Sleep, behavior and development
Sleep that broke, tantrums, biting, speech, and the milestones you're counting.
53 pages. Search by what is actually happening — the words you would say out loud, not the medical ones.
53 pages
Sleep, behavior and development
Sleep that broke, tantrums, biting, speech, and the milestones you're counting.
Your baby was sleeping, and suddenly isn't
Why sleep breaks at four months and doesn't go back, what the later disruptions at 8–10 months and 18 months are actually tracking, and how to tell an ordinary bad fortnight from something worth a call.
7 min read
Your toddler is having tantrums, and nothing you say helps
What's actually happening in a two-year-old mid-tantrum, why reasoning fails, the counting exercise that removes more of them than any technique, and where the line is between ordinary and worth asking about.
6 min read
The new baby arrived, and your older child has fallen apart
Why the regression is the normal shape of this rather than a problem to solve, what actually helps a displaced toddler, and the specific safety risk that isn't the one everybody watches for.
5 min read
They woke up screaming and won't remember it in the morning
Night terrors and nightmares get treated as one problem and they are opposites — different halves of the night, different sleep stages, and near-opposite responses. How to tell them apart at 1am, and what actually helps with each.
5 min read
They cry every morning when you leave
Why a child who separated fine at two can fall apart at four, the goodbye ritual that actually works, and the one question to ask the room that you cannot answer yourself.
5 min read
Your children fight constantly and you are refereeing all day
Why sibling conflict is structurally worse than conflict with friends, why adjudicating makes it more frequent, and the line between ordinary rivalry and something worth raising.
5 min read
Everyone else's baby is doing it and yours isn't
What the milestone checklists actually mean since they changed, why 'wait and see' is often the wrong default, how to request an evaluation yourself, and the one pattern that is never worth waiting on.
5 min read
You can't understand what they're saying
The speech thresholds worth knowing, why hearing is always checked first, what a stutter around three usually means, and how to get an assessment without waiting for permission.
4 min read
They keep hitting, and nothing you say stops it
Why hitting and biting peak when they do, why explaining doesn't work yet, what actually reduces it, and the specific circumstances that make it worth raising.
4 min read
Bedtime takes two hours and you've lost the evening
Why stalling works, how to end the negotiation without a fight, why an earlier bedtime often fixes a late one, and when a bedtime problem is actually a sleep problem.
4 min read
They were trained, and now they're not
Why toilet training goes backwards, why accidents continue long after training looks finished, the holding loop that starts with one painful poo, and what actually resets it.
4 min read
Turning the tablet off starts a war
Why the switch-off is the fight rather than the screen, what the guidance actually says for two to five, why displacement matters more than minutes, and the one limit worth defending.
4 min read
Awake at 4:50 every single morning
Why early waking is usually the last sleep cycle rather than a finished night, the two opposite causes, why an earlier bedtime often helps, and what a clock can and can't do.
3 min read
They won't eat anything
Refusing food they ate last week is developmentally normal, and the harder you push the worse it gets. The division of responsibility that actually works, why appetite drops after the first birthday, and the signs that mean this is something else.
4 min read
Lying and taking things
A four-year-old who lies to your face and a five-year-old who comes home with something that isn't theirs are usually doing something other than what it looks like. What each behavior typically means at this age, and how to respond without teaching them to hide it better.
4 min read
Nobody will play with me
What friendship trouble usually means at four and five, why one-to-one beats the group, and how to tell an ordinary bad week from something that needs an adult to step in.
4 min read
Sensory sensitivities, and where the evidence sits
Some children genuinely find noise, seams and textures much harder than others. What to do about that today, and an honest account of why the diagnosis and the therapies around it are more contested than they are usually presented.
5 min read
They scream the second I leave the room
Why separation and stranger anxiety arrive when they do, what the age range actually is, and why the goodbye you are tempted to skip is the one that matters.
4 min read
They bang their head to fall asleep
Why rhythmic banging and rocking at bedtime is self-soothing rather than distress, why ignoring it is the actual advice, and the version that is worth asking about.
3 min read
Why is my baby nothing like theirs?
Temperament, the four dimensions it actually runs along, and why the goal is fit rather than a different baby.
4 min read
They fall apart after a good day
Overstimulation across 0-5: what it looks like at each age, why the collapse comes afterwards, and why the fix is always subtraction.
4 min read
Do we have to sleep train?
The gradual middle nobody mentions: what camping out actually involves, the timescale it really takes, and the age below which none of it applies.
4 min read
Everything is a battle now
Why no arrives when it does, what AAP says about punishment before age three, and where to put the autonomy so it stops landing on your shoes.
4 min read
They know what they want and can't say it
The gap between understanding and speaking, why it comes out as screaming, and the word counts worth actually knowing.
4 min read
Suddenly scared of the dark
Why fears arrive at two and three, the cope-don't-avoid principle, and the two things AAP says not to do.
4 min read
Leaving anywhere is a meltdown
Why the exit is the hardest moment of the day, and what preschools do about it that works at home.
4 min read
I do it myself
The drive to do it alone, why it makes everything take four times as long, and how to give it room without leaving the house late every day.
3 min read
They don't listen until I shout
Why the volume keeps rising, and the mechanical fixes preschools use to get a three-year-old to do something the first time.
4 min read
Giving up the pacifier
When it actually starts to matter, why sudden removal often backfires into thumb-sucking, and the approaches that work without turning it into a battle.
3 min read
Worried about their growth chart
Why appetite falls off a cliff after the first birthday, what the centile lines actually mean, and the difference between a small child and a child whose growth has changed.
3 min read
W-sitting, and whether it matters
Why the warnings about W-sitting are not supported by the evidence, what a 2025 systematic review actually found about hips and development, and the far narrower thing that is worth watching.
3 min read
They can't play on their own
Why independent play is a skill rather than a trait, what actually builds it, why the boring gap before play starts matters, and how to be present without running the game.
4 min read
They will not go to school
Why the stomach aches are real, why a day at home makes tomorrow worse, and the line between an unhappy week and something that needs help.
4 min read
Is this ADHD, or is this being six?
What actually separates ADHD from ordinary six-year-old behavior, why one setting is not enough, and what a real evaluation involves.
5 min read
Homework is a fight every night
Why the resistance peaks at exactly the wrong hour, the structural fixes that work better than motivation, and how to tell won't from can't.
4 min read
The back talk, and the tone
Why a six-year-old suddenly answers back, why correcting the tone extends the argument, and where the attention has to go instead.
4 min read
The school says they are fine, and you do not think so
What an evaluation actually is, who can ask for one, when the clock really starts, and the free federal help almost nobody is told about.
5 min read
I think they are being bullied
The three things that separate bullying from a falling-out, why the parental reaction decides whether they tell you again, and when it stops being yours to handle.
4 min read
They fall apart the moment they get home
Why the child who is impeccable at school comes apart in the car park, why it is not aimed at you, and the first twenty minutes that make the difference.
4 min read
Still wetting the bed at six
How common it actually is, the one distinction a doctor cares about, and why nothing about this is the child's fault or yours.
4 min read
They worry about everything
Why removing what frightens them makes it worse, what reassurance actually teaches, and the difference between empathy and agreeing the fear is real.
5 min read
Reading is not clicking
The difference between a slow start and a gap that will not close, why memorising words is the tell, and what waiting actually costs.
5 min read
They have no one to play with at school
Why one or two friends is the actual target, what to practice instead of encourage, and when a social difficulty is a skill rather than a personality.
4 min read
How many activities is too many?
There is no published number, and the AAP declined to invent one. What the guidance actually says, why more is often fine, and the one limit that is not a judgement call.
5 min read
Should you let them quit?
The 'finish what you started' rule has no evidence behind it. What to ask instead, how to tell a bad fit from a bad patch, and the version that keeps the commitment without the misery.
4 min read
Everyone else's kid seems to do more
The comparison is documented in the guidance itself — including the marketing behind it and the one reason for the arms race that is genuinely real. How to work out what your child needs, separately from what you are being sold.
4 min read
What an empty afternoon is actually for
Free play is not the leftover after the useful things — the guidance treats it as the mechanism, and says adult-run activity cannot substitute. What is lost when the week fills up.
4 min read
The school year runs on a lag
Why the thing you need in September was decided in March, the one deadline that is actually law, and how to find your own district's dates instead of trusting a national article that invented them.
4 min read
Getting something out of a fifteen-minute conference
The slot is short and there is a queue. What to ask so you leave with something specific, which questions get real answers, and when to stop and book a longer meeting instead.
4 min read
Is that show overstimulating?
The fast-versus-slow framing everyone uses did not replicate — 19 studies, 1,431 children, no effect. What the evidence does point at instead, and what it means for what you put on.
5 min read
They fill up on milk and eat nothing
There is a published ceiling on toddler milk and almost nobody hears it. Why it displaces food rather than adding to it, what it costs, and how to bring it down without a fight.
4 min read
They eat at daycare but not at home
The most common thing daycare staff get asked, and it is not a verdict on you. What is actually different about that room, which parts you can borrow, and which you cannot.
4 min read
“How was school?” “Fine.”
The ten-questions-to-ask-at-bedtime lists get the instinct right and the method backwards. What the research on child disclosure and on interviewing children actually says.
5 min read
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