Sleep Training Services to Help Baby Sleep Better
Parents Get Much Needed Rest too!
As new parents, a baby’s sleep is usually the biggest source of stress. Somehow, they don’t seem to know how to fall asleep on their own or stay asleep for long. The worst is, they fight sleep the hardest when they are tired.
Why is Sleep Important?
Research findings indicate a positive association between sleep and overall cognitive development in typically developing infants and young children.
Similar to adults, a baby who has learnt to fall asleep by him/herself from a state of being fully awake is also capable of putting himself or herself back to sleep when they wake up in the middle of the night or their naps. Such a baby would hence spend a lot less time crying and fighting sleep, and get the optimal amount rest that they need for their age.
Sleep is not just important for your baby, but also for parents and the rest of the family.
What is Sleep Training?
Sleep training is often defined as teaching a baby to fall asleep independently, without assistance from a caregiver. If that's the definition you had in mind, you're not wrong; that's genuinely part of it. At Baby Planner SG, though, we prefer to define it more broadly: any strategy which encourages or improves the environment for sleep. There's no specific age we recommend starting at, though different strategies work better at different ages. To us, Method — whether, or how much, a caregiver assists at bedtime — is actually just one of six factors that shape how well a child sleeps, and how much (if at all) that changes is entirely your call.
Here's the full picture:
Age-Appropriate Feeding and Sleeping Schedule
Helps your child fall asleep and stay asleep, both for naps and overnight.
Pre-Nap and Pre-Bedtime Routines
Cues your child to prepare for sleep — not to assist them into sleep itself. A consistent routine lays the foundation for better quality sleep, working memory, attention, and other cognitive skills.
Sleep Associations
Built through people, sensory input (smell, sound, motion), or familiar items your child associates with winding down — these give a child a sense of security going into sleep.
Noise and Light
Most children (like most adults) sleep best somewhere dark, cool, and quiet, or with white/pink noise — though this varies. Changes to the sleep environment, especially between sleep cycles, may affect how easily a child falls or stays asleep.
Method / Approach
There are two broad approaches to baby sleep, each with several methods underneath: caregiver assistance and limited assistance. Both are legitimate paths to helping a child develop a sense of security around sleep — the right one depends entirely on your family's preferences, not on which is "correct."
Consistency and Connection
Consistency in schedule, routine, environment, and method helps a child know what to expect. Being sensitive to and building connection with your child also grows that same sense of security — regardless of which method you choose.
Will I have to let my baby Cry It Out until he falls asleep?
There is a common misunderstanding that sleep training is another word for “letting babies cry themselves to sleep”. This is not true, though many do cry before they fall asleep (even while being carried or rocked).
Caregiver Assistance vs. Limited Assistance — What's the Difference?
Caregiver assistance methods involve contact, motion, or your active presence to help your child fall asleep — think rocking, feeding to sleep, or staying in the room until they drift off.
Limited assistance methods involve less caregiver intervention during the falling-asleep process, and include several distinct methods (extinction, graduated check-ins, the chair method, pick-up put-down) that differ quite a bit from each other.
Neither approach is "correct" — some children and families thrive with full assistance for months or years, others prefer transitioning toward more independence sooner, and many move between the two at different stages.
Our Approach
Most of our work as your Baby Sleep Consultant is understanding your family's priorities first, then building routines appropriate for your child's natural development that also make sense for the rest of your household — whichever approach you're drawn to. This doesn't have to mean rigid restrictions on your lifestyle; it usually looks more like a loose, consistent schedule with clear times for rest built in.
A note on crying. If you're currently providing full assistance and considering a shift toward more independence, it's honest to say: some crying or protest during the adjustment is likely, at least at first. This is true of almost any change to an established sleep habit, not something unique to limited-assistance methods specifically — and it's often the hardest part for families to hear, so it's completely understandable to feel hesitant about it. Our role is to help you decide, with full information, whether and how much change genuinely fits your family, and if you do want to shift the amount of assistance you provide, to support you through that adjustment period so it's as short and manageable as possible, rather than leaving you to figure it out alone.
In all we do, Baby Planner SG respects your family's preferred choices
While we offer sleep training services, we also fully support assisting your baby to sleep if you so prefer. Our experienced Baby Sleep Consultant is familiar with various methods of swaddling, rocking, carrying and/or patting to sleep, and will be able to share what works better during which phases of your baby’s development. She can also make recommendations on what sorts of equipment/accessories which will be essential or helpful with the various methods, and more importantly, tell you what DOESN’T work so you don’t waste money and space buying white elephants! This is particularly important since certain equipment/accessories are only useful or effective if you plan to adopt certain sleeping arrangements.
What is Included in Baby Sleep Consultant Services?
S$250 Consultation includes:
90-minutes Sleep Consultation
- Detailed interview to learn your family’s preferences, priorities and your child(ren)’s sleep habits
- Best conducted in your home in order for our Baby Sleep Consultant to better understand the sleep environment
Personalised Sleep Plan
- A customised Sleep Plan for your child(ren) will be provided within a week from the Consultation
- Sleep Plan will include step-by-step guidance on what needs to be done to improve your child(ren)'s sleep
7-days 24/7 Text Support with Pocket Nanny
- 7-days Text Support begins from the time the Customised Sleep Plan is sent to you
- Ask Pocket Nanny any questions, any time of the day
Up to 3 Customised Support Options
- Based off our assessment from the Consultation, your Personalised Sleep Plan will also be accompanied by 3 no-obligation options for further support (costing between $0-500) from Baby Planner SG
Now includes 1-week Pocket Nanny Access
The consult gives you the plan. Pocket Nanny helps you hold the line when it gets hard while you're trying to implement it. For one week following your consultation, you have access to Yi Ling's digital twin around the clock — for the wobbles, the regressions and the "is this normal?" moments that come up as you implement the changes. It's the follow-up support that improving sleep actually needs.
Why Consider Baby Sleep Training Services?
Better Time-Management and Physical Health
With a sleep-trained baby/child, parents can spend more time completing other activities and getting the much-needed rest their bodies need.
Better Emotional Health
More importantly, parents can be relieved of the mental strain from worrying about whether their baby is getting sufficient rest, or feeling helpless or trapped by the hours they need to slept putting their baby to sleep.
More Social Time
A sleep-trained baby may fall asleep by the early evening, or be able to fall asleep outside of their own home, empowering parents with more free time to engage in self care or social activities.
Sleep training is very much linked to creating and following an age-appropriate routine. There are many books out there that discuss this but the hardest part is actually understanding exactly how to apply what we read, especially if baby does not seem to behave as described in the books. Here are some blogposts which we hope help, but nothing beats having our experienced Baby Planner help you customise a routine which works for your family:
Weeks 2-3 after Baby is Home
I’d written about a possible routine which new parents can follow immediately after they return home from the hospital, so this post is a continuation on what to do right after that. Baby usually regains his/her birth weight between 8-12 days after birth. Once birth weight is regained, baby is ready to get used to…
How to Establish a Routine Once You Get Home from Hospital with a Newborn
Since I’ve started Baby Planner SG, I’ve been journeying with many new parents through offering Private Prenatal Classes. The classes have helped these new parents grow with their confidence of getting ready for their newborn to join the family, especially by ensuring they know exactly which areas of their house to do which activities with…
Weeks 3-4 after Baby is Home
I’m continuing this series on routines which started with What To Do from Day 1, and continued to Weeks 2-3. Around the time baby turns one month old, baby is ready to stay awake for slightly longer than before, so below is a guide for timings to follow: Time Activity 7.00am Wake baby, change diaper and…