I'm a pediatric sleep doctor, author, and in my day job I run the Yale Pediatric Sleep Center. I've been writing about pediatric sleep issues for tired parents since 2012. Join my newsletter to get the best information about sleep problems (and solutions) in children.
How the the Bedtime Pass can make your evening struggles disappear
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When parents think of sleep training, they are often just imagining extinction sleep training (commonly known as "cry it out" or CIO). Thus, they imagine lots of crying, tantrums, and battles when trying to change the status quo. The fact is, CIO doesn't work well for older kids anyway. That's why I love the Bedtime Pass. A simple yet effective tool for managing nighttime interruptions. Instead of battling wills, your child can use a "Bedtime Pass" for a trip out of their room or to call for you at night. If they keep the pass until morning, they earn a small reward. It's that easy! This technique has been shown in multiple studies to
The best part: this avoids the "extinction burst" of increased crying and fighting which may occur with CIO based techniques. In my new article on the Bedtime Pass, I explain
Please, check out the article, comment and share if you find it useful! Thanks Craig |
Craig Canapari MD
I'm a pediatric sleep doctor, author, and in my day job I run the Yale Pediatric Sleep Center. I've been writing about pediatric sleep issues for tired parents since 2012. Join my newsletter to get the best information about sleep problems (and solutions) in children.
I hope you having a great summer, and perhaps have a cool vacation ahead of you. However, summer can be a tricky time for parents and kids in terms of sleep. Arielle and I just recorded a whole episode of The Sleep Edit podcast on Summer and Back to School Sleep issues. You can find the podcast here or in your local pod catcher Or, if you prefer video, here is the YouTube link for the podcast episode. I also want to share a few articles I wrote on this topic, with the first being the most...
Are magnesium sprays the next miracle sleep cure—or just marketing? You may have seen it on TikTok or in the parenting forums: magnesium sprays and lotions being hyped as the natural fix for kids who struggle with sleep. As a pediatric sleep doctor, I get asked about these products all the time. So I did what I do best—dug into the science. 📉 Spoiler alert: There’s no solid evidence that these products actually help kids sleep better. And they may not even be absorbed through the skin. In my...
Daylight savings time begins on Sunday, March 9th. This was a bummer before I had kids, as it meant losing an hour of sleep. I would feel pretty cruddy for about a week afterwards. Then, my kids were early risers, so I liked it. Why? The beginning of DST shifts their apparent wake time a bit earlier. So a kid who was waking up at 5:30 AM was getting up at 6:30 AM literally overnight. (A "later" bedtime was the cost of this but I'm not a morning lark, so it was a fair trade-off). However, it...