This Aussie baby sleep program is being taught around the world

An Australian sleep program is turning everything you thought you knew about baby sleep on its head.

And no, there’s no crying or ignoring your child’s needs at bedtime.

Instead, the evidence-based Possums Sleep program is designed to work with your child’s body clock, not against it. 

The program has been so successful that a version is now being rolled out in the UK in a kit for NHS health professionals to give to sleep-deprived parents. 

One of the biggest things it teaches parents is to manage their expectations. Sure, some babies sleep through the night and don’t wake very often. But the truth is that most babies will wake up at some point during the night for the first year of their life – and that’s normal!

Babies who sleep through the night are rare

Speaking to the The Guardian about the UK version, Prof Helen Ball, director of Durham University’s Infancy and Sleep Centre, said, “People feel as if they must be doing something wrong. That they must be parenting improperly somehow.

“The ones who sleep through the night from an early age and never wake up, they are very rare. Although they are the only ones you ever hear about.”

The idea about babies sleeping through the night was based on studies in the 50s and 60s when they slept in another room sans a baby monitor. 

“We know that it’s normal for babies to wake and feed at night throughout at least the first year.”

What might come as a surprise to some parents is that Bell says having a consistent wake time was more important than having one for bedtime.

“There’s lots of information about how sleep works that the general public often hasn’t encountered before,” she said.

What is the Possums Sleep Program?

The Possums Sleep Program helps you re-set your little one’s sleep patterns to make the nights more manageable.

As well as managing parents’ expectations, the program encourages parents to stop obsessing over daytime naps. When the sleep pressure is high enough, your baby will nap, so step away from the cot and go out and enjoy your day.

New mum, Rachel, who has adopted the Possums’ principles, says she is so much less stressed now that she isn’t spending the day focused on getting her baby to have a nap. She says it’s more about your little ones being really tired for bed come night time.

“I’ve scrapped ‘awake windows’ and only offer a nap when he’s really tired. Usually one of his naps will be on the go, which means we can get out of the house and enjoy the day together.”

For parents worried about their baby becoming overtired, the Possums program teaches two tools to help “dial down” your baby: feeding and rich sensory experience. 

“I’m not going to lie, the first day I ditched the awake windows he was awake for 4 hours, so I was very anxious to see what the night would bring,” said Rachel. “But I used both of these tools to keep him calm and we noticed a huge difference in sleep the first night.”

“When he started whining we would offer a snack or a change of environment before we offered a nap. Most of the time, he was just bored or hungry and not tired enough for sleep yet.”

What about bedtime settling?

The best part is there’s no crying. In fact, Possums encourages parents to respond to their baby’s needs quickly, whatever they might be, and definitely don’t put bub in their cot while they’re crying. 

“Before, I felt like I was doing something wrong if I picked up my baby during the night when he cried,” Rachel says. “Now we have a long cuddle, sometimes he wants a bottle, and then he usually goes back to sleep.

“Our whole family is now less stressed and getting more sleep.”

For more information, visit the Possums website. The full Possums Sleep Program is now available at Milk & Moon.