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Welcome to the first week of the Parachute Mom Sleep Training Program!
It’s called: The 12 Week Sleep Solution!
The following article is and excerpt from the 12 Week Sleep Solution –the official Parachute Mom Sleep Training Course!
[/vc_column_text][nectar_btn size=”medium” button_style=”regular-tilt” button_color=”Accent-Color” icon_family=”none” url=”https://parachutemom.com/learn/12wss” text=”See The Course”][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”10″][vc_column_text]Congratulations on the birth of your precious new baby! You are taking a leap of faith into one of the greatest adventures of your life: raising this child to become the incredible person they were meant to be. And their journey starts with something very simple and basic but oh, so important: learning to peacefully sleep through the night.
It might sound a little crazy but the first week of your baby’s life is the first week to start sleep training. The most optimal time to start is the day after you get home from the hospital but if that isn’t possible -no sweat- just start as soon as you can in the first week.
ONE VERY IMPORTANT NOTE before we begin: You might be thinking, maybe my baby is more difficult to sleep train than others. Let me just say, I have had 3 kids 4 kids all with vastly different personalities from birth and all of them have slept through the night at 8 weeks following the advice that I’m sharing with you now.
The truth is: all babies are hard to sleep train but if you’re willing to put in the effort, you will be rewarded with sleep and peace for you and your baby!
Whether you feel your baby is easy or difficult…. follow the week by week steps I have for you and your baby should be sleeping 8 hours or more by 8-10 weeks of age.
Let’s begin!
There are three key things you should focus on in the first week of your new baby’s life.
The first week is all about…
Getting to know your baby,
Recovering from giving birth,
And trying to rest as much as possible.
So remember those three things are the priority above everything, yes even the sleep schedule!
But you also need to remember that the sooner you focus on the sleep schedule, the sooner you will be able to sleep through the night…oh yeah, and so will your baby 🙂
The first week is the easiest week when it comes to knowing what to do with your baby.
Let me just give you a little phrase that always helps me during this first week “Nurse, awake, sleep, nurse, awake, sleep, nurse, awake, sleep”…all day long…
We are going to break it down into those 3 easy steps.
-
Nurse
-
Awake
-
Sleep
Step One: Nurse
You will simply feed (nurse or bottle feed) baby every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. A lot of people have a hard time understanding what this actually means… You simply note when you START her feeding and begin your next feeding 2 1/2 to 3 hours later. for example, if your baby started feeding at 1pm, your next feeding will begin between 3:30 and 4pm.
Step Two: Awake
The next thing you have to think about is trying to keep your baby awake after her feeding for up to 45 minutes. This is the challenging part.
Most newborn babies can sleep anywhere between 16 to 21 hours a day. So even if you keep your baby awake for 15 minutes, it is better than nothing.
During the nighttime feedings you will definitely not be trying to keep your baby awake.
Step Three: Sleep
Now let me just say this, this is the area where I see the most failure, probably because it is the most difficult part of scheduling, but it is the most important part! You are teaching your baby to fall asleep on her own without the comfort of bottle feeding or nursing to sleep.
It is much easier to teach this skill from day one as opposed to week 12!
One thing you will need to remember is that at night, you need to wake your baby up at least 3 hours after you feed her –if she is not waking on her own by that time.
Doing this is very important, especially if you are nursing. Your milk supply will come in when it’s supposed to and your baby will get the nourishment that she needs.
Yes, this does mean setting your alarm and waking your precious sleeping baby (#adulting). Trust me, you will thank me when your baby is sleeping at least 8 wonderful hours at night by 8 weeks old!
Some Small Exceptions
After saying all this, there will be times when it is simply impossible to get your baby to wake up after a feeding.
Now, with my first baby I refused to give in to this and would torture myself trying to get my sleeping baby to wake up. There are times when it is just not going to happen, so recognize those times, use common sense and just let your baby go to sleep.
It’s All About Self-Control
Okay, so what we’ve covered so far is that you need to feed your baby every 2 1/2 to 3 hours around the clock and during daytime hours you need to keep her awake for up to 45 minutes after each feeding.
Following this pattern is essentially your newborn’s first lesson in Self-Control.
Once you notice your baby is drifting to sleep or becomes fussy, lay her down in her crib and let her fall asleep on her own. This is called self-soothing. It is my belief that a self-soothing child turns into a self-controlled child.
Your baby is learning from the beginning that they have the ability to control their emotions and behaviors.
It is not the full responsibility of the mom to rush in at the sound of every cry. As painful as it is to hear your own baby cry, it is even more painful to have a baby that is incapable of sleeping.
I am telling you right now, I do not believe in the “cry-it-out method” of parenting, but I do believe it is okay to let your baby cry. Your baby will not grow up hating you or feeling that you abandoned them as an infant, in fact, I believe with my full heart that one day your child will thank you for teaching them great sleeping habits.
Your Baby will not need some sort of crazy coping mechanism to get them to go to sleep at night, they will simply be able to lay down and fall asleep. That is all you are teaching your baby when you lay them down and say “night night”, you are giving them permission to sleep in peace.
So that is all simple enough, right?
- Feed baby every 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
- Keep baby awake for up to 45 minutes after feeding during daytime hours.
- Lay baby down in crib while she is still awake and let her sleep for at least 1 1/2 hours
You got this! Go get ’em Mama!
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Awesome! So happy for you! Glad I could help! 🙂