how to avoid Sleep Props

What are sleep props, and how can we avoid them? Sleep props are anything that helps your child (and YOU!) get to sleep. They can both helpful OR detrimental to good sleep. 

If the sleep prop isn't available, and your child has a dependence on it to get to sleep, your child can have a difficult time getting to sleep. 

Some common sleep props are:

• Swaddle
• Feeding/nursing/bottle/snack
• Sound machine
• Pacifier
• Rocking baby to sleep
• Blackout curtains
• Lovey/stuffed animal, blanket
• Co-sleeping/Laying with parent

Not all of these are bad—some are very helpful and recommended! The best sleep props are the ones that don't involve you. Your child can learn to get to sleep independently without you doing anything to get the child to sleep; that's sleep training—breaking the sleep associations that involve you so your child gets to sleep independently and can therefore get back to sleep connecting sleep cycles all night long.

The sleep props that are good are: swaddling (only for 8 weeks and under), sound machine, pacifier (as long as the parent doesn't replace it), blackout curtains, and comfort items (only for age 12 months and older).

Here are tips for avoiding sleep associations that do involve you getting your child to sleep:

• Lay your child down wide awake; not drowsy, and not asleep.
• Start as you mean to go on. Don't start habits such as sleeping on the floor next to your child's crib, unless you want to do them forever!
• Don't feed to sleep. During the daytime, feed your child upon waking. If your baby still needs a night feeding, feed a full feeding, then change the diaper, then lay the baby down awake.
• If using a pacifier, don't replace it throughout the night. Give it to the baby at the beginning of the night, but that's it. If the child is at least 6 months old, the baby can learn to replace the pacifier.
• Be consistent and firm. When you remove a sleep prop (such as rocking to sleep), be consistent in NOT offering that sleep prop. Be firm with the boundaries and consistent with the bedtime routine. If you sometimes rock to sleep and sometimes don't, that will only confuse your child.
• Go in with a PLAN and stick with it! Don't just "wing it" with sleep training. Use a specific method that is a good fit for your child and ensure you are doing the method correctly and consistently. 

If you need help with sleep training, reach out, and I will be glad to help you break sleep associations so your child can sleep great!