One of my greatest achievements as a mummy is successfully establising Aki’s bedtime routine and schedule. Sleep training is important to me because if Aki’s up all night playing or crying, that means I was also up all night playing or crying too. I love spending time with my son but since I go to work during the day, making sure that we both get enough rest at night is a priority.
I tried to read as much as I could on sleep training. The most helful material was from Elizabeth Pantley ( she just came out with a new book on Separation Anxiety, btw)
So what exactly did I do
1. Watch out for cues and patterns. For Aki, sleepy means yawning and rubbing his eyes. Whenever I saw these signs which were around 6PM when Aki was still on his 2nd month, we’d immediate go inside our room and start our routine.
2. Set the stage. The room should be quiet, dimly lit and distraction-free
3. Practice a consistent bedtime routine. Ours consisted of
- last diaper change for the day
- pajama
- a short story
- turning on the night lamp
- good night kiss
- shushing and patting of the bum
By Aki’s 4th month, I did not wait for cues anymore. I just start the routine consistently, doing it at the same time every day. At 5 months, he can already sleep thru the night!
Here are more helpful tips from Elizabeth’s website:
Continue reading “WANTED: Good Night Sleep for Baby and Mummy”