Philosophy

Sleep Philosophy

My sleep philosophy is that healthy sleep habits start at an early age and yes, babies can learn how to sleep well! Children’s bodies need sleep to function, develop, and grow. Healthy sleep habits make for healthy children and a well-rested child is curious, energetic, happy, playful, and eager to learn.

All support and plans at Happy Sleeping Baby are science-backed yet, adapted to the individual needs of each family, and always parent assisted, which means you’ll be helping your child learn the skill of sleep. Sleep is a puzzle and I’m here to help you understand and put that sleep puzzle together to have Happy Sleep!

My approach to improving your child’s sleep:

I’ll give you information about WHY sleep is so important for your child’s well-being. This will give you all the motivation you need to make changes to your child’s sleep habits.
We’ll work together to find the best fit for your family, whether it’s a Happy Sleep Plan or Sleep Support. I’ll lay out an easy-to-follow plan that lets you make some choices about what is the right approach for your child. All children are different, and nobody knows your child better than you do.
I’ll show you how to measure sleep success. No, you shouldn’t expect your child to sleep 12 uninterrupted hours on the first night — although it does happen! I’ll tell you what you should expect along the way…

A little note about the “crying” question: Since people always ask me about whether making changes involves “crying it out,” I think it’s something that needs to be addressed.

Happy Sleep plans and support are parent-assisted and that means helping your child learn the skill of sleep together with them, not alone. While this isn’t a “cry it out” approach (cry it out literally means leaving your child alone to cry themselves to sleep), unfortunately it doesn’t mean there won’t be any crying. I wish there truly was a “no cry” solution but if that really worked, why would anyone ever do a different method?! Crying is your child’s way of adjusting to change, and you can expect that making changes to their sleep habits will result in some protest. That’s why I’m always sure to tell parents that my plans and support will most likely involve at least some amount of crying on the child’s part, but you’ll be with them and helping them learn their new skill. I often say that some crying while making these adjustments is less stressful than suffering months and months of terrible sleep deprivation. Sleep is one of the most important components to being healthy, learning, and growing. And that goes for us adults too! If your baby or child is not sleeping well it can take a toll on the whole family. Anxiety, stress, frustration, and anger can arise because the whole family isn’t sleeping well. Your child will be learning healthy sleep habits to have for the rest of their life when making these changes.