The ‘Baby Sleep the Night™’ Philosophy
Before being child and baby sleep specialists, we are all first and foremost, mothers. For us, the most important thing, as a parent or as a child sleep consultant, is a child’s well being.
Our Baby Sleep the Night™ gentle sleep-training programme is based on the belief that proper sleep not only helps the child but also the entire family!
Plus, you can rest assured that our philosophy and methods are aligned with best practices recommended by The UK’s National Health Service, The American Academy of Pediatrics, and The Canadian Pediatric Society.
Background and Experience
For us, teaching our children to be fantastic independent sleepers benefited them immensely, and in turn, our families. That’s why we both dedicated our professional careers to helping other parents who were as desperate as us to get their babies and toddlers to sleep.
For over a decade, we’ve helped thousands of families get more out of life with our tried and tested methods that are more than just tips to get your baby to sleep. We ensure that every step is done precisely right, leaving absolutely no stone unturned. Close attention to detail is vital, and is why we both hold a 100% success rate with families that stick to my gentle caring plans.
Whether it’s a baby going through a sleep regression or a six year old with bad sleeping habits, we’ve worked with them all!
During our training, we learnt all about the importance of sleep within the development of children. We also realised how a baby’s sleep pattern affected the health of the parents too. In short, when we help stressed and tired mums and dads get their child to sleep, we inadvertently help the family as a whole.
The more we helped, the more passionate we became about toddler and baby sleep training. The more passionate we became, the more we wanted to spread the knowledge we had acquired in the process.
Certifying Consultants
This is why we started training sleep consultants and certifying them to practise our philosophy.
We are determined to train people who care just as much as we do, so that they can help parents and babies get the sleep they need.
We understand that when parents reach out to a Baby Sleep the Night™-certified child sleep consultant to ask for help with their child’s sleeping habits, it’s almost always a last resort. Most parents never consult a baby sleep specialist because they feel it might make them seem like ‘failing at parenting’. Our Baby Sleep the Night™- certified consultants and I want you to know that asking for help does not make you a failure. Isn’t it said that it takes a village to raise a child?
However, we will make sure you understand the reason behind each and every step of the plan, why it’s so important, how it contributes to your child getting enough sleep.
What’s more, if you follow the detailed steps in your bespoke sleep plan you will notice a positive change in your little one, in terms of their energy levels, general happiness, and well being. That’s the power of good sleep!
Your Child’s Bespoke Sleep Plan
There are various methods to get your child to sleep that we use and teach. These strategies are based on individual family needs and preferences.
The most common specialist sleep solution we practise, and train the Baby Sleep the Night™-certified consultants, is the Gradual Retreat Sleep Training Plan.
This allows you to be right there with your child, touching them, talking to them and comforting them throughout the process of learning to sleep.
This isn’t for all families, of course. There are other ways to solve sleep issues and this is something that will be discussed in depth. This is so that parents get to choose what is right for them and their circumstances.
Regardless of method used, the success is in the detail – getting it just right. A consultant certified by the Baby Sleep The Night ™ will have been taught to:
- Learn About Your Child
As a parent, no one knows your child better than you. That’s why the Baby Sleep the Night™-certified sleep specialist will discuss your child’s sleep habits before designing a customised gentle sleep plan to get your child to sleep. - A Step-by-Step Plan
After they’ve got to know all about you and your child, they’ll lay out a plan. This will detail the steps that you’ll need to help get your child to sleep in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step format. But don’t worry – it’s not a hard and fast rulebook. It’s designed to give you enough discretionary power to make choices that will work best for you and your child! - Explain How to Measure Success
They will also explain what results can be achieved at what stage. The end goal is to get to the point where your child will sleep 12-hours a night. However, this will not usually happen on the first night (although it might!) - Manage Your Expectations
As part of the gentle sleep training programme, they’ll tell you exactly what to expect. Baby Sleep the Night-certified consultants take the uncertainty and guesswork out with their detailed ways to get your child to sleep. Effectively, they will hold your hand and support you throughout.
‘Crying it Out’
People always ask us whether the Baby Sleep the Night™ ways to get a child to sleep involve letting the baby ‘cry it out’. Here are our thoughts on this.
Let us reassure you that we’re not advocates of controlled crying, ‘shut the door and leave them’ methods. We’re not saying they don’t work if they’re done correctly. They do.
However, we just think they are too tough on all involved.
What we will say though is we like things to be the same every night. Making big changes to anyone’s sleep environment would almost always be met with some kind of protest. With a child, their protest normally involves at least a few tears. So, we can’t promise you there will be no crying. In fact, with almost all of the families I have helped, there has been at least some.
We also completely understand that no one likes the idea of hearing their child cry. We are also mothers and have been in your shoes. The Baby Sleep the Night™ philosophy does not rely on asking you to leave your child alone to cry for extended periods.
The reason that the Baby Sleep the Night™ methods are so effective is that they let you develop a planned way of getting your baby, toddler, or child to sleep that you feel comfortable with. This is completely based on what you already know about your child.
Sleep Regression
Sleep regressions happen at very important stages in a baby’s life. Despite what the name implies, it is in fact developmental rather than a regression.
So what is it?
For adults, a sleep cycle has four stages. These are:
- Drifting off
- Light sleep
- Deep sleep
- REM sleep
For a newborn, however, there are only two stages – deep sleep and REM sleep. Since these are both deep sleep stages, your baby will usually sleep soundly once they do drift off.
However, around the age of four months, the sleep cycle develops into the four-stage sleep, with stages of light sleep. Since this is so new for the baby, they will easily wake up when they reach those stages.
While the four-month sleep regression is the most well known, babies can also go through sleep regression commonly at the ages of 8 months or 18 months, or at just about any age! It usually lasts for two to six weeks, while the baby adjusts and adapts to this lighter sleep duration.
However, if you aren’t expecting it, it can be distressing.
Sleep regression can throw a lot of parents off. They can’t understand why their child, who was sleeping so well, is suddenly waking up unexpectedly.
Our gentle sleep-training programme is designed to ensure that this phase is easily and quickly managed instead of becoming the basis of poor sleeping behaviour for your child.
Learn More About Our Gentle Sleep Training Methods and Results
Our methods have worked consistently over the last decade. This is why we teach them to all the Baby Sleep the Night™-certified consultants.
Please do have a read of some of the Happy Client testimonials where parents talk about their own experiences.
If you have any questions at all about the Baby Sleep the Night™ method or philosophy, please do contact us via email philly@babysleepthenight.com.
Testimonials
At a time when we were so tired and could not see the wood for the trees, Karen disected the route causes of the problem and constructed a programme that was the sum of many small changes. It was firm but fair, initially a challenge (mainly a psychological one as parents) as it required a concerted and consistent change of behaviour from us in order to bring about the required changes for our three year old, but it worked really well.
I cannot say how much better we both feel and as a dad, I feel my relationship with my youngest has improved massively as we now both have so much more energy to play and learn together thanks to so much more sleep. This programme and approach has made such a positive impact, it’s hard to say how much. I cannot recommend Karen highly enough – it has made the world of difference, thank you!