Read Good Night, Sleep Tight Workbook Online
Authors: Kim West
Tags: #Family & Relationships, #Life Stages, #Infants & Toddlers, #Parenting, #General
Good Night, Sleep Tight Workbook (9 page)
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Our bedtime routine will include the following:
1. bath or wash up
2. massage
3. nurse with a night-light on
4. short song or book
5. into crib awake
If applicable, we have created a sleep manner sticker chart with the following manners:
OUR BEDTIME PLAN:
• Dad will sit by the crib until Bridget falls asleep.
• Dad has reviewed all the rules of the Shuffle outlined on pages 30-32.
• Dad will decide when it is appropriate to pick up Bridget to calm her and will determine if it helps her.
• Mom will not coach Dad from the doorway and will support his efforts knowing that he loves Bridget and is a caring father to her.
• Mom and Dad agree that learning to put yourself to sleep is an essential life skill and that it is one of our tasks as parents to teach Bridget.
OUR CHAIR POSITIONS WILL BE AS FOLLOWS:
• Nights 1-3 by the crib
• Nights 4-6 by door (her room is small and her crib is near the door so a halfway position isn’t necessary)
• Nights 7-10 hallway in view. She can see us from her crib.
• Nights 11-13 hallway out of view with her door open a crack to a few inches
• Nights 14 and on—leave and “sh” intermittently from doorway if still necessary
OUR NIGHTTIME STRATEGY:
• We and the pediatrician agree that Bridget needs one feeding during an 11-12 hr. night.
• We will feed her at the first waking after midnight and then not until 6 a.m. the earliest and then we will start our day.
• For this one feeding Mom will go in, change her diaper and nurse Bridget and place her back in the crib. Mom will unlatch her once she is done with her feeding and not allow her to suckle back to sleep.
• Dad will go in and sit next to Bridget’s crib at each waking before and after the feeding and follow the Shuffle rules outlined on pages 30-32.
• We will not bring Bridget out of her room to start the day before 6 a.m.
• We will not bring Bridget back in to Mom and Dad’s bed.
Example of nighttime strategy if Bridget did NOT need a feeding during the night and needed to be weaned from several night feedings:
• We and the pediatricians agree that Bridget is a healthy weight and does not need to receive calories during an 11-12 hr period at night.
• We have decided to wean her from her night feedings over 3 nights.
• For 3 nights we will feed her at the first waking after midnight and then not until 6 a.m. the earliest and then we will start our day.
• For this one feeding Mom will go in, change her diaper and nurse Bridget and place her back in the crib. Mom will unlatch her once she is done with her feeding and not allow her to suckle back to sleep.
• Dad will go in and sit next to Bridget’s crib at each waking before and after the feeding and follow the Shuffle rules outlined on pages 30-32.
• We will not bring Bridget out of her room to start the day before 6 a.m.
• We will not bring Bridget back in to Mom and Dad’s bed.
• On the fourth night we will not feed Bridget during the night and will treat every waking the same.
• Mom and Dad have decided to split up the night as follows:
• When Bridget wakes between bedtime-1:00 a.m. Mom will go in and sit by the crib and follow the rules outlined on page 31.
• When Bridget wakes between 1:00 a.m.-6:00 a.m. Dad will go in and sit by the crib and follow the rules outlined on page 31.
• If she wakes before 6:00 a.m. and does NOT go back to sleep by 6:00 a.m. we will leave the room and come back in and do “dramatic wake up.”
OUR CHAIR POSITIONS WILL BE AS FOLLOWS:
• Nights 1-4 by the crib—we will sit by the crib an extra night on the first night she goes without a feeding all night.
• Nights 5-7 by door (Her room is small and her crib is near the door so a halfway position is not necessary.)
• Nights 8-11 hallway in view. She can see us from her crib.
• Nights 12-14 hallway out of view with her door open a crack to a few inches
• Nights 15 and on—leave and “sh” intermittently from doorway if still necessary
OUR NAP PLAN:
• We have decided to start the nap coaching process also.
• We will start the morning after the first night of sleep coaching.
We will be using the flexible schedule we outlined above.
We have reviewed the nap coaching on pages 34-35.
OUR SHORTENED PRE-NAP ROUTINE WILL BE:
1. pull the shades down in room, change diaper
2. comfort nurse with light on if at home
3. short book
OUR BACKUP NAP PLAN IS:
We will take Bridget for a stroller or car ride on weekends when she is home. Our goal is for her to nap at least 45 minutes or be awake by 4:30 p.m.
OUR NAP PLAN AT HOME:
We will nap coach Bridget in her crib on the weekends or other weekdays we are home.
OUR DAY CARE PROVIDER HAS AGREED TO THE FOLLOWING:
She cannot nap coach our child since she has other children to care for but she is willing to make sure Bridget gets 3-3½ hours of day naps even if she has to sleep in the swing or stroller. We shared with her Bridget’s schedule and average windows of wakefulness and she is willing to work with us on the timing of her day naps.
We’re ready to go! We have blocked out three weeks of our schedule and are dedicating ourselves to improving our child’s sleep habits! There is sleep for all at the end of the tunnel!
Below is a sample plan for Max, a 3-year-old who sleeps in a bed.
We have met with our pediatrician and have discussed our child’s eating, growth, and general health. We have ruled out any potential underlying medical conditions that may be interfering with our child’s sleep. Our pediatrician has given us the green light to begin sleep coaching.
After reviewing the sleep averages, we have found that our child requires on average the following amount of sleep:
Total amount of nighttime sleep: 10½ hours Total amount of daytime sleep: 1½ hours Number of naps: 1
After reviewing my child’s eating and sleep logs over the last few days we believe his/her natural bedtime window is: 7:30-8:00 p.m.
We will be working toward an approximate eating and sleeping schedule as outlined below:
6:00 a.m.-7:30 a.m. Wake-up range. Max tends to wake at 6:30 a.m. and acts rested with 10½ hours of sleep at night. Breakfast 12 noon Lunch. Around 1:00 p.m. Nap. We will wake him after 1½ hours since if he sleeps longer it is harder for him to go to bed on time. Snack 5:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Dinner or feeding 6:30 p.m. Start bath/bedtime routine (depends on whether it is a bath night) 7:45 p.m. Lights out and in bed
Our bedtime routine will include the following:
1. bath or wash up
2. put on pajamas and pick out 2 books
3. read books
4. share “3 things I liked about my day”
5. review of sleep manner chart, kisses, and lights out
We have created a sleep manner sticker chart with the following manners:
• cooperates at bedtime
• lies quietly in bed
• goes to sleep without Mommy or Daddy lying down with him
• puts self back to sleep quietly during the night without Mommy or Daddy lying down with him
• stays in bed quietly until the wake-up music comes on
OUR BEDTIME PLAN:
• Mom and Dad will have a family meeting and discuss with Max the sleep manners that are expected of him. We will also tell him that we will no longer be lying down with him at bedtime or during the night but that we will stay with him while he learns to put himself to sleep.
• Mom and Dad will alternate nights and will discuss this prior to bedtime.
• On the first night Mom will review Max’s sleep manners before turning off the lights.
• Mom will sit by Max’s bed at bedtime until he falls asleep.
• Once lights are out there will be little engagement or discussions with Max. We will only agree to cover him up two times and then he will have to do it himself.
• Mom and Dad have reviewed all the rules of the Shuffle outlined on pages 30-32.
• Mom will move away from the bedside if Max continues to put his legs on her or tries to put his head on her lap and will not be redirected.
• Mom will hug Max to calm him down if needed but will not lay down with him.
• Mom and Dad agree to be a united front and consistent with Max knowing that this will help Max.
• We acknowledge that changing sleep habits in a 3-year-old can take longer.
• Mom and Dad agree that learning to put yourself to sleep is an essential life skill and that it is one of our tasks as parents to teach Max.
OUR CHAIR POSITIONS WILL BE AS FOLLOWS:
• Nights 1-3 by the bed
• Nights 4-6 by door. If Max continues to get out of the bed when we are sitting at the door we will stand, count to 3 and say, “Max I will not sit in your room unless you stay in your bed quietly. I will count to 3 and if you are not in your bed I will leave and shut the door.” If we have to leave and shut the door we will count to 10 and open the door and tell Max, “If you get in your bed I will come and sit in your room.” We will say this in a calm but firm voice. We will do this as often as necessary until he gets back into the bed.
• Nights 7-10 hallway in view. He can see us from his bed. We realize this may be the most difficult phase for Max. We will respond the same way as outlined above if he gets out of the bed. We may also consider putting up a gate until his sleep manners improve.
• Nights 11-13 hallway out of view with his door open a crack to a few inches. We will use our voice intermittently to reassure him of our presence if necessary.
• Nights 14 and on—leave and do “job checks.” We will tell him that we will check on him after we brush our teeth, for example. We will stay upstairs in our room for a few nights until he is asleep and then progress to going downstairs.
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