What is sleep training and how does it work?

Learn about: What is sleep training and how does it work? from Jill Spivack, LCSW,...
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What is sleep training and how does it work?

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Sleep training is, basically, giving your child the opportunity to learn the skill of how to soothe themselves to sleep. Sleep is a learned skill, much like riding a bike without your training wheels for the first time. When you get on a bike without your training wheels, initially you fall off. When your parents cheer you on, "You can do it. You can do it." And put you on a flat, nice course, eventually, the balancing clicks and you know what you are doing. With sleep training, we are putting them on a nice course, by giving them a lovely bedtime routine, a good, solid environment, and putting them down awake. Then going in and, essentially, cheering them on, going, "You can do it. Go night, night." Doing for them what they now need to do for themselves. It's really an opportunity to allow your child a little bit of frustration for a couple of days to really nail this skill down, so they can be excellent, lifelong sleepers.

Learn about: What is sleep training and how does it work? from Jill Spivack, LCSW,...

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Jill Spivack, LCSW

Sleep Expert

Jill Spivack, LCSW, completed her graduate studies at the University of Southern California. She developed an expertise in parenting while working as a psychotherapist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Early Childhood Department. Jill, a mother of two children, went on to develop a sub-specialty in pediatric sleep disorders while working in New York City at a parenting center after experiencing sleep problems with her first child. In 1999, upon returning to Los Angeles, Jill co-founded the pediatric sleep firm Childsleep.

Recognizing that today's parents were lacking the essential support, education, and sense of community they sought to do their best, Jill was inspired to co-found Sleepy Planet.  Offering a wide variety of services, Sleepy Planet helps parents of babies, toddlers, and young children with behavioral sleep problems through private consultations, and provides parent education, psychotherapy, and professional presentations on a wide variety of topics, including the transition to parenthood, child development and behavior, sibling rivalry, marital issues, and how to balance work and family. In addition, Jill holds weekly groups for new and second-time mothers to allow parents to share experiences and emotions, ask questions, and support one another through the journey of parenthood. 

Jill is also the co-creator of The Sleepeasy Solution, a book and DVD that show parents how to break difficult sleep habits without breaking their hearts in the process.  She has been featured in a variety of media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Good Morning America, The Los Angeles Times, Parenting, Variety and has appeared numerous times on The Today Show. She is also a co-consultant for Pajanimals, a new television project with the Jim Henson Company airing on PBS Kids Sproutthat features four adorable puppets who model for preschoolers, the skills they need to manage the various emotions and issues that they confront in early childhood. 

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