Whether
you
nurse,
rock,
or
recite
poetry
in
Greek
to
your
child,
this
is
what
you
are
teaching
your
child
is
necessary
to
fall
asleep.
There
is
nothing
wrong
with
sleep
associations.
Even
adults
have
sleep
associations.
For
example—try
to
go
to
sleep
without
a
pillow.
Sleep
associations
only
become
a
problem
when
they’re
not
readily
available
during
our
regular
nighttime
wakenings.
To
use
the
pillow
example,
usually
you
wake
briefly
during
your
sleep
cycle,
roll
over
and
fall
back
to
sleep,
and
never
remember
anything.
But
if
somebody
snatched
your
pillow
while
you
were
sleeping,
the
next
time
you
woke
up,
you’d
notice
your
pillow
was
missing
and
would
need
to
look
for
it
before
going
back
to
sleep.
If
this
happened
often
enough,
it
might
make
you
quite
grumpy
by
morning.
Now
think
of
your
child’s
sleep
associations.
The
way
that
your
child
falls
asleep
when
you
put
him
or
her
to
bed
for
the
night
(or
even
down
for
a
nap),
is
also
what
your
child
will
expect
when
he
or
she
wakes
each
time
throughout
the
night.
Think
back
to
the
pillow
example.
It’s
no
wonder
your
child
wakes
up
crying
if
he
fell
asleep
in
your
arms
and
woke
up
in
a
crib
or
if
he
dozed
off
with
a
bottle
and
woke
up
to
find
it
gone.
Remember
that
each
time
your
child
falls
asleep,
he
or
she
is
building
a
sleep
association
based
on
this
experience.
2.5
Choose which sleep associations to keep and which to discard.
Sleep
associations
are
very
helpful
because
they
help
signal
to
your
child
that
it
is
time
to
settle
down
to
sleep.
After
9
months
in
the
womb,
your
child
already
has
some
sleep
associations.
This
is
why
movement
(e.g.
being
rocked),
white
noise
(e.g.
riding
in
a
car),
and
having
Mommy
or
Daddy
close
by
are
so
successful
at
lulling
babies
to
sleep.
However,
all
of
these
sleep
associations
are
outside
your
child’s
control. Teach your child to associate sleep with new conditions that they
can
control.
Since
your
goal
is
to
get
your
child
to
fall
back
to
sleep
peacefully
at
each
nighttime
wakening,
try
working
backwards
from
here.
If
your
child
sleeps
in
a
crib
in
a
dark
and
quiet
nursery,
these
will
be
some
of
your
child’s
sleep
associations.
We’ve found that some sleep associations work really well, while others are to be
avoided.
•
A dark and quiet crib is the best sleep association for an infant. This means that
they
need
to
be
put
to
bed
while
drowsy
but
awake.
A
2004
study
commissioned
by
the
National
Sleep
Foundation
found
that,
on
average,
children
who
were
put
to
bed
awake
slept
over
an
hour
more
per
night
than
their
peers
who
were
put
to
bed
after
falling
asleep.
The
study
also
found
that
babies
who
were
put
to
bed
while
awake
were
twice
as
likely
to
sleep
through
the
night
while
babies
who
were
put
to
bed
while
asleep
were
almost
three
times
as
likely
to
need
their
parents’
help
two
or
more
times
per
night!
