Ep. 34: How can we balance our infant's biological sleep with a parent's need for sleep?

If you've listened here before you will know that the research doesn't support the idea that extinction sleep training methods, like crying it out or controlled crying, actually improve our infant's sleep (or children's for that matter). Despite parents reporting improvements, when we look at objective measures of sleep, the sleep of children pre- and post-sleep training is actually no different. Many of us see this as a bit damning for sleep training, but what cannot be denied is that sleep training may improve parent sleep and in cultures where sleep is hard to come by and expectations for parents are through the roof, this is not something to be overlooked. This week, I was able to chat with Dr. Levita D'Souza about this very tension - how do we balance our infant's needs for proximity and support as well as their biologically normal sleep rhythms with a parent's need for more sleep in an unsupportive culture. We both know that only if we can start to address this issue will we be able to move away from our sleep training culture. I hope our conversation can help move this issue forward. Dr. Levita D'Souza: www.centreforperinatalpsychology.com.au/psych…ouza/ For those who are interested in an in-depth look at the science on sleep training, you can check out this eLearning Module (available worldwide, continuing education credits for IBCLCs and Australian midwives): https://www.breastfeedingconferences.com.au/conference_details.php?conferenceId=110