When sleep training your child at any age - infancy through toddlerhood - it is really important to stay consistent with the sleep method that you choose, as well as their surrounding environment for the duration of the training. Many people underestimate the importance of the consistency needed to be successful (see more on my blog about The Three C's!) When taking on new clients, we encourage that a family wait to begin training if they plan to travel or have any other outside factors that would disrupt their progress. Some examples of these outside factors are:
Traveling
Celebrating big holidays
Entertaining huge groups
Needing to restructure room-sharing or crib-to-bed logistics before training
If you usually have childcare in the evenings at bedtime while you go to work, you may need to change your schedule or use a few days off (if possible) to work on evening training. If you can't change your schedule, enlisting a spouse or other family member close to you will be most helpful. If you think I sound crazy, talk to the potty training folks who lock themselves indoors until the kid is accident-free! Anyway, I digress. The point is, investing your time at home in something as precious as sleep (and potty-training, for that matter) will be life changing for your family and is worth it if you can do it.
Whether your looking to sleep train for naps, wake times or bed times, all of these things are best done in the house the child lives in, with the usual environment and supports surrounding them. The second you're on the go, getting baby to sleep in the car or transporting them home in the MOTN, you risk losing that crucial consistency they need to succeed. If you're not a homebody, here are a few ways to stay home during the training period:
If you...love to eat out at restaurants...order delivery or cook dinner for two weeks while training!
If you...go away every weekend...block off the next two weekends to stay home and have a theme party with the food and vibe of the places you like to visit.
If you...love to entertain guests...who are you? JK - but what parent with babies loves entertaining guests? Anyway, try simplifying it to just 1-2 people at any given time and enjoy more quality time with a smaller crowd (to reduce the noise at night).
If you...use your daytime hours to do errands with the baby...spent 1-2 weeks investing in local delivery options (basically Instacart and Target same-day delivery = life). Consider the cost of delivery to be your investment in sleep training the little babe.
Moral of the story is... STAYING HOME = SUCCESSFUL SLEEP TRAINING!