At Thriving Families, we do not promote controlled crying. We believe that babies and parents need to form solid attachment to each other before any sleep programs can be introduced. We know that parents need to have good support and good mental health to be able to be “available” for their baby while learning this new skill. It is for this reason that we promote a gentle transition into good sleep routines.
Learning a new skill takes time and practice. Babies and children need their parents to be consistent and confident to make sustained changes. Think of learning to ride a bike. Would we put a child on a bike and say pedal? Or would break it down into bite size chunks? We would start with learning to balance on the bike, then we would help stabilise them while they pedalled, then we would run beside them with hands on then hands off and finally allowing them to pedal off on their own. Sleep training is much the same.
There is no “right” way of parent犀利士
ing. No one can be a perfect parent ( and nor do we want them to be … but thats for another blog?), we all strive to be the best parent we can be, and to do this we need to listen to our own parenting brain and do what we think is right for our family.
It’s important to know that our children don’t want us to be perfect, they just want us, with all our flaws and imperfections.
The best we can do is parent from the heart. Advice will come from every direction – solicited and unsolicited. Its really hard to filter the advice to work out what is best for your family. Try to find a trusted health professional who you can use as a sound board to work out what will work best for you. Get support for yourself. Parenting is a challenge and we all need assistance at times. Ask for help when things get tough.