If sleep training is difficult for moms working from home, it is even more difficult for moms to work from home full-time. When you have to wake up at 6 am and go out before 7:30 – and you have to wait until after 5 pm to go home.
There is almost no room in a day to accommodate the kind of cross-eye fatigue that sleep training may cause!
In other words, working parents can definitely successfully perform sleep training (many of our happy customers can attest to this!); it’s just that working moms need to use some specific strategies to achieve their sleep training goals.
Step 1: Ignore the haters. Sanctimommies like to fill the Internet with a sense of guilt. They shouted out why crying is evil. Even doctors who once supported the practice objected to it.
Don’t believe them; hell, don’t take me. Google will “call out” research, and you will find that science is mainly at work. If your baby does not sleep 11 to 12 hours a night, but takes a nap for 3 hours during the day, then he may not have enough rest time.
Why would a caring parent try his best to help him meet this biological need? He usually needs two or three nights of crying to fall asleep. Yes, babies cry when they need things, but they also cry when they need things and when they are overworked.
When a baby is crying in the crib, keeping it as it is is contrary to every mom’s instinct. Just do it. I never thought about writing these three words, and I have been expecting commentators to tell me that I am an inappropriate mom.
After seeing me and my cute, well-rested boy, they may feel differently.
Step 2: Ask your pediatrician to confirm. Your baby should be at least 4 months old and weigh 14 pounds before stopping overnight feeding. He shouldn’t get sick when you start or have serious digestive problems.
However, don’t let anything make you back your nose-because daycare babies will never receive sleep training again. Talk to your doctor to make sure everything goes well for you.
Step 3: Designate two weeks as your sleep training week. No, this does not mean that your child will cry for 14 consecutive days. Choose a two-week period, during which your routine work will become routine work.
You will set off at normal times and return from the workplace. Your child will be taken care of by regular staff or centers while at work. He will sleep in a crib or one or more of them (read: Don’t try to train sleep when you have to travel long distances or when your life is in a big upheaval during holidays.
Step 4: Start those two weeks on Friday. The first night is attractive to everyone in your family (unless you have an older child or your partner is a super sleeper).
You will not be able to work in the morning after training for an early bed, so please don’t try. Since your child may take a few nights to attend classes, it is best to leave on Monday, but if you can’t arrange a time for a long weekend (I can’t), you will survive; sleep deprivation will not be worse than your repeated soothing The sleepers are worse.
Step 5: Prepare the crib. Ensure that there is nothing in the crib except for the mattress and tight-fitting sheets. Mobile phones may help your child fall asleep, but they may become crutches, which means your baby cannot get out without hypnosis.
Step 6: Plan to put the baby in the crib before 7 pm. Really, Dr. Robern suggested 6 pm, but I won’t even get in until 6:30. It seemed impossible at 7 o’clock in the evening, but we did it because sleep is a top priority. (On the other hand, the bathroom…) Keep your body soft during this period.
Step 7: Collect everything needed for bedtime and place it in the child’s room. When you pass the threshold of their room, please do not leave until they enter the crib.
Let your baby see you prepare the room for sleep, dim the lights, make white noises, and close the doors and blinds. Dr. Roban said: “If children actively participate in sleep activities, they will accept more than when they accept sleep activities.”
Step 8: A quick routine check in the baby’s room. I breastfeed the baby first. The only reason for not feeding a child as part of a routine activity is that if the child falls asleep while sucking or digesting, it will make him uncomfortable.
Dr. Robin explained that when his stomach was full, I read a book, sang a song, and gave a verbal prompt: “You said something before you left the room.” “The verbal reminder might It’s “I love you, see you in the morning.” “This may be a line of prayer. Whatever.”
Everyone who puts your baby to bed should follow the same procedure, but each person’s verbal prompts may be different. Just don’t let the routine exceed 15 minutes. Dr. Roban said: “You are taking the risk of a child being overworked, which makes it difficult for them to fall asleep.”
And only one caregiver can do routine check-ups at a time. Two are too exciting. “If you have a consistent bedtime program and it’s the same every night, even if the baby doesn’t decide what the program is, they will feel in control because they know what’s going to happen. They feel very comforted.”
Step 9: Put the baby in the crib. Don’t shake him first; you want to put him down when he is not asleep but drowsy. If he can roll back from his belly, he can be placed on his belly. They are usually so comfortable, but please keep your voice down.
Step 10: Turn off the lights, close the door, go out, and not come back until 6 in the morning. The baby may cry. Continue to go. I know it’s hard for you to have this.
“If you stay there one night and wipe their backs, another night you yell because you are exhausted, and another night you bring them to the room, they don’t know what will happen.
They just keep stopping. Come down because they are not sure, and what they will do will get them what they want.” Dr. Roban said. Even opening the door for inspection can delay the process.
“Once the study, this is how it looks every night, and they will like it. Because they know what will happen next, it reduces anxiety.”
Step 11: Turn on the display. Is there a video? it is good. Turn down the volume and pay attention to the baby. The only reason for coming in was whether he appeared to be sick or injured.
Urine or poop does not count, so diaper cream should be generous. Did not cry. Dr. Roban assured me: “He is crying because he is frustrated with what we are teaching him to learn a self-comforting skill.” Binge watching some Netflix because it will be a long night (sorry ).
He will stop crying and eventually fall asleep. Then he will wake up in the middle of the night. Don’t go in either. This is how he will learn to put himself to sleep again.
You will also notice that as the sleep training progresses, he will do something to soothe himself before nodding, such as touching his pajamas or spinning his hair. My baby kicked a leg. Every time.
Step 12: Go in at 6 in the morning, or wake up anytime afterwards. Even if he is too tired to laugh when you find him, please rest assured, he still loves you.
But the important thing is that even if you are awake and start a little earlier, don’t enter before 6 o’clock. “If he wakes up still drowsy and knows someone is coming in, he won’t fall asleep again.
Wake up at 5 am will be 4:45, then 4:30, and then you know he will wake up again late at night Come. The most difficult and longest sleep problem is getting up early.”
You now do the same thing every night. The only thing that will change? How long will he cry before he goes to sleep (if he does!), and in the middle of the night you will hear him get up.
When you go out to sleep or have other unconventional schedules, you will need to deviate. One or two days are different and will not cause major damage. It can be three days in a row, but you can get everything back to normal in a week or less.
Unfortunately, your work has not yet been completed. “For families who cannot insist on going to bed too early, it is important to do a good job of nap. The better his nap, the later he can sleep.
Some guidelines that can help with a nap: Avoid using exercise to make your baby fall asleep, and tell the caregiver during the day to do the same. This means that when possible, there is no swing, no stroller is pushed back and forth to induce sleep, and no car hits nap. Reason: You don’t want your baby to ask for exercise to fall asleep.
Except for sleeping, nothing happens in the crib. When peeing, don’t put him there to play, or even let him be safe for a minute. During this period, please use other safe locations, such as sports fields.
If possible, put your baby in a quiet, dark room. In daycare, you can request a quiet corner. They may not be able to accommodate; they can ask.
Dr. Roban schedules my baby to take a nap for 3 days a day, which is very typical for a 7-month-old child (about 8/9 months, they may take a nap):
8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
11 am to 12 pm
2pm to 3pm
You say: “But he goes to day care” or “We have a nanny.” “I can’t control his nap!” You may not be able to do it completely, but you can share this schedule and the following steps with your child’s caregiver.
I told the director of the daycare center that I had worked with a sleep doctor and shared what we were going to do at home. “Ask them, ‘what can you do?’” Not all or all. Just require them to be consistent with the routine.
Dr. Roban talked to the headteacher during my son’s daycare and pointed out how following these rules will ultimately make her job easier. Taking a nap at school every day is not perfect, but he seems to get enough restorative sleep most of the time because he is usually not overworked before going to bed.