Sleep Training Advice
My boys are both well past the sleep training phase, but I was recently asked for my advice, so here it is:
- treat daytime and nighttime different. At night, the curtains go down, lights get dim, voices get soft, no more playing or exciting interactions.
- bedtime routines are important. Do the same things in the same order every night. Pajamas, story, lullaby, then lights out.
- When they wake up, you can feed & change them quietly with dimmed lights, but no playing and minimal talking. Get them fed & changed kindly but efficiently and then back into bed.
- Morning time: curtains open, lights are on, parents are energetic and excited. Time to play! The kid will learn to distinguish daytime and sleep time.
- Time to get the kid their own room. That’s the time to stick to your guns, because it will be the hardest fight you’ve ever had.
- After you give them their own room & bed, you’ll still get a tiny visitor at night, very frequently. Up to you whether you want to let them stay, or whether you’ll drag them back to their own bed.
- As a compromise, one parent often stays in the kid’s room with them while they fall asleep (or at least part of the time). We’ll also leave the door open a crack, and of course there’s a night light. (We have a smart bulb in the night light so the kids get to pick a different color every night!)
This comes with the standard caveat: every kid is different, and your mileage may vary. Just be firm and consistent and the kid will learn.
Good luck!
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