Signs that your child is ready for sleep training
This is a question I get asked often. Parents come to the realization that their baby or child may need sleep training but they’re not exactly sure if they’re totally ready for it. So how can you tell? And they also want to know WHY their child’s sleep is so bad.
Here’y why…
Oftentimes, at around 3-5 months of age, babies’ sleep changes dramatically. At this time, your baby is going through huge developmental changes and growth and with that often comes some choppy sleep. They are all of a sudden aware of EVERYTHING, they are easily distracted, and most of all they are likely dependent on a sleep prop or crutch in order to get them to sleep. Typically, though, their sleep only gets choppy if they do not have good independent sleep skills to begin with.
Maybe you have a newborn who is sleeping great, but they are sleeping with lots of assistance and totally dependent on you putting them to sleep, then as soon as they exit that newborn stage, their sleep typically goes south because they didn’t know how to sleep independently to begin with. Or maybe you had a newborn whose sleep was choppy to begin with, their sleep typically does not fix itself once they graduate the newborn stage . This is where the 4 month sleep regression comes into play, and you can read more about it here.
Maybe you have a toddler who has never fully learned to sleep in her own bed or room and you are constantly fighting with them to go to sleep and back to sleep.
Maybe you have a toddler who needs you to sit with him till he is full asleep but then climbs out of the crib or out of bed 100 times until you are blue in the face and give up.
Maybe you are desperate for some much needed sleep and you know that the only way to do that is to get your own children to sleep - so you start sleep training.
Those are common reasons why your child definitely meets the criteria for sleep training. So now that you have somewhat of an understanding of how sleep can go from good to bad or bad to worse, let’s see how you can determine if your baby is ready. I’ve taken out all the work for you and have created a list of questions to ask yourself to help you determine if your child is ready for sleep training.
Ask yourself these questions:
Is your baby at an appropriate age for sleep training, approximately 3-4 months or older
Is your baby able to fall asleep unassisted?
Can require assistance falling back asleep in the middle of the night after waking?
Does your baby take very short cat naps?
Does your baby wake frequently at night well past the newborn stage?
Is your baby unable to sleep long stretches at night?
Does your baby have an ok from your Pediatrician to begin sleep training?
Is your baby really fussy and uneasily soothed?
Does your baby cry as soon as he hits the mattress?
Are bedtime and naps met with a lot of resistance and tears?
Is your baby waking up really early in the morning and unable to go back to sleep?
If you’ve answered yes to one or most of these questions, then your baby mostly likely would benefit from some formal sleep training. I hope this has helped identify your child’s sleep issue in order to figure out if he/she is indeed ready to be sleep trained.
