Scare Tactics

Don't nurse your baby to sleep or she will always want to be nursed to sleep...
Make sure you put your baby down awake so they teach themselves to fall asleep on their own...
Make sure not to introduce any sleep associations, like soft music, or they will always want that to go to sleep...
Always get your baby to nap in their crib...
Try the cry it out method and sleep train your baby...

The list goes on and on...

Sleep is something that perplexes a lot of new parents, myself included! We are still learning about Julia's sleep habits, but then again, she's still making them! But the above is something that I've worried about a lot. There's so much advice out there on how to 'ensure' your baby is a good sleeper. And all of it has scared me. I've read every one of the above on various websites and have been petrified. What vision does this give me? Putting my baby in her crib awake every single time with nothing to soothe her and I need to let her cry it out.

I don't think so.

I've thought a lot about this over the last few days and decided that I'm going to stick to what I have been doing Julia's whole life...feeding her before sleep and letting her sleep wherever. Julia doesn't always fall asleep feeding; Sometimes she's had enough but is still drowsy, so she stops eating and goes to sleep. Sometimes she just wants a cuddle and goes to sleep without a feeding. Sometimes she falls asleep during tummy time on the floor. This works for us. Julia is a well-rest, happy baby who is good at telling me what she needs, when she needs it. Surely a matter of baby sleep is being able to read your baby's sleepy cues and determine what they need?

We've introduced a sleep association (lullaby music) for Julia's bedtime. This is to comfort her if she wakes up shortly after falling asleep. If that music is still playing and she's starting to fuss, then we see to her because it's evident that there is something she needs from us. Last night she woke shortly after falling asleep, kicked her legs around a bit and fell back asleep!

The whole point of this post is to say do what's best for your baby. You don't have to buy in to any 'sleep training' practices, because you and your baby will figure it out.