Getting Your Partner On Board with Hiring a Sleep Coach

Have you heard any of these?!

“It’s too expensive.”

“It’s not that bad! Baby used to be waking up more than they do now!”

“Well, even though naps aren’t great, we should worry too much because night sleep is just fine.”

“You’re always super resourceful. I am sure there is a book out there to use and we can just do it on our own.”

“They will grow out of it eventually.”

We talk with parents all the time, and one of the first hesitations to kicking off the process with us is, “I so want to get started…but I’ll have to get my husband on board.” 

We always HIGHLY encourage you to talk with your partner before starting off the process of working together. It truly is a family decision. Having both parents on board and committed to the process brings a full set of benefits, including:

• The process of teaching your child healthy sleep skills goes FASTER (in our experience it cuts the time in half when both parents are consistent). 
• When both parents are working together, mom feels supported and not alone
• Bedtime becomes more enjoyable and a special time each day for your family
• Practicing coparenting, a true 50/50 partnership
• Strengthens the relationship - gives you and your spouse time to reconnect. Who doesn’t want your child to be sleeping at 7pm so you can watch a Netflix show on the couch with your husband…in the quiet!
• Reduces family anxiety. From our experience, when just one parent is on board, but not the other, it causes the parent who is committed to the process to feel anxious about doing it alone. In some cases, that parent can begin to second guess the decision.

So, how do you get your partner on board and respond to the barriers they express? Kill ‘em with information!

“It’s too expensive.” 

First of all, we often hear from families who graduate that sleep for the whole family is PRICELESS. However, as mothers ourselves, we 100% understand this hesitation. However, we never want finances to get in the way of your family getting better sleep. That is why we offer payment plans with 3 monthly payments. Although there really isn’t a price you can put on sleep, we know that working together can mean some budgeting. 

When asked how some of our previous clients tackled the investment, many responded by with:

• They did not going out to eat that month
• Mom waited to color/highlight her hair until next month
• Grandparents gifted to them
• Submitted our invoice to get reimbursed from their FSA/HSA

“It’s not that bad! Baby used to be waking up more than they do now!”

In response, this is where we encourage you to be really open and honest about how you are doing emotionally and mentally with the middle of the night wakings. Although your child may not be waking as frequently as before, you may still be feeling the same level of exhaustion and frustration. Sometimes it is just a matter of communicating your true needs for your partner to get on board. Your partner loves you and really does want sleep to be better at the end of the day!

“Well, even though naps aren’t great, we should worry too much because night sleep is just fine.”

We always talk about how sleep is like baking a cake! When you go to bake a cake, you need certain ingredients, at certain measurements, to get a delicious rising cake. Sleep is very much the same. There are so many components and ingredients that go into your child having consistent and consolidated daytime and nighttime sleep. When evaluating what those ingredients are that your child is missing, it can be daunting to do alone. That’s where we come in!

Did you know that a study from the American Academy of Pediatrics showed that roughly 80% of children are not getting the amount of sleep they need for growth and development? We want to ensure that your child is getting the night sleep and day time sleep they need to grow into their best selves. 

“You’re always super resourceful. I am sure there is a book out there to use and we can just do it on our own.”

You are so resourceful, and you can do so much! But…why do it on your own when you don’t have to?! There are hundreds, and even thousands, of books, mommy blogs, facebook groups, instagram profiles, and more out there to give you resources on sleep training. It can be hard to know how all that information relates to your child or fits with your family and can take more time then maybe your family can take from sleep deprivation.  What we do is not a 1-size-fits-all approach. We help clear away all the information and just focus on an approach that will be successful for your child. We are here to guide you through the process and make tweaks along the way to ensure you reach your sleep goals!

“They will grow out of it eventually.”

While it is true that night sleep gets better with time, studies have proven that sleep challenges can last 3-5 years. Do you want to or can you wait that long? 

In a study that followed 15-48 year olds who had bedtime struggles and night wakings, 84% of those children still had sleep challenges 3 years later.

In another study looking at 8 month-old, 41% of those infants still experienced sleep struggles 3 years later. 

Furthermore, a different study looked at 5 month-olds who were and were not getting at least 6 hour stretches at night Of the infants that were not sleeping for 6 hours at a time, 32.9% still were not at 29 months. 

Is your partner still not convinced? Share with them this letter “From One Dad to Another”!

"Learn more about how we work with families to help their babies sleep 10+ hours at night without Cry-it-out or Ferber.  Join our free webinar!" 

Sending you Sleepy Dust, 

Kataria, S., Swanson, M. S., & Trevathan, G. E. (1986). Persistence of sleep disturbances in preschool children. The Journal of Pediatrics, 110(4), 642–646.

Zuckerman, B., Stevenson, J., Bailey, V., & Psych, M. (1987). Sleep Problems in Early Childhood: Continuities, Predictive Factors, and Behavioral Correlates. Pediatrics, 80(5), 664–671.

Touchette, É., Petit, D., Paquet, J., Boivin, M., Japel, C., Tremblay, R. E., & Montplaisir, J. Y. (2005). Factors Associated With Fragmented Sleep at Night Across Early Childhood. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 159(3), 242.