one sleep challenge with evidence-based advice and a healthy dose of humor.

Links
📩 Get updates + exclusive tools: Subscribe www.naptrappedpodcast.com

📸 Follow Sally & Bec on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thesleepconcierge/
https://www.instagram.com/_thesleepcentre/

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

A quick note from Sally and Bec to wish you a Merry Christmas and happy holidays. Whether today's big or quiet, they hope you get a moment to breathe.

They know the season can be exciting and messy, especially when you're juggling little ones and their sleep routines. They're taking a short break to spend time with their families and will be back in your ears in two weeks with fresh episodes.

Thank you for being part of the Nap Trapped community. Sally and Bec adore sharing these conversations with you.

🎙️ ABOUT NAP TRAPPED
Hosted by sleep consultants Sally Woods (The Sleep Concierge) and Bec Maher (The Sleep Centre), Nap Trapped helps tired parents solve baby sleep challenges with warmth, evidence, and no judgement. Every week we turn your questions into practical solutions—with a side of Aldi chocolate.

Links
📩 Get updates + exclusive tools: Subscribe www.naptrappedpodcast.com

📸 Follow Sally & Bec on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thesleepconcierge/
https://www.instagram.com/_thesleepcentre/

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Want to subscribe to every ep and enjoy FREE sleep tools? 👉 naptrappedpodcast.com

You know that moment when your baby wakes at 10pm but you're trying to hold the feed until midnight? Sally and Bec finally explain what 'just resettle' actually means in practice - because they've been saying it for 64 episodes without breaking down the how.

This week they answer a listener question that gets to the heart of overnight feed weaning: what do you actually do during those lengthy middle-of-the-night resettles? How long is too long? And when is in-arms resettling helpful versus becoming the new sleep crutch?

What You'll Learn:
• What resettling looks like when baby wakes before their anchored feed time
• Why bringing the feed earlier undermines the whole plan (even when it feels hard)
• The difference between 'testing the waters' and actively sleep training
• When in-arms resettling helps vs when it becomes the new prop
• Why resettles can take an hour or more the first night (and why that's normal)
• How to know if you should use a hands-on technique or less intervention
• Why you never see the benefit in the moment - it comes the next night
• The extinction burst pattern: great nights, then one brutal resettle, then smooth sailing

Chapters:
00:00 Intro - today's listener question
02:00 Liz's question: how long do I resettle before feeding?
03:00 What 'resettle' actually means in practice
04:41 Testing waters vs actively sleep training
05:50 Using your bedtime technique for overnight resettles
07:21 Why first resettles can be lengthy (and that's expected)
08:38 Don't bring the feed earlier just because it feels hard
10:04 How the internal clock rewires with consistent responses
11:00 Why we say 'just resettle' (we see what happens next)
13:21 Defining sleep training vs making gentle changes
14:37 When in-arms resettling is appropriate vs problematic
16:05 Creating opportunities to strengthen self-settling skills
19:41 When baby has already shown sleep consolidation skills
20:37 Why everything you do through the day makes resettling easier
22:30 Why we don't put time caps on resettles
24:27 Sally's story: two-hour extinction burst, then smooth nights
26:26 Wrap up and sleep detectives questions

🎙️ ABOUT NAP TRAPPED
Sally Woods and Bec Maher are baby sleep consultants who believe exhausted parents deserve real answers, not judgment. Each episode of Nap Trapped breaks down one sleep challenge with evidence-based advice and a healthy dose of humor.

Links
📩 Get updates + exclusive tools:
Subscribe http://www.naptrappedpodcast.com

📸 Follow Sally & Bec on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thesleepconcierge/
https://www.instagram.com/_thesleepcentre/

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts