Its one o’clock in the afternoon and little Suzie has fallen asleep. Most likely, she has just been fed or changed. We instantly stop whatever we are doing and put our child into a comfortable space for their nap. We scratch our plans to vacuum the house for a couple of hours. Then, we turn down the television and maybe put on some soothing music. Once again, day begins to look a lot like night. Think about it, what do you do differently at night? At night, we pick up our children gently, check their diapers, and feed them while humming a soothing tune. It is a small wonder, in this sort of environment, that our children ever learn that the time for sleeping is at night.
Mistake #3: We don’t teach our babies how to soothe themselves
Perhaps I seem a bit cruel. After all, infants are both very vulnerable and very dependent on us to meet their needs. In spite of this, our babies can be quite resourceful if we let them. For example, babies like to put things in their mouths. Yet they take the pacifier out of their mouth, parents tend to guide it right back in again. I used to wake up with my daughter in the middle of the night only to find out that her only wish was that I help her put her pacifier back in her mouth. The problem was that she usually had the pacifier in her hand. In addition, I was so paranoid that my daughter would end up with deformed teeth that I always tried to keep her from putting her fingers in her mouth. Only later did I find out that thumb sucking rarely becomes a problem for children later in life. I can assure you from experience as a father and as a caregiver for other children that the average baby can figure out how to replace their own pacifier at a very early age. We just have to let them.
Two Simple steps to get your Child to Sleep at Night