Sleep Training – What To Do When Things Don’t Go As Planned

Your baby is waking up in the middle of the night. You’re beyond exhausted! So, you did your research and decided to hire an infant sleep coach. While looking online, you read raving reviews about how other’s babies started sleeping 11-12 hours per night within a couple of nights of sleep training.

You followed the plan, everything that you were supposed to do, but here it is a week and a half later, and your baby is still howling for you five or six times a night.

So what are you doing wrong?

All Babies Are Different

If you’ve ever talked to a mom with more than one child, you’ll probably hear about how different their own children are.

The same parents, the same plan… different responses.

The same is true for sleep training. Some babies take longer to develop those glorious sleep skills than others!

Some babies have formed strong associations between their props and the process of falling asleep. Others might have a significant sleep debt that they’re working on and will take a little longer to get into the swing of things, and some babies, let’s face it, just have a different temperament, and are going to put up more of a resistance when you try to change their routine.

And while babies are all different, they’re all completely normal.

Just like crawling, talking, reading, and teething, developing great sleep skills takes some kids almost no time at all, and takes others a couple of weeks.

What To Do When Things Don’t Go As Planned

1. Initially, stay off any sleep training discussion forums! Give your sleep plan a chance. Too much advice and too many success stories can cause you to second guess your approach before it’s had time to take effect.

2. Talk to your Sleep Coach about your concerns. She will help you figure out what changes to try. Changing things up drastically just as baby’s starting to get used to the routine is one of the biggest saboteurs of sleep training.

3. Start a journal when you begin sleep training. We can become so eager for that “miracle morning” when the baby finally sleeps straight through the night that we forget about the progress being made along the way. It’s important to celebrate the small victories as they’re the inspiration to keep going.

4. Did you follow your plan? Maybe you’re doing something incorrectly? Talk to your sleep coach. Her experience will help pinpoint if something needs to be tweaked.

Examine your bedtime Routine

And if you think that’s something that needs to be changed to your plan, my suggestion is to first look at the bedtime routine.

How are you putting your baby in their crib? Are they drowsy? On the edge of falling asleep? This sleep training approach works for most babies, but some babies need to be put down much more alert.

In the middle of the night, If your baby wakes up drowsy, putting your baby to bed drowsy is likely the method that works. However, if your baby wakes up wide-eyed in the middle of the night, they need to learn how to self-soothe and go from fully awake to asleep on their own.

If you think this might be your baby’s issue, then do whatever you need to in order to keep them wide awake through the bedtime routine and put them down in their crib before they start getting drowsy. Figure out when they start getting drowsy in the routine and make accommodations to get them into the crib before it happens.

After a few nights of this, you should notice an improvement, but if not, don’t give up! Babies love and need sleep, and if yours isn’t sleeping well, there’s a reason. We just need to find it, so call me we can discuss it further.

Or if you’re still in the researching phase and want to learn more about how an infant sleep coach can help you, I’d love to chat.

Let’s Chat!

OR Contact Us: info@TenderTransitionsMN.com | 612-991-5224