Photo: TikTok
No one wants sleepless nights.
By Sanika Nalgirkar — Written on Sep 15, 2022
A mother on TikTok has been on the receiving end of criticism after sharing her experience taking her young son to a "sleep school."
Parents know that when it comes to training a baby to self-soothe and sleep through the night, moms and dads have to survive many exhausting nights.
But, for parents who find the process particularly agonizing, there are other options.
On mother on TikTok shared her experience taking her baby to a 'sleep school.'
The Australian-based mom, Caroline Morgan went viral after sharing a video she titled "sleep school explained."
In the video, she tells viewers she and her baby, Will, checked in for a five-night stay and broke down the training process.
“Nurses settle them [nights] 1 & 2 whilst you sleep. Then they teach you to settle [nights] 3, 4 & 5,” Morgan writes in the video.
"Before sleep training, Will would only fall asleep in our arms for about 30 to 60 minutes so we would co-sleep with him," Morgan explains in a separate video. "He would wake up screaming."
For Morgan, sleep school was intended to rectify these issues so she and her son could have a happy sleep.
Documenting her journey on the app, Morgan shared that Will's sleep training was going extremely well.
“He slept through the night. He woke up once at 1 am and we made him settled for 20 minutes and then he went back down to sleep," the mom said in a second video.
On day two, Morgan shared another video alongside snaps of her and her son enjoying their stay saying, "I had the best sleep ever and so did my baby. We're both so much happier."
However, TikTok users criticized the mother for putting her baby in ‘sleep school.'
No one judges parents quite like strangers on TikTok so the mom's comments were quickly flooded with cruel messages accusing her of encouraging attachment issues.
One user wrote, “Babies are supposed to wake up, supposed to be held, sleepless nights are normal. secure attachment is important.”
“Someone else putting my baby to sleep and not in the same room. I wouldn't even let the nurses take him out of the room when born,” reads another comment.
One person wrote, “Just put your kid in bed, close the door, turn the monitor off and let them settle down. Give it a few nights and you’re set for life.”
However, family therapist and life coach William Meleney tells us that learning to create a healthy routine for your child to nurse them to sleep is vital.
"Some babies are just fussy and may require a longer pre-sleep routine and soothing," Meleney explains. "Pay attention to her environment, hunger, diaper comfort, and be alert to possible nightmares or night terrors. All babies will sleep in a predictable environment and routine."
Sanika Nalgirkar is a News & Entertainment Writer based in India. She has a master's degree in Creative Writing. See more of her writing on her website.