Here is yet another myth perpetuated by the sleep training industry:
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𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.
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To put it simply, this is entirely false.
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If it were true, babies would only ever be able to go to sleep with one person. In one environment. With no variations ever. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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By this logic, if you have a weekday caregiver who does your child’s naps, you better make sure they can come over at bedtime and on weekends to put your baby to sleep then too. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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If that sounds ridiculous, it’s because it is! Our job as parents is to set conducive conditions for sleep. Not 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 conditions. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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In the same way that there are variations in the way different caregivers put your child to sleep (whether that be a nanny, grandparent, daycare worker, or even just mom and dad), so too can there be variations in the associations your child learns for sleep. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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So if you nurse to sleep at bedtime but don’t want to nurse at every wake in the middle of the night? Totally fine! If you want to rock for some naps, but hold for others, that’s fine too!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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The goal is to build in a variety of associations that your child finds familiar and soothing, and use those when it’s time for sleep. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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So if someone (ahem sleep trainers) try to convince you that you MUST drop the “bad habit” of nursing to sleep, tell them to give me a call and I’ll explain to them why they are just. plain. wrong.
