Starting sleep training is tough, but is the most important step you'll take. Doing the sleep training is a lot of work, but it's so worth it once you start seeing results! But finishing sleep training? Is it always clear when you are done sleep training? As surprising as it might seem, the answer is no. Success in sleep training, like so many things in our lives, is a continuum; one family's "done" is another family's "still working. Knowing when sleep training is finished depends so much
sleep training infants
Gentle Sleep Training Explained + 5 Strategies
We talk a lot about sleep training on this blog....A LOT. And over the years, we've come to learn that while many of our readers are generally interested in sleep training, they are specifically interested in gentle sleep training. This makes sense, if you think about it; no parent is eager to hear their child cry, and if it's possible to build healthy sleep habits in a gentle way that involves minimal fussing, many of us would greatly prefer that to the cry it out alternatives. But gentle
Breastfeeding Tips For Sleep Training Parents (Plus Tips For Working Moms!)
We've established before that you can indeed breastfeed successfully while you sleep train - sleep training does not mean the end of breastfeeding! In fact, we here at The Baby Sleep Site® are deeply committed to ensuring that breastfeeding moms sleep train in a way that both preserves their breastfeeding, and that achieves better sleep for their babies. However, in order to sleep train successfully while also keeping breastfeeding a priority, it is necessary to keep some key facts in mind.
Night Weaning vs. Sleep Training: Which Should Come First?
For many of the exhausted families with whom we work, night weaning and sleep training are both high on the list of priorities. After all, constant night feeds can exhaust even the strongest parents, and a baby who can't fall asleep independently is one who will wake too early from a nap, or wake during the night due to sleep associations, and not out of true hunger. So yeah...when it comes to night weaning and sleep training, most parents would say, "Both, please!" But this raises an
5 Reasons To Start Sleep Training TODAY
Let me be clear: when to sleep train is a personal choice that's heavily dependent on a lot of unique factors. There is no age when all parents "should" sleep train, and while there are sleep training windows that tend to be better for sleep training, and help the process move along smoothly, we always caution parents not to feel pressured to sleep coach during or by a certain time frame. That said - we hear almost daily from parents who are beyond exhausted, whose families are losing
15 Bedtime Story Books You Can Turn Into Sleep Training Tools
We've already said a lot (A LOT) on this site about bedtime - including when exactly bedtime should happen. We've also written a ton about bedtime routines - what bedtime routines should (and shouldn't) look like, why a bedtime routine is key to sleep coaching, and more. But here's a part of most parents' bedtime routines that goes overlooked as a sleep training tool: the bedtime storybook. Sure, most of us probably spend at least a few minutes reading to our little cherubs before tucking
From Waking Every 2 Hours to Sleeping Through The Night! Hear Gerry’s Story
If you've been a Baby Sleep Site® reader for awhile, then you're probably familiar with our Family Features series. From time to time, we like to bring you in-depth stories of families who are sleeping peacefully now, thanks to our personalized sleep consulting plans, Well, to say the response was overwhelmingly positive would be putting it mildly. ;) Many of our readers let us know that they loved hearing stories about real families solving their sleep problems. And so, in the spirit of
5 Steps For Handling Sleep Training Criticism From Family and Friends
Those of you who have done it yourselves will no doubt give a big nod to what I'm about to say: Sleep training is work. It's work that is worth doing, mind you, and (provided you have plenty of resources and support), it is work that can go smoothly and can be completed in a reasonable amount of time. But it's still work. Given this fact, I think it's safe to say that none of us need our friends, co-workers, or family members to make the step-by-step process of sleep training any
How To Avoid Common ‘Babywise’ Pitfalls
So let's just get it out in the open right away: we're talking about the book On Becoming Babywise today. And if you've been a Baby Sleep Site® reader for any length of time, you know that's bound to create some controversy. We've written about Babywise before, and about the cry-it-out method in general. And we know all too well that this is an emotionally charged topic for many of our readers. Some of the parents in our Baby Sleep Site® community are proponents of cry-it-out methods like
