Okay folks, I want to tell you something. You ready?
Sleep training is HARD.
That’s why so.many.people don’t do it. It’s too hard to try something new, too hard to hear your child going through the discomforts of learning sleep skills, and too hard not knowing exactly how everything will pan out.
Although it’s exhausting to wake up countless times in the night, anxiety-inducing to endure the world’s shortest naps day after day, and frustrating to battle with your child about going to sleep for two hours every night — to actually bite the bullet and sleep train?
It’s harder.
Yes, that’s right! Like so many other things in life, it will get harder before it gets easier. We humans really don’t like to change our behavior, so it’s harder to rewire how we’re so used to responding to our child’s poor sleep than it is to continue the behaviors we hate doing!
But if you commit — if you really go for it — things are so much better on the other side of sleep training.
Imagine that you can lay your baby down around 7pm and then she sleeps a solid 12 hours through the night.
Imagine that your baby finally takes those luxurious 1- to 2-hour naps, allowing you to exercise, shower, AND cure world hunger during naptime (the naps are just so dang long!).
Imagine that you lay your preschooler down after a nice, brief bedtime routine, and then he stays in his bed all night long.
These “luxuries” could actually just be your wonderful norm on the other side of sleep training.
Because sleep training is such a tough journey, I always ask my clients a very important question:
What will be different for you and your family if your child starts sleeping well?
Essentially, what is your WHY in this journey?
When I sleep trained my first daughter after four months of 33-minute naps and trying everything I could to fix them, my why was simple: I would be able to breathe deeply again. I used to hold my breath at every naptime to see what would happen at that 33-minute mark, but sleep training changed that. My business got its name from my own experience — I felt completely insane when dealing with Ada’s poor sleep, and sleep training her gave me my sanity back.
My clients give me all sorts of answers.
I’ll know my child is getting enough sleep.
I’ll get enough sleep!
I’ll be able to be the kind of parent I want to be because I’ll be well-rested.
I’ll be more patient.
I won’t be so overwhelmed.
I’ll be able to cope better with life’s daily stressors.
The predictability will allow me to work out / make plans / feel more in control of my life.
I’ll be more productive because I’ll actually have time to get things done.
I’ll be able to make more intentional decisions instead of decisions that are reactions to all the poor sleep.
My brain will have the capacity to think about something other than sleep.
I’ll have the energy to do more activities with my child.
I’ll get one-on-one time with my spouse.
My husband will get to come back to our bed.
My spouse and I will stop arguing about how to handle sleep.
We’ll be able to bring date night back.
I’ll have some time to devote to my other child.
My stress level will decrease because I’ll stop anticipating poor sleep around every corner.
Bedtime will be a joy instead of a burden.
I’ll produce better results at work because I won’t be so exhausted.
I’ll enjoy my child more.
I’ll feel more confident about my role as a parent.
I won’t constantly be doubting myself.
Which of those sound like your ‘why’?
Figure out if one (or many!) of those are your reasons for wanting change, or if you have additional reasons of your own! Share them with me in the comments. Write them down. Acknowledge those deep desires you have.
And then, when things get hard with sleep training, use those things to continue on and get the results you’re looking for. The results will be worth your efforts. Promise :)
If you need help figuring out HOW to sleep train, or if you need someone there to support you, remind you of your ‘why,’ and cheer you on throughout the process, find out how I can help you here. I’d love to help you turn your sleep struggles into sleep victories <3