Your Key To Sleep Training Success: Managing Expectations

By Expert Contributor Katie Kovaleski

Image via: toppayyer.blogspot.com

Image via: toppayyer.blogspot.com

Clearly, there is no magic success pill when it comes to sleep training. The process of any kind of training typically insinuates work or learning of some kind. Sleep training is no different; it’s a combination of multiple essential pieces, all-working together in unison, to achieve sleep success. Some pieces are contingent on others, and all of them must work in harmony in order for your sleep goals to be reached.

Something that will greatly help the entire process is learning to manage your expectations. It’s so common to change things for a day or two and expect instant results. To see results, you need to have every piece of your sleep puzzle (schedule, length of sleep, awake time windows, consistency in response etc.) all in line, every day, every single time for a minimum of 7-14 days. Changing one piece once or twice would be like eating two salads and expecting to drop 10 pounds by the next morning, it just doesn’t work that way.

On the flip side, if you are sleep training or have in the past, if you have an off nap or night, don’t become frazzled and start trying to make changes. Babies are unpredictable, they will have off days. Don’t make changes and try to manipulate their schedule unless they have had consistently off naps or night sleep for a minimum of 7-10 days in a row. Even a great sleeper has off naps and nights, just like adults.

Sleep training is like any other type of training where you are changing multiple elements in order to achieve big goals; it takes time, consistency and total commitment. But as with any other big life changes and goals, the pay off is worth it and is life changing.

Setting the tone and having all your sleep tools in order before you even begin training is a key to success too. Sign up on our homepage and you’ll receive our “Six Secrets Secrets To Having An Amazing Sleeper.” These tips will help get you into the right frame of mind to approach sleep training and potential obstacles you might encounter along the way.

And of course, if you need more support, we are here for you whenever you are ready. Our job is to keep you focused by providing daily support and tracking your progress through sleep logs so we can make the tweaks that are necessary to keep you moving towards sleep success.

Sleep Well!