We live in a sleep training culture.

Its effects on parenting around sleep are powerful, and parents feel that pressure. When you dig into the research on sleep training, however, you find that it isn’t as soundly supported as many parents and professionals believe. In this post, I’m highlighting 10 facts about sleep training research that everyone should know to make informed decisions about how you support sleep for your children.

Posts tagged parenting encouragement

Comparing your baby to another | How to avoid the temptation to compare

“I know I shouldn’t compare, but I can’t help comparing my baby (or toddler) to how other babies are sleeping.”

I hear this sentiment a lot. Gather any group of parents together and they generally start sharing what their baby or toddler is doing. Hearing how other littles are sleeping and developing can really draw you in to the comparison trap, even if you know it’s not helpful. When you have a more wakeful, intense, or sensitive little one, these comparisons can really start to take a toll on your mental health and confidence.

EncouragementKimberly HawleyJuly 11, 2022parenting encouragementComment

What to do when you are feeling pressure to sleep train by family and friends

We live in a sleep training culture. There’s no doubt about it. Sleep training is the number 1 thing recommended to parents of infants and toddlers to both preventively tackle sleep or in response to sleep struggles. It is so much the default that many parents don’t even know that there are other ways to support sleep. Not all parents sleep train, however. Here are some things you can try when you’re feeling pressure from others to sleep train, and know you do not want to.

EncouragementKimberly HawleySeptember 25, 2021parenting encouragementComment

Three things to do when you are feeling alone in your parenting

Being a responsive parent is parenting against the mainstream. It’s easy to feel isolated and as though you are the only one parenting this way when all your friends and family parent from a different philosophy. While they mean well, being the only responsive parent in your support system often means lots of unwanted advice, pressure, and even criticism. Here are three things to do when you’re feeling alone as a parent.

EncouragementKimberly HawleyAugust 5, 2021parenting, parenting community, parenting encouragement Comment

My Partner and I Don’t Agree About Sleep

In an ideal world, parents talk through major parenting decisions and values ahead of baby’s arrival. However, we don’t live in an ideal world. It’s hard to know all the things you should discuss, and even when you do, it’s hard to know how you’ll feel once baby is here. The reality of your emotions and experiences can be hard to predict.

Sleep training research: unpacking sleep training culture

How Much Should My Baby or Toddler Sleep? Developmentally Appropriate Expectations, Birth To Age 5

This article features an outline of realistic expectations for your child’s sleep in the first 5 years, updated for 2022. It can be hard to know what healthy sleep patterns even are at each age. This article will cover healthy and developmentally appropriate sleep expectations for infants and toddlers by age. Download this as a PDF for an easy reference.

Bedsharing Guide: Benefits, Safety, and FAQs

Bedsharing is a wonderful, biologically normal way to care for your baby at night. It’s also a big controversy in safe sleep. Since many pediatricians only focus on a “just don’t” attitude towards bedsharing, parents are stuck trying to navigate safe sleep messages and the reality of nighttime parenting. In this guide, I’ll answer some of the many questions I hear from parents about sleeping with their baby, cosleeping safety, bedsharing, and many questions that I also asked as a new parent.

Helpful Resources

We live in a sleep training culture.