Welcome
Sjonea Kassinger Pediatric Sleep Consultant
Helping your baby learn healthy sleep habits and independent sleep with personalized sleep training methods and plans.
Helping your baby learn healthy sleep habits and independent sleep with personalized sleep training methods and plans.
What is sleep training? Sleep training is teaching your baby independent sleep. It is teaching them how to self soothe instead of being reliant on sleep props to fall asleep and back to sleep in between sleep cycles. Everyone wakes at night including you and me, it’s normal, the only difference is unlike babies adults know how to roll over or get comfortable and quickly fall back to sleep. Babies however do not, it is a learned behavior. Yes, as they get older they will eventually figure it out on their own but sometimes they don’t and sleep issues and problems can persist and present themselves until early pre-school age or sometimes even adulthood. Sleep deprived parents tend to go through any means possible to get their baby back to sleep and unintentionally cause a reliance on sleep props and sleep associations. What is a sleep prop and a sleep association? Well a sleep prop can be anything you use to get your baby back to sleep such as nursing,a bottle,a pacifier,rocking,swaying,bouncing,rolling them around in the stroller,a car ride, white noise, swaddling , the exhaust fan in your kitchen you get the idea. Sleep props aren’t necessarily always a bad thing. They become a problem when they become sleep associations. This is when a baby becomes reliant on these actions to get to sleep. Children and adults alike have sleep associations whether they are aware of them or not. What if I told you that you didn’t have to wait for a child to learn how to self soothe and be able to put themselves back to sleep? What if I told you that this is a skill that can be taught. Well it absolutely can, and you can start encouraging healthy sleep habits as soon as your baby comes home from the hospital. Sleep training can begin between 4-6 months, at which time a baby starts to be able to sleep longer stretches, 6-8 hours, and no longer needs a feed every couple of hours. This is considered the best time because the comforts that you have been providing for them have not yet become an association. Many people think that sleep training is night weaning, it is not. When you sleep train your baby you do not eliminate feedings, you simply eliminate non hunger related wake-ups. Normally a sleep trained baby will eventually night wean on their own when they are ready. Many people also think that sleep training means letting your baby Cry it out, this is simply not true. While the extinction method(cry it out) and graduated extinction method (Ferber) do indeed work and work well. As a sleep consultant I feel that there are gentler sleep training methods that work just as well and that I teach to my clients. I do not think that there is anything wrong with these methods or anyone who chooses to use them and there are several scientific studies that show them to not be harmful in any way. I just feel that most of the time they aren’t necessary with the methods I teach. Sleep training is not easy, it is hard and requires a lot of consistency and patience from the parents. It is not just one sleep method and that’s it your done, there are several different components that go in to it to make it all work. If you stick to it and follow the plan the benefits are absolutely worth it. If you are exhausted and tired of losing sleep, let me help you and your family get back to sleep. Sleep is not only beneficial, it is a necessity. Especially for babies, it can be harmful to their growth and development if they aren’t getting the right amount. If you have never heard of sleep training before, or if you have and never tried it, or if you’ve tried to sleep train before and failed, I can help you put the pieces you are missing together. Send me a message and let’s get started.
Being a mother of 3 children, I have experienced many of sleepless nights myself. That was before discovering the magic that is sleep training. Now, with my success, knowledge and experiences I have decided to share my passion by helping others. I am a certified sleep consultant through the Institute of Pediatric Sleep and Parenting. My program and sleep plan process is designed to create healthy sleep habits for your child by teaching independent sleep. Let me help you get your family Back To Sleep.
Having a sleep consultant who will listen and commit to your sleep issues is key—that’s why Back To Sleep puts its clients needs first. I want to give each of you the time and guidance you deserve and make sure that the sleep training methods in your plan work for you and your family.
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DISCLAIMER: The information/advice provided on this website is not medical advice. You are not establishing a medical professional/patient relationship. The advice is for informational purposes only and is intended for use with healthy children with common sleep issues that are unrelated to medical conditions. The information provided is not intended nor is implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or the health and welfare of your baby.