#beyondsleeptraining

A 2013 study by Douglas & Hill from the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral pediatrics shows the high risks to using sleep training strategies in babies under 6 months. Research DOES support responsive parenting day and night while keeping baby in parent's room for ideally 12 months, minimally 6 months. Baby waking at night is not a problem to be fixed, it is normal developmental biology. Sleep training practices are outdated and go against modern science of infant development. #beyondsleeptraining #infantsleepeducation #infantsleep #sleepconsultant #sleepsafe #gentleparenting #responsiveparenting (at Joanne Fisher Family BodyTalk) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBMPjT_HLz8/?igshid=1qb1dbo3cpoly

Consolidating sleep or "sleeping through the night" is to link sleep cycles together. Babies sleep in shorter cycles and spend much more time in light phases of sleep. This allows them to wake easier and more often. Which is essential for their safety. Using techniques that force them to sleep heavier or deeper is dangerous. Babies routinely wake in between cycles and require adult assistance to soothe them. Babies will naturally be able to link their cycles together and need less assistance as they develop. Sleep development is not linear and will be disrupted by developmental advances. As the brain develops the way baby experiences the world changes and it can be scary! Suddenly aware of distance and separation, person permanence. It's a lot to navigate! These times baby will be more clingy and need more support. Babies DO NOT need to be taught to sleep. They need to be supported until their biology gives them the capability to do it for themselves. #beyondsleeptraining #biologicallynormalinfantsleep #infantsleepeducation #sleepconsultant #sleepeducation #gentleparenting #transformationalparenting https://www.instagram.com/p/CBGNvyxHT87/?igshid=5duqvb64ulzv

Baby had been held and rocked to sleep everytime in the womb and is accustomed to that care.⁣ ⁣ Does that mean it's a habit we need to break? As an infant sleep educator we say No! That's False! Pacifiers, Holding, nursing, rocking baby down to sleep are 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬. Babies needs external comfort!! ⁣ Babies do but have the developmental capabilities to turn off their stress responses. They need co-regulation from an attuned, regulated caregiver. Without assistance baby will stay flooded in stress hormones. As an #infantsleepeducator we understand that each time a neural pathways is activated it wires it in stronger. 𝐁𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞. ⁣ Creating a foundation for heathy mental and emotional health for a lifetime. We recommend having multiple ways of soothing baby to sleep. It is when a baby will only go down one way (nursing for example) that the caregiver will experience burnout. As baby's sleep cycles, circadian rhythms and brain mature they will naturally need less assistance. I like the saying "𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶" and give them what the need now without worrying about the future. They won't need this support for long, so cuddle them, hold them and assist them to go to sleep. Their long term development thrives on this connection and comfort. ⁣ ⁣ #infantsleepeducation #beyondsleeptraining #gentleparenting #sleepconsultant #babyneeds #babyledsleepandwellbeingspecialist #saynotosleeptraining https://www.instagram.com/p/CAgbUMTnfRd/?igshid=ktjw0fw6ss0p

FALSE! Waking at night is completely normal. Babies' sleep cycles are much different than adults. They spend much more time in REM and their cycles are shorter which means they're more often in light sleep where it is easy to wake from changes in the environment or dreams. These light cycles help to protect from SIDS. To consolidate sleep or to "sleep through the night" is to link their many short sleep cycles together. Adults will have 4-6 cycles per night whereas babies will have 12-16 cycles per night & 12-16 opportunities to wake up!! Babies often need parental co-regulation to move into the next cycle and remain asleep. The ability to link the cycles together and remain asleep without assistance is a developmental milestone just like crawling, that can't be rushed. Reliably being there to respond helps baby to develop independent sleep as they learn they are safe and sleep is a nice place to be. Studies show that sleep training methods in which parents stop responding to baby at night in order to "teach" them to go back to sleep themselves do not result in baby getting more sleep. Instead they just stop signaling for assistance and may just go into "freeze" state of the stress response. Shutting down which looks like going to sleep but Cortisol levels remain elevated. Babies are biologically unable to self soothe, they lack the development of the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. The need comfort from an adult to stop the stress responses. Infancy (0-3y) is a time of immense neurological development and stress impedes that development. We can find ways to support both baby and parental sleep that doesn't include sleep training. Help is available! seek out a #infantsleepeducator like me for support. #beyondsleeptraining #infantsleepeducation #sleepconsultant #biologicallynormalinfantsleep #gentleparenting (at Joanne Fisher Family BodyTalk) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAYy0kUnN8A/?igshid=nkcp82houkb2