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!