It is distressing when I hear my baby cry.
Good sleepers are made, not born. Sure, it takes a good
amount of hard work but it pays off in the end. The
need for good restorative sleep is necessary and should
not be overlooked. Children come in different packages
with differences in personality and temperament but
the truth remains that sleep is a basic need for everyone.
Supporting your baby in learning to soothe himself to
sleep in the early phase will provide a good foundation
for him to become a good sleeper in the future, and
that is the goal. There are many versions of sleep programs
written by many experienced childcare experts, where
sleep training is advocated with tips and advice offered
for different scenarios. Most schedules are planned
with flexibility in mind hinging on the fact that there
will be differences in babies as well as the variances
that can be expected on a day-to-day basis during sleep
training. During training, children generally cry for
two reasons:
a) the child isn't familiar with how to soothe herself,
and
b) she is not ready for the change. The controversial
"crying it out" is not necessary to forming good sleep
habits.
Experts do not draw out rigid schedules, which stipulates
that you must ignore your child's cries to achieve
the end result. Instead it teaches parents to balance
between when to respond to their child's cues and
when to leave the room. Babies need to learn and are
capable of learning to fall asleep on their own but
it is also true that no one method works for everybody
since all parents and babies are different.
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