When the baby is asleep, make sure you roll them back on their back. Doing these two actions simultaneously distracts the baby from crying. The shushing and patting are supposed to mimic the whooshing of the blood flowing in the womb and the mother’s heart beating. While the baby is calm, awake, and laying on their side, the parent shushes loudly and simultaneously pats the baby’s bottom or lower back. Many parents who transition from bed-sharing utilize this method because it can be a layering technique used in both the bed and the crib, giving the baby some familiarity with falling asleep in both places. Using this method provides an alternative way for your baby to fall asleep, however, they are still dependent on you for this method. The holding, without the rocking movement, replaces the rocking to sleep. In this case, it makes sense to replace rocking with just holding. If you’re going to fade it out, you do just that - over time do less and less rocking. To use this method, you first must decide if you’re going to fade out the rocking or replace it with something else. To use this method, you must first identify what your baby’s most prominent sleep prop is - maybe you rock them to sleep every night and for every nap. The parent repeats picking up the baby and putting them back down until they fall asleep in the crib or bassinet. If or when the baby fusses or begins to cry, the parent picks up the baby to soothe them, and then lays them down, awake, again in the crib or bassinet.

The parent lays the baby down in their bassinet or crib awake (depending on the age, drowsy is okay too…this is something you may experiment with). This method is to be used after the bedtime or nap time routine is complete. The idea is to minimize the amount of crying at one time. These methods are extremely hands-on and are appropriate for younger babies.

No-cry or, more appropriately, low-cry methods, are just that - methods that attempt to curb the amount of crying there is involved with the process. Today we’re going to go through ALL the different types of sleep training methods that are out there, and some that your consultant may recommend for your baby if you choose this route.

We look at many different facets of the baby’s life: their age, development, family scheduling, cultural differences, sleep environment, temperament and personality, routines, and developmentally appropriate strategies that can be used for sleep - both behavioral and not. At The Collective for Family Rest and Wellness, we teach our consultants to use a holistic approach to help families with their sleep issues.

Shush pat method sleep training