When someone brings up the topic of sleep training, it always garners a very heated debate in most parenting forums you have come across.
Supporters and opponents have set up 2 camps on the sleep training divide with seemingly no middle ground. Supporters of sleep training argue that it does not harm the child and has benefits for the child and family.
Opponents say that “cry-it-out” techniques are cruel to children and cause long-term problems.
Truth be told, in nearly every method whether your sleep train or not and whether your child is sleeping independently or not, babies’ cry is inevitable.
Just know that much of the debate on this topic is propagated by misinformation. This is unfortunate since there is a great deal of knowledge about sleep in children based on scientific studies.
As parents, we are always protective of our children, we want the best for them and we want to help them grow up as best as they can. I think we all can agree on this. But how that is being delivered or implemented, we all have differing opinions.
We all want our children to grow up to be physically, emotionally, and mentally strong human beings, One thing for sure, sleep is really the way to go. It is the foundation of our health and our well-being. We spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping, we need to start prioritising its importance of it from a young. Hoping that your child will outgrow those bad sleeping habits and night wakings isn’t doing your child any justice.
A myriad of issues will escalate and snowball. ie-research has shown that children with sleep deprivation problems have been observed to have low cognitive skills, hyperactivity, and low attention in schools.
We can’t stop emphasising this, YOU ARE NOT SELFISH if you sleep train your baby! But knowing how important sleep is and not doing anything about it due to unfounded fear, that’s another story. As someone who has been on the other side of the camp ie a first-time mom who knows nothing about sleep training, I can attest to you how amazing it is to discover the beauty of sleep training.
Baby sleep training should be done holistically, that means establishing a healthy sleep foundation, understanding the science of sleep, creating an ideal sleep environment, sleeping at the right timing before your child is overtired, reducing your child’s sleep debt, and teaching your child the art of self-settling.
Remember parents, you are doing this FOR your baby and not for your baby.
If you are reading this and realise this article might just be talking to you, it’s time to tackle your child’s sleep issues. Book a FREE 20mins discovery call with us today to find out how we can help you and your child to sleep better.
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