A lot of parents have found out that consistency is so important when it comes to parenting. Well it is the same for sleep training. If you want your baby to be falling asleep on their own and sleeping through the night then you must keep consistent with your sleep plan. If you've chosen to do a gentler method, it will take a lot longer for the training to be done. So it will take some patience before you see any results. If you have chosen the intermediate method, it goes faster but you may have to endure some crying. I don't mean crying it out. But some tears and protests. All of these obstacles may cause you to feel like you want to stop and that it's easier to just keep on doing what you have been doing.
The first night is always the toughest, especially for those that have chose to do a quicker method. I know because I've been through it. It definitely helps if you can have someone there to help you get through it. To take turns in helping out through the process. It helps you to stay consistent and you can encourage each other to keep moving forward. Here's something to help you keep consistent in your sleep plan: Keep focused on the end result. If you focus on the one night that you just went through you will for sure think that it would be easier to just stick with your baby's previous sleeping situation. However, if you focus on the end result, having far more sleep and a happier baby, it's so worth it to keep on with the plan. Let's take an example of everyday life with a baby/toddler and keeping consistent. If your baby was always eating paper and you told her one day that it wasn't ok to do that, then the next day you didn't say anything and then later you tell her not to. Your baby will probably continue to eat the paper. It causes confusion of whether they can eat the paper or not? This is the same for sleep training. Let's say you’ve been rocking your baby to sleep for months now, but want to wean her from that sleep association. For the first three days, you rock her for a few minutes before naps and bed, but then put her in her crib while she’s still drowsy but awake. This is great! But then you give up on day four and rock her straight to sleep for naps and bed, you’re giving your baby a confusing message. This kind of inconsistency will totally set you back and all your efforts in helping her to fall asleep on her own will have meant nothing. And remember that if you have purchased a consultation package with me I will help you through every step of the sleep plan and encourage you to get through it