Does your child need a sleep reset?

Here’s something interesting I’ve learned throughout my years as a sleep consultant: Sleep training the first baby usually leads to the second.

Baby, that is.

Once your first child is sleeping through the night, it’s life changing! So much so, that once a mom is getting the sleep she needs again, BAM! She get’s pregnant!

Okay, that’s not always how it works, but it’s happened more times than I can count, and it happened to a client I recently worked with:

This little one was 2-years-old and we got her sleeping through the night. Sure enough, once she was finally sleeping well, the mom got pregnant again!

What many parents also experience, after the birth of the second baby, is a regression with the first. And it’s to be expected - adding a sibling to the family is a big life change!

This little one started fighting her naps, having bedtime battles, and was waking up again at night. The mom was exhausted because she was now waking up with a newborn baby AND her two-year-old. She ended up resorting back to what it was we worked so hard to remove when we worked together: bringing her 2-year-old into bed with her. She was exhausted.

She reached back out to me and explained what was going on. I realized it was a regression (due to the birth of the sibling) that had gotten out of hand (due to reverting back to old habits), and lucky for her, I knew exactly what to do to get things back on track.

We did a one-week sleep reset with me - I created a new sleep plan for them with some schedule tweaks and an updated method and in three days she was back on track.

This mom has now referred me to her sister and cousin. I’ve basically worked with their whole extended family!

What is a sleep reset?

Sometimes, a sleep-trained child will have a regression of some sort, and their sleep gets all off track. Regressions can be caused by development, big life changes, the need for a schedule change, illness, travel, etc. This, paired with reverting back to old habits, can quickly undo the work you did with sleep training.

So, what do you do to get back on track?

A sleep reset!

In some cases, a reset involves going back to your initial sleep training method that you previously used.

Depending on how much time has gone by or transitions your child has made since then will determine if you utilize a different method for your reset.

The beautiful thing about a reset is that your child already has a strong sleep foundation. You just need to find it again. Time and consistency will be your best friend.

If you’re not sure how to go about doing a sleep reset, I can help!

In fact, we have done them in the past with my son (we have had family meetings to get things cleaned up again) and with my daughter after RSV, 3 back to back double ear infections and moving across the country (her big life change). I’m a PRO by now!

A lot of parents think they’re going to sleep-train their child and then they’re going to have a good sleeper the rest of their life. But children grow and develop and their sleep needs change. Their understanding of the world around them deepens and they will begin to test more boundaries. This is normal. But, because we have a lot of expectations around sleep, these are some of the first boundaries to be tested.

As previously mentioned, big life events can really wreak havoc on a child’s sleep. A big move, the birth of a sibling, starting school, and many other things can affect a child’s sleep. I had a family I worked with where the grandparents moved in and that totally threw off their child’s sleep! And, unfortunately, parents don’t know what to do so they just go back to what used to work, like giving a bottle at night or bringing the child back into the parent’s bed.

It’s not that your child has lost the ability to sleep, it’s just that they need to practice and refine the skill again. When doing a sleep reset, I’ll typically recommend doing a less involved method than you did initially, but again, it depends on your situation and how much time has passed since you initially sleep-trained. If you’re not sure, take a look at my return client offerings! I’d love to help you.