Sleep Sack or Blanket?

"What's the purpose of a sleep sack? How long would you use it?"

The sleep sack is a blanket that your baby can wear. Like a Snuggie but for babies. If you don't have the skills to pull your blanket up when you move in your sleep, then the sleep sack is a blanket that stays put.  

Moving and restlessness and leg slamming and rolling are all part of the settling and self soothing process for babies. When I'm falling asleep I toss at least 3 times, scratch my nose at least twice (my hair tickles my face), I adjust and re-adjust my hair to get it out of my face and off my neck and wiggle around a lot. Self soothing is an active process and when you are done, you want your blanket in place.

"But what if it's too hot for a blanket. Can't you just crank up the temperature so you don't need one?"

The body temp naturally drops when you fall asleep so if you don't have a covering, when you wake between sleep cycles, you will be more aware and it's harder to get back to sleep. It's easier to sleep in a cool room with a warm blanket/sleep sack then it is to sleep in a warm/hot room with a light blanket. The sleep sack is better than a blanket because you can't kick it off. Have you ever fallen asleep on top of your covers in the middle of the afternoon, fully clothed, totally comfortable and as you are drifting off to sleep, grab the comforter from the other side and fling it over yourself. (Climbing in would be too much effort in your near sleep state) Your body temperature has dropped you got cold. In the heat of an Arizona summer, don't you wish it was cooler and you could climb under a blanket instead of sweating on top of one? A cool room with a blanket is just more comfortable.

When your child is able to pull up and adjust his blanket on his own, that's a good time to switch to a blanket. 2-3 years old is typical. If you have transitions to a toddler bed and your child still doesn't have that skill, a toddler sleeping bag is a good idea. Not a nylon camping kind but one made of quilting fabric that stays in place when you roll over. If you are crafty, you could just fold over a heavy, washable, quilt and put in a zipper.

To help your child learn the skill of pulling up his blanket, I suggest you read my blog about that. http://getquietnights.com/2014/04/blanket-races-help-children-sleep-through-the-night/

There are different types of sleep sacks.  Swaddle, covering hands, hands out, feet out etc.  You have to find one that works for you.  I have heard great things about the Zipadeezip and the Pekemoe and the Halo and my personal favorite is the Moon Cocoon. 

We just want our children to be comfortable and sleep well.
A sleep sack may be just to tool to help improve your baby's sleep.  If you think you need more than that, Call a gentle sleep coach to give you gentle sleep guidance and solutions to keep your baby's infant mental health the priority.

Tracy Spackman

Certified Gentle Sleep Coach

602-524-7610

Tracy@GetQuietNights.com Contact Me

 www.GetQuietNights.com   Book a Consultation

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Twitter @GetQuietNights                  

Tracy Spackman is a Certified Gentle Sleep Coach helping families all over the world.  Join her gentle sleep support Facebook group called Sleep Sisters - Get Quiet Nights.

Can you spoil your baby?

It used to be believed that you were teaching a baby to cry more if you picked them up when they cried, thinking that that baby will learn to cry to get attention. The opposite has been proven to be true. When you pick up a crying child, you are helping them to regulate (co-regulation) and they will, as a result, be more resilient, especially when this attention is given in the first year.

When a toddler, ages 1.5, 2, 3 (or sometimes older too), has a meltdown and is crying, it is often related to autonomy and security. Their idea of independence and having a lack of physical ability to accomplish what they are imagining themselves doing. They need your positive attention, picking them up, responding with love and patience, please don't feel threatened. It's not about you.

Dr. Jean-Victor Wittenberg,(child psychiatrist and Head of the Infant Psychiatry Program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and Co-Chair of Infant Mental Health Promotion (IMHP) which provides teaching for front-line professionals and develops advocacy initiatives on behalf of infant mental health), recently stated that you don't need to squelch that behavior. When they are having a meltdown, It's about them and their development and personal frustration and insecurities. By helping them regulate, offering help and concern, hugs and attention, it helps them know that this world is a good place and you are not going anywhere. You child may be realizing there are relationships outside of yours and theirs and they are insecure about it. You need to fortify that bond for them. 

It's understandable that you want to teach good behavior but it's the underlying regulation issues going on under the tantrum that need addressing which will bring about better long term behavior with resilience and independence.

Learning Self Regulation is a long, ongoing process and in the learning period, there is a lot of co-regulation that goes on between caregiver and child to help the child learn to control his/her emotions and modify them, or in other words, to deal with the big emotions that come with the ups and downs of life.

This is why I like gentle methods when it comes to sleep.  The temperaments of babies vary and we as caregivers need to modify our responsive to give them the best chance of good mental health and life success.

Tracy Spackman is a Certified Gentle Sleep Coach
www.GetQuietNights.com
https://www.facebook.com/QuietNights
602-524-7610

Does Sleep Training Work? Answers from Mom's who did it...

This was the string on my sleep sisters Facebook page today...

Jen Snell Farrell feeling curious

Scottsdale, AZ

Has anyone on this site really has success with sleep training!?!? By using Tracy or books? Just curious because I don't see a lot of success stories. Maybe that is because the sisters with the success no longer check in with this group??

• Dylan Ashley Vallino yes I see a lot of success

  
  
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  Dylan Ashley Vallino I have worked with tracy

  
  
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  Dylan Ashley Vallino she changed everything for us!

  
  
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  Jen Snell Farrell Thank you Dylan Ashley Vallino

  
  
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  Linda Van Den Berg Didn't work with her as I live in Holland, but have taken tips from here that have made all the difference!

  
  
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  Sarah Brandt Flores I worked with her and had great success. The second time around I did it on my own and was able to apply some of the things that she'd taught me, and it worked out well again

  
  
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  Dylan Ashley Vallino Jen you can give Tracy Spackman a call and she will do a free consultation with you. It was great for me to start with that because it gave me an idea of her knowlege and what i would get, but she also gave me pointers that I could incorperate into our life right then. You can find more information about her at www.getquietnights.com
  

  
• Jen Snell Farrell Linda Van Den Berg I bet she could still work with you

  
  
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  Dylan Ashley Vallino She can. I'm out of state and talk to her via email and phone and that has worked for us!

  
  
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  Lauren Johnson Eastburn Yes! Worked with Tracy Spackman over the phone and followed her plan to get my 8 month old sleeping in his crib (not his rock 'n play!) for the first time since he was 4.5 months old. He also now makes it from 7:00 PM - 6:30 AM w/ only 2 dream feeds instead of having to nurse him almost hourly to get him back to sleep after a wake up...life changing - and not nearly as bad as I thought it would be!!! It admittedly felt a little intimidating at first, but once we started, it was empowering to have a plan and encouraging to watch him improve SO quickly!

  
  
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  Linda Van Den Berg Probably could! But I'm blessed with a good sleeper, so it isn't required thankfully. I did always have to feed him (bf) once every night and now I've learned to disassociate nursing with sleeping, he now goes 7-730am, feed, straight back till 9 or 10am. And he naps twice a day 1.5-2 hours each nap. So no complaints in the sleep department here!

  
  
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  Michelle Leland We were planning using Tracy and found a recommendation for a book on her website so borrowed it from the library and basically used it to success! We started sleep training a month ago from co-sleeping and nursing ondemand our 10 month old. If the book didn't work we were ready to book Tracy. But last night out LO slept 11 straight in his crib, self soothed and two awesome naps self soothed today so I would say success! This was even with a trip to Australia and mommy going back to work full time. I do think that sleep is a constant battle though as they hit different milestones and teething, etc.

  
  
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• Erica Rondina Somerville Which book Michelle Leland?

  
• Stephanie Rempel I used Tracy, I wanted to be able to contact someone if I had a question. She's great! We went from cosleeping - he would only fall asleep if we were there with him, and if he wasn't too hyper (which we now know is because we missed his sleep window) and anytime a tooth or new skill was coming it was a nightmare - to sleeping through the night, no dream feeds, no early waking, 12 hours of quiet! If he's sick or teething we hear from him a little more, but usually don't have to go in. We love it! And I usually check with Tracy directly if I have a question. I'd bet other moms who've hiredTracy do the same thing.

  
  
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  Erin Rodriguez I had great success with my (now) 3 year old. He goes to sleep on his own now and sleeps all night without a problem!

  
  
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  Rebecca Kuhr Rosen Lauren Johnson Eastburn I'm glad it worked for you too!! . Tracy Spackman was a huge help for us also!!! My 22 month old is now taking great 3 hour naps and sleeping through the night (he was waking every 2 hours). The first few nights were rough but soooooo worth it!

  
  
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  Paula Finch Yup! We had great success!! Sleeping through the night after 3 nights of coaching. That doesn't mean we haven't had our struggles, but once he gets better/we return from travel, he gets back into the routine very very quickly!! 
  
  I think a lot of us that have done coaching are just hanging around now, chiming in when we can!

  
  
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  Melissa F Mathis We used her and had GREAT SUCCESS! I highly recommend her.working with her changed our life

  
  
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  Justine Smith Yes!!! With Tracy Spackman!!

  
  
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  Paola Segnini Tracy was the only one who could help us. My daughter is very strongwilled and she's now sleeping through the night.

  
  
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  Natalie Dell I had tried so many things without success. Within a week of getting help from Tracy Spackman, our baby was sleeping through the night with dreamfeeds. She helped us so much!

  
  
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  Kirsten Colley-Lussier Yup, I got help for both my kids, one at 9mths one at 26 mths. Both times the plan worked but it wasn't easy.

  
  
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  Danielle Harris Had great success and only wish I had reached out sooner. I used tips from this page and Tracy's website in addition to tips I read in The Baby Whisperer. I didn't start until 15 months, got down to one wake up a night and I was ok with that because I was grateful for the extra sleep. I finally tackled the last wake up at 20 months and my son has been STTN for 2 months even with a slight hiccup with our holiday travel.

  
  
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  Melissa DiGianfilippo We used Tracy recently and have seen major changes with our 2 year old daughters sleep routine

  
  
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  Michelle Leland Erica Rondina Somerville it's was the Sleep Lady one by Kim West. We tried No cry sleep solution without much help, and Dr Weiss blyth Healthy Sleep Habits, happy child. But the Kim West one was great as we didn't want to do cry it out.

  
  
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  Jen Snell Farrell Alright alright!!! Hahahha thanks everyone! I will be callingTracy Spackman

  
  
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  Jen Snell Farrell Paula Finch Lauren Johnson Eastburn Melissa F Mathiswhat age was ur LO when you sleep trained?

• Alexia Ber We had great success with Tracy. My LO went from bed sharing most of the night and waking up 4-6 times a night to sleeping in the crib and waking up once.
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• • Amy McGrath We were also successful with Tracy ! We have a 3 1/2yr old who is the only kiddo in his preschool class who still naps religiously and has had impeccable sleep habits since we trained with her. We followed his routine to the T and it worked wonders. We came to her desperate for some help and needed more guidance than the books can provide. Now, with all I learned I am fairly confident I can handle what's coming when my new bundle gets here in March. But I love that this group is here for support and tips from mamas and Tracy! 
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  Tracy Spackman I'm going to take that book off my site. LOL Just kidding!

  
  
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  Tracy Spackman All of you need to post your comment on my testimonials on my website and on Yelp if you are a yelp user! Thanks for all your great comments.