Sleep builds sleep: how the ‘tucker them out’ myth is keeping you awake at night!

Sleep builds sleep

Sleep builds sleep: how the ‘tucker them out’ myth is keeping you awake at night! 

I’ve helped several families this week to get their baby to sleep.  I start out by talking with each family to work what is happening and get a feel for their parenting approach and unique family situation. This then guides what steps I take in the baby sleep training process. In these discussions that the fact that sleep builds sleep often takes people by surprise.

The ‘tucker them out’ myth

To get good quality sleep, you need to be relaxed.  When any of us are overtired, we tend to have more difficulty going off to sleep. The same is true for your baby and toddler.When this idea is new to you, it can take a little while to get your head around.  For a lot of us it doesn’t seem to make sense.  Most people think that we are over tired we will just go to sleep because we are exhausted. This is the ‘tucker them out myth’. How often has someone suggested to make baby sleep by keeping them up or wearing them out?

Why the myth prevails

At times the ‘tucker them out’ myth may appear true. Certainly there are many, many babies who are so beyond overtired that they just crash, often after being awake for hours on end, beyond what they can cope with.  Most times, they are cranky and not  happy when awake. Their behaviour, personality and development can suffer.

Overtired babies fight sleep

An overtired baby fights sleep not because they need to stay up longer and crash out when it all becomes too much, but because they feel ‘yucky’. When I am talking about babies and sleep  remember  that we need to feel relaxed to go to sleep. When your baby is not feeling relaxed  they feel yucky, they need you to help them feel better so they can go to sleep. When your baby has not had quality sleep for an extended period of time, it can be harder for him or her to go to sleep easily because of feeling yucky.

The solution is to build good quality sleep first and then work through any other challenges with sleep and your baby.  Catching up on sleep is often the first step for baby sleep training. Sleep builds sleep and has a positive effect on your baby as a result.  For all of us, we are much happier and calmer when we are feeling relaxed and well rested.

For more ideas to get your baby to be happy go to leisabreed.com.
ps View the replay of our free webinar for "Realistic Settling- What it really takes " https://app.webinarjeo.com/node/webinar/view/12045-realistic-settling-what-it-really-takes

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