Are you ready to Sleep Train using Gentle Sleep Training Methods?

Are you ready to sleep train using Gentle Sleep Training Methods?

Are you ready to Sleep Train using Gentle Sleep Training Methods?

GENTLE SLEEP TRAINING involves using methods to support your baby or child to improved sleep.  These methods are RESPONSIVE and, as the name suggests, GENTLE and take into account a range of criteria, including baby’s age, baby’s temperament, parenting style, culture as well as other things.  

Typically, Gentle Sleep Training Techniques can take longer to achieve positive outcomes from, simply because changes are gentle and gradual and supported.

If you’re looking for sleep success quickly (within 3+ nights) then it is more common to recommend strategies whereby your baby learns to self-settle quickly and on their own, often meaning they are left for short intervals of time (which also results in periods of unsupported crying).  Often these are known as ‘Controlled Crying’ strategies.

If you’re considering embarking on Sleep Training, it’s important to remember that to gain success from the process you’ll need to:

Be Extremely Consistent

Once you’ve made the decision to sleep train, planned your ‘how’, organised your new routine, ensuring daytime sleep is well spaced out and adequate for your baby’s age, it’s SO important that you’re extremely consistent with everything, including the use of your GENTLE SETTLING STRATEGIES.  Sometimes people give it a day or two and say, “it’s not working”.  Your baby or child has had many, many days, weeks, months, maybe years getting to sleep or being helped to sleep in a certain way.  Changes won’t happen overnight.  Consistency is KEY when it comes to successful sleep training, and this includes ROUTINES, EXPECTATIONS AND SUPPORT METHODS.

Persevere when things get tough.

It often feels like one step forward and two steps back.  Colds, illnesses, teething, holidays, moving homes and other changes ALL throw up challenges when sleep training.  You can have a GREAT day one day and a TERRIBLE day the next.  This is where CONSISTENCY (see previous point) and PERSEVERANCE come into play.  It’s easy to slip into old habits to have an ‘easy’ night if things are tough, but what you’re actually doing is reinforcing that old habit which makes it MORE CHALLENGING to break. Persevering with good routines and appropriate sleep strategies WILL pay off, so once you’ve started, make sure you stick to your plan.   

Accept setbacks happen and manoeuvre through them.

Instead of automatically thinking “this isn’t working” or “this isn’t right for us”, try reframing your thoughts to “it’s just a bad day, what can I do to improve things tomorrow?”.  Sleep is not linear, and it does not always go to plan so accepting some days will be better than others is important.   See Point 1 & 2.  Cut yourself some slack and know that everyone who embarks on this process has times where things don’t go to plan but with consistency and perseverance you can get back on track again!

Remember Gentle Sleep Training is a process and not an overnight fix.

This is SO important to remember.  If you wish to sleep train and have success within 3 (or maybe a few more) nights, then you will most likely need to reconsider your ability to do so using gentle and responsive methods.  We can support you with other sleep methods to achieve this, however you will, most likely, need to prepare for tears.

Be Confident.

If you are anxious, unsure about what you are doing, upset or lacking confidence, it is likely your baby or child will pick up on this, and this will make the process more challenging.   It’s important, alongside being consistent, that you are CONFIDENT with how you approach routines, bedtimes, overnight wakes, and any obstacles that come in your way.  When we’re sleep deprived, this becomes much harder (trust me, I’ve been there and done that and know it’s hard to keep your brain functioning, let alone doing so with confidence) but it’s important to give off an air of confidence and positivity (even when we’re not feeling it).

Writing down your routine, bedtime routine, your settling plan etc and re-reading this frequently is a great way to be confident in what you’re doing.  Yes, things don’t always go to plan (see point 3) but knowing how you’ll deal with most scenarios is a great place to start!

We support parents who wish to embark on sleep training (gentle and other traditional methods) by supporting them 1:1 through a variety of Consultations.

We work on age/stage specific routines, we fine tune baby’s sleep environment, work on family appropriate settling methods and support parents to implement these over a series of weeks. 

For further information, get in touch or arrange a Free 15 Minute Consultation.