I wrote a guest post on another blog, Ambajam, with five baby sleep tips. You have a chance to win one of their very cute Cuddle Up baby blankets or a copy of my Help Your Child Sleep, a Step-by-Step Guide e-book, if you enter the contest before MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2008. Enter today!
Introducing a lovey to your baby or toddler can sometimes help him feel cozy and secure in his crib or bed. The lovey should ideally not be larger than his head nor have things that can fall off that he can choke on (such as eyes on a stuffed animal). A small baby blanket is a wonderful choice. My son took to sucking on his blanket for a few months (never took a pacifier or sucked his thumb, so I was lucky there were no habits to break in that regard).
To introduce the lovey to your baby, simply start holding it during your bedtime and nap routines, particularly if you are nursing. Hold it close to your child and he will start to associate it with comfort while you are soothing him down for sleep.
Some people are worried their child will be carrying around a ratty blanket for years to come. You can make it a rule the lovey remains in your baby’s room / crib and only use it for sleep. I did this and it worked very well and we never had a problem.
Note: To guard against the risk of SIDS, you need to be careful about how early you introduce a lovey / blanket. Please read the 10 ways to reduce the risk of SIDS.
When you feel comfortable, you can place the lovey in the crib or bed with your baby or toddler and she will be able to seek comfort in the lovey during nighttime arousals or through sleep cycles.
Word to the wise. You will need to clean the lovey and there is always the potential of loss (through wear and tear or just leaving it somewhere), so you may want to buy a “double” (or triple) that you can rotate, so your child will never notice if something should happen to the lovey.
I get the question “Do you think I need to sleep train again?” a lot. My advice is not to think of sleep training as a quick-one-time-fix. It really begins to boil down to a parenting method related to sleep. More often than not, teething, traveling, illness, developmental milestones or simply the knowledge your baby gains (eventually) that crying gets him what he wants can throw a wrench in even the most peaceful sleepers. Once my first son was “sleep trained”, we had to revisit over and over because of his spirited personality. Then, we’d have a string of great times and then fall back, again. It was sooo frustrating! But, necessary.
So, my advice is that you need to tend to your baby when she is sick, teething, etc. but once she is well again, you may need to go back to your sleep training method of choice to get things back on track. Many times it’s more about setting limits and deciding what you will and won’t do all night long, and how much sleep you decide is too much for your child to lose.
