The online world is filled with articles about sleep training for babies.
But this one is going to be a bit different.
This article will discuss using a virtual sleep consultant to help you little one get a good night’s sleep!
As you know (since you are reading this) there are many babies and toddlers who struggle to get a good night of sleep.
This in turn leads to sleep deprived parents who are more on edge and end up struggling with everyday tasks as a result of sheer tiredness.
The importance of sleep is very near and dear to my heart.
In fact, I have written the following articles about why it is necessary for babies, toddlers, preschoolers and even school aged children to get plenty of sleep.
So instead of writing a ridiculously long article (who has time for that, especially when they are sleep deprived?) and going on about the benefits of sleep for children, you can get the information you need from the articles below on your own time.
Why Is Sleep Important For Kids – Here Are 7 Great Reasons!
When Do Toddlers Stop Napping – It May Surprise You!
Baby Merlin Magic Sleepsuit Review – It Really Is Magical!
5 Simple Ways To Help Improve Your Baby’s Sleep Problems
Sleep Training For Babies – This Online Course Is For You
There are many sleep training courses and books for babies and toddlers readily available.
I want to tell you about this great baby sleep course on the market by Jammy Time Sleep Solutions.
Shan Roth is the owner of Jammy Time and she gave me the privilege of going through the course myself in order to provide my readers with thorough information regarding the course (I was not paid to write this review).
A Bit About Shan
Before I go into details of the course I wanted to give you a bit of background information.
Shan is a mother of 3, former elementary school teacher and current pediatric sleep consultant.
She started her company Jammy Time Sleep Solutions in 2012 and has been helping 1000’s of families get an amazing night’s sleep ever since!
Teach Your Child To Sleep Well Tonight
This virtual sleep consultation, “5 Nights To A Better Sleep”, is broken into 3 sections.
Going through the course should only take you about an hour.
But you can log into your account anytime and go at your own pace.
The more challenging work will lie ahead when it comes to actually putting Shan’s tips into practice.
Each section contains a presentation from Shan along with downloadable slides and worksheets that you can print.
Virtual Sleep Training Part 1
This is the section where you will get to print out your own customizable sleep plan.
Shan will guide you through the course so that you can fill it out in a way that will work best for you and your family.
Here’s what it looks like once you are inside the course.
You can see how easy it is to navigate and download the necessary items.
In this section you will learn about why sleep is so important and how you can set your child up for sleeping success by getting started early.
Before I forget to mention, this course isn’t just for babies.
It is also for toddlers up to 24 months of age.
Shan does offer a shorter version of this course (at a reduced cost) that is ideal for babies up to 18 months of age.
Shan recommends waiting to start either course until your baby is at least 10 weeks old.
You will also learn that it typically takes 2 weeks for your baby to be sleeping consistently but you will notice an improvement after just 3–4 days!
So it is not a quick fix and there will be hurdles along the way.
After 4–6 weeks you should have all the glitches worked out and sleep patterns will be established at this point.
Keep in mind this is something that both parents and those caring for your child during sleep times will all need to be working together on.
List Of Topics Covered In Section 1
- ♥ Introduction
- ♥ Effects of Poor Sleep
- ♥ What Makes a Great Sleeper?
- ♥ Schedules
- ♥ How Much Sleep Babies and Toddlers Need
- ♥ Sleep Environments
- ♥ Bedtime Routines
Shan recommends that your child’s sleep environment be dark for both naps and nighttime sleep. I couldn’t agree more.
We made sure to get these blackout curtains for both kids rooms as soon as they were born!
Shan also talks about using a white noise machine as part of the sleep training process.
Again, this was a lifesaver for us!
We used this one by Conair and because it’s portable and fairly small we could take it with us wherever we went.
But there are so many to choose from.
Make sure that the one you choose actually has a white noise option for sound.
You will also be given information on swaddling and sleep sacks and when to transition to and from each.
My daughter loved her sleep sacks and wanted to be in one until the age of 5.
It was tough finding ones that big.
But we used these ones when the kids were younger. Loved them!
Shan discusses the importance of bedtime routines in Section 1.
I agree, this is a crucial part in setting your baby/toddler up for sleeping success.
However, for our family we found it worked best to keep the routine under 10 minutes, because we traveled a lot.
Shan recommends including a bath as part of the night time routine as it is calming.
This is one step we intentionally left out.
We often stayed in hotels where there was no option for a bath.
So our bedtime routine typically consisted of feeding (before anything else was started), then we would brush teeth or gums (when there were no teeth), diaper change, book/song and bed.
This is easily doable in 15 minutes or less.
Some nights we would throw a bath in, but we also bathed our children in the morning, afternoon, after dinner, whenever it was convenient.
So they never associated having a bath with going to bed.
Before I give away all of Shan’s tips and strategies for section 1, let’s move to Section 2 of the course.
Virtual Sleep Consultation Part 2
This is the section of your consultation that gets into the nitty gritty of sleep training.
Here you will learn about 2 different approaches you can use to get your baby to sleep through the night.
You will have to decide which approach will work best for your baby and family.
Here are some of the topics covered in Part 2
- ♥ Sleep Training Approach 1
- ♥ Sleep Training Approach 2
- ♥ How to deal with night wakings
- ♥ Night feeds – how to incorporate these into your baby’s sleep plan and when do work on cutting out the night feed
- ♥ Dream feeds – learn what these are and if you should be using them
- ♥ Mornings – when does “morning” start?
- ♥ Naps – learn how to incorporate naps into the sleep plan
Virtual Sleep Consultation Part 3
This section goes into more details about naptime and what to do if you have a short napper on your hands.
Some other topics covered in the final section include:
- ♥ Soothers – should you use them or shouldn’t you. I found the information provided here rather interesting.
From a speech and language development perspective I always urge parents to get rid of the soother sooner rather than later. - ♥ Steps to success
- ♥ Sleep Plans
- ♥ Extra Support – Shan does provide one on one consultations if you feel you need extra support.
However, there will be an additional fee for this. Shan discusses all of the options at the end of Part 3.
Bonus Section
Take a look at some of the handy tidbits of information you will also get!
What Are You Waiting For?
Sleep is as important to humans as is food and water!
Did you know that shift workers are at much higher risk of getting certain chronic diseases?
And they sleep, just not according to their body’s circadian rhythm which is what poses the risk.
So you can see that it is quite important to get your children sleeping well starting at a young age.
Sleep disorders are becoming more common at younger and younger ages.
But if good sleep habits are put into practice very early in a child’s life there should be no reason for them to struggle with sleep later on!
This sleep training for babies course is definitely worth it if you feel you cannot get your little one sleeping well!
Shan really knows her stuff!
Shan offers a variety of other courses focusing on infant sleep. Take a look at them here!
