Quality sleep is one of the cornerstones of healthy living. It improves your productivity, focus, and patience. So, when I hear objections based on myths about sleep training, I am driven to correct them.
As a parent, I am sure you’ve heard, “they’re only little once, enjoy this time”, or “You’re not sleeping… what did you expect when you decided to have children?”.
Yes, cherish this precious time as your little one won’t stay little forever, but it doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice sleep. Your child can learn the skills to sleep all night long.
Sleep training works. So, I’d like to address three common myths about sleep training.
Myth #1 – Your baby will not love you in the morning.
Okay, it might not be to that extreme, but parents fear that sleep training will put a strain on their child-parent bond. In other words, that their child will be upset or detached.
Rest assured, parenting is much more than the bedtime routine. It’s the cuddles, the feeding, the clean diapers, the playing, laughing, kissing, and so on.
There’ll be resistance when you start sleep training, just like when you alter anything else in your child’s routine. You’ll be making changes to your baby’s sleep habits by teaching them the skills to sleep on their own. It’s safe to assume that your baby isn’t going to be happy about not being rocked or nursed to sleep anymore.
Yet, once your little one learns the necessary skills, they’ll be happier and healthier than before. And as long as you’re a loving attentive parent, they’ll know your love.
Myth #2 – Sleep training requires you to let your baby cry-it-out!
At Tender Transitions, your baby sleep coach will never ask you to leave your child alone, nor will we ask you to ignore their cries. Our coaching is not a cry-it-out program.
The true definition of crying-it-out is putting your baby in their room alone and leaving him or her to cry and cry, without any comfort, reassurance, or support from you. This isn’t how sleep training works. You can stay in your child’s room during the sleep training process. We’ll provide you with options for offering your child comfort and support as they figure out their own strategy of how to make sleep happen for themselves.
It doesn’t mean that there won’t be any crying. Your baby will be confused at the beginning about why they aren’t being rocked to sleep anymore. Confusion and frustration will result in crying, but you can be there to calmly reassure them. This confusion around their routine will last only a few days as your child will adapt quickly and figure out how to calmly get herself to sleep.
Myth #3 – Sleep training is too stressful for babies.
Let’s look at this myth with two scenarios:
Scenario 1: You decide to sleep train and make changes to your child’s sleep habits. This will involve a few nights of resistance, frustration, and upset. After a few nights, your child will start falling asleep independently and the distress stops and you’re all sleeping peacefully.
Scenario 2: You decided to keep doing what you’re already doing – rock/nurse/bounce/etc. and your child continues to wake-up multiple times a night. You and your little one will continue to experience sleep deprivation. If this persists into the school years, research correlates poor sleep to obesity and trouble focusing. In other words, stress!
Are a few nights of adjustments worth it?
Sleep Training Benefits
The benefits of a full night’s sleep far outweigh the few nights of discomfort required at the beginning of sleep training.
If one or more of these three myths have been holding you back from taking the simple steps needed to create long-term, positive change for your child’s sleep, I’d love to chat with you.
Let’s Chat!
We want to know what you or your baby/child are struggling with so let’s chat! We bet we can help. Schedule your free, no-obligation 20-minute phone call to see if we are a good fit.
OR Contact Us: info@TenderTransitionsMN.com | 612-991-5224
