Shannon Glenn is the owner and founder of Sleep Well Children Consulting and a Certified Pediatric Sleep Specialist. She is dedicated to helping parents assist their children and babies in developing healthy sleep habits. With a B.A. in Psychology, Shannon has worked extensively with children and their families for over 15 years in a variety of settings. She has been offering sleep solutions for over six years.
Why is my baby resisting sleep?
It can be one of the more frustrating and even discouraging things to see your very sleepy baby suddenly start resisting sleep! It used to be a lovely, smooth process to get her to go to sleep and now out of the blue, that's changed. You haven't done anything different, you have prepared everything for her to make sleep so inviting. The lights are low, calm music is playing, your rocking her or feeding her like you have always had success with and she just won't go to sleep. Why is this happening?
I get asked this question often. Why is it taking so much longer for my baby to fall asleep? Or why is that as soon as I lay her down she wakes up and we have to go through the whole process again to get her to sleep?
When it feels like your baby is fighting sleep harder than normal, meaning it used to take you 5 or 10 minutes to help get her to sleep and now it’s taking you much longer or you have to do the whole process a few times to get her to sleep and that can take a long time, its a good sign baby is ready for a different process around her sleep. I always tell clients its as if she is saying to you, "This isn't working for me anymore." It's usually means your baby is ready and looking for some new sleep strategies.
If this is happening for you, it's is a really good time for you to consider making some sleep changes. This is one of the more common issues clients come to us with. The good news is when a client comes to us with this is and baby is fighting sleep and ready for a change, she tends to learn how to sleep better pretty quickly. And of course that is a win-win for the whole family.
In parenting, many of us know, just as soon as we think we have something figured out, our child changes it up and its time for something new. This is the same for sleep too! So it’s not so much that your baby is fighting sleep. It’s more that she is just trying to figure out how to get to sleep and all the ways you had been helping her fall asleep that worked well in the past aren't working for her anymore. So its time for a change!
If you would like to learn more about our services or let us evaluate your baby's sleep, please click here to schedule a 15 minute sleep evaluation.
Why didn’t we try this sooner?! As we speak he is sound asleep in his crib – and has been since 7:15 pm.
Karianne Wanggaard
Sleep Well Sleep Specialists
Don't go through another night of bad sleep.
Contact us to schedule your FREE 15-minute sleep evaluation!
Working with Shannon, I went from 2-3 wake ups every night to 1 or 0. She aligned the plan with my preferred sleep cycle. She was always coaching, never judging. Shannon was great, I have referred MANY people to her! That's the best testament to her work that I can give.
Laura