are you bringing home a newborn and getting all geared up to continue your regular schedule. after all how hard can it be? all you have to do is lug the baby carrier or bucket car seat with you, right? the baby can sleep anywhere, right? you can still go out to dinners and stay out late because the baby can go with you, right? well, sorry to burst your bubble, but not really! yes, for the first few weeks you can do this. your freedom to some degree can continue. granted, you will need to meet every need of your new baby while you’re out doing what used to be done in such a glamorous and speedy fashion. now you must stop to feed your baby, burp your baby, change your baby, and anything else that goes along with your new little package. although you must do all these new events while being out and about, the beauty of the first few weeks is that you can still go and do them. sooner than you know it, your baby will need to nap in a crib and the freedom of running around with your baby in tow comes to an end.
many new parents are under the impression that as long as their baby is in the ‘bucket’ (infant car seat) you can keep them out with you at all times. no matter the hour or place. the baby is transportable and therefore the answer is you have 6 months of freedom to not worry about naps, bedtimes or babysitters. i’m sorry to say that this is not the case. as i mentioned above, this is the case for the first few weeks but much sooner than 6 months your baby is ready to begin forming good habits around schedules and sleep. by creating a rhythm and schedule early on for your little one, you will be saving yourself and your child a lot of stress around the dreaded issue of SLEEP TRAINING!!! the trick about sleep training is to create good habits and lead them in the right direction from the beginning. more cases than not parents go with the mind set of freedom for 6 months and then all of a sudden find themselves standing at the edge of the cliff ready to jump. they have a baby who only wants to be held, sleeps only in the car or while being rocked or held, won’t lie down alone, and leaving you with the total opposite….absolutely no freedom. there you are left wondering, what happened? it turns on you in an instant and you’re stuck wondering where to go from here. the answer ends up being sleep training and here the stress begins.
yes, 6 months is a very good time to begin sleep training. sometimes before this and sometimes a bit after depending on you and your families desires, needs, and preferences. sleep training isn’t really the issue, but rather the bigger issue is the habits you’ve created for the first 6 months are not good habits. they weren’t habits that helped led your child into independent sleep. they weren’t habits that led your child into good routines. up to this point, each day has been different and now all of a sudden you want them to go to sleep, without movement, on their own, and on a schedule of 2 naps and a reasonable bedtime. although, all of this is still possible, it just gets a bit hairier as you’re trying to break all the bad habits and now create good ones.
this is why i suggest starting good habits from the beginning. i have created a ‘guide your baby into good sleep habits’ for newborns until around the 12 week mark. this guide will help you start off on the right foot. helping you create a solid routine from the get go. helping you keep your baby from getting over tired and allowing your baby the opportunity to learn how to sleep unassisted early on. this guide is available for purchase under sleep training packages. Get your guide today and start guiding your baby into good sleep habits! going down this path, rather than lugging your baby all around for 6 months, will ultimately give you the freedom you want. the 6 months of freedom is nothing compared to a lifetime of freedom you gain by teaching your child how to sleep properly from the beginning. do yourself, your family and your baby a favour by creating good habits from the beginning to allow everyone the freedom and sleep they deserve!
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