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An Aussie baby sleep program is changing everything you thought you knew about baby sleep. And no, you don’t need to let your baby cry or ignore their needs at bedtime.
The Possums Sleep Program, an evidence-based approach, works with your baby’s natural body clock rather than fighting against it. Its success has led to a UK version, now offered by NHS health professionals to help exhausted parents.
The program teaches parents to manage their expectations. While some babies sleep through the night, the truth is most wake up at some point during their first year — and that’s normal!
Prof Helen Ball, director of Durham University’s Infancy and Sleep Centre, shared her insights with The Guardian about the UK version of the program.
“Parents often feel like they’re doing something wrong, as if they’re parenting improperly,” she explained. “But babies who sleep through the night from an early age are rare, even though they’re the only ones you ever hear about.”
The idea of babies sleeping through the night stems from outdated studies in the 1950s and 1960s, when parents placed their babies in separate rooms without baby monitors.
“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.
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.”
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 about the full Possums Sleep Program, visit their website.
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