Is Sleep Training the Right Fit for your Baby?
Sleep training gets a negative connotation because it indicates that we have to let our baby cry itself to sleep, and this makes us uncomfortable. Parents have been taught to think that letting your baby cry increases stress levels and is not good for baby. First, let’s properly define sleep training: teaching your baby to self-soothe itself to sleep, which may include some crying and allows baby to have uninterrupted sleep throughout the night to include daytime naps. Secondly we may ask, does crying increase stress levels in babies to which it may be permanently harmful? The stress hormone that is involved with this process is called Cortisol. According to research, cortisol levels actually do not increase when babies are crying themselves to sleep. When babies cry, it actually may be a way of relieving tension. So if crying doesn’t harm a baby, then why are we so reluctant to let babies learn to soothe themselves to sleep? It’s more painful for the parent.
Believe me, I’ve been there! I allowed my 2nd child to sleep and snuggle with me and be at my side every minute of the day for 11 months before I realized that I had not slept through the night for almost a year! I was agitated, grumpy and my husband didn’t understand why I was so emotional throughout the day. It came to the point in which I would try to catch up on sleep when my nanny came over versus running errands or getting out of the house. I began to become overwhelmed with motherhood. Instead of enjoying my baby, I was depressed and angry. So I had to do something about this before his 1st birthday. I remembered a friend told me about the Sleep Sense Program when my baby was 5 months old. I signed up and decided to give it a shot. After night 4, my baby was sleeping 12 hours through the night!
Are you at ease with sleep training yet? ok, let’s take a deeper look into it. Again, when we talk sleep training, we are not talking about “cry it out”, the Ferber method. I’m proposing an alternative, more comfortable way to teach healthy sleep hygiene. Will there be crying? Yes, in most cases there will be crying because you will be changing their routine, and there will be some protest to it. Think about it, if your day to day routine or nightly routine were interrupted, wouldn’t you protest?
Let’s look at the benefits to sleep training:
[dt_list style=”1″ bullet_position=”middle” dividers=”true”][dt_list_item image=””]
baby sleeps a consolidated 12 hours a night
[/dt_list_item][dt_list_item image=””]
no over-tiredness in baby
[/dt_list_item][dt_list_item image=””]
no cranky, grumpy baby
[/dt_list_item]
[dt_list_item image=””]
less hyperactivity in toddler
[/dt_list_item]
[dt_list_item image=””]
couple gets their evenings and nights back
[/dt_list_item]
[dt_list_item image=””]
everyone in the household gets a better nights sleep
[/dt_list_item]
[dt_list_item image=””]
no nightwakings
[/dt_list_item]
[dt_list_item image=””]
baby naps longer during the daytime
[/dt_list_item]
[dt_list_item image=””]
baby/toddler has predictability with the routines associated with sleep times
[/dt_list_item]
[dt_list_item image=””]
happy healthy child
[/dt_list_item]
[/dt_list]
Is sleep training right for your baby? If you answer no to the following questions, you need to CALL or EMAIL me NOW: Does your child go to bed between the hours of 6-8pm? Does your child have a set bedtime and routine that precedes the bedtime? Does your child sleep through the night without waking up for 12 consecutive hours? Is your lack of sleep functional for your day to day obligations? Have you and your partner had a night alone since baby was born?
I will offer you a peace of mind while helping you teach your child healthy sleep habits. You will get a customized sleep plan for your child, private consultation that includes a nursery evaluation, and much more! CALL me now to book a free 15 minute consultation.