Fading of support

This strategy was designed by Andrea Strang, you can purchase the book Loved to Sleep: Nurture Your Baby to Sleep With Minimal to No Crying on Amazon.

YAY: This is still a really gentle and baby-led approach. This method can be completed without any crying at all from your child! It suits all temperaments, especially those who are high needs babies or sensitive to change.

BOO: Can still take a few weeks. Needs stamina if you’re going to be rocking, cuddling, or bouncing your child to sleep. Requires a commitment to spending time each night being consistent in your approach.

What To Do
Make sure you have optimised naps and that the last wake window is working well. This will give you the best chance for things to go well when it is time for your child to fall asleep.

Begin by layering 3 different sleep cues, for example rocking, patting, and shushing. Then when you’re ready, start by removing one of the cues. If your child gets upset, you can ‘toggle’ back to doing the cue you are trying to remove until they are calm then stop it again. The beauty of being able to toggle back to the thing they like is it means there is less upset

So for example, if you are trying to stop breastfeeding to sleep.

Stage 1

Begin as always by getting the naps and bedtime timing working well, and add some additional sleep cues for at least two weeks.

Stage 2

Support your child to be able to fall asleep without sucking.

Unlatch when almost asleep using the ‘Pantley Pull Off’ (popping a finger in their mouth to release suction then place a finger under the chin). You may need to do this numerous times during the bedtime feed until they accept it.

Alternatively, feed them earlier in the bedtime routine and then settle them to sleep using rock/pat/shush. With this option, if they are not accepting it or are getting very upset, you can offer a feed to calm, then unlatch and go back to rock/pat/shush.

When they are consistently able to fall asleep without the feed, with just rock/pat/shush then you can move on to the next step.

Stage 3

Stop rocking and comfort them to sleep with the other cues. If your child gets upset, you can ‘toggle’ back to rocking until they are calm (but not asleep!). When they are calm again, stop rocking and just pat/shush etc until they are asleep. Do this for at least 3/4 days or until you feel this is fully accepted as the new way of falling asleep.

Stage 4

Stop the next cue you would like to remove. When your child is happily falling asleep in arms without rocking, you can try to move to placing them in their cot and helping them to fall asleep there.

When your child is calm after a short time of patting and shushing in arms, pop them in the cot and pat and shush them whilst lying on their side. If your child gets upset here, you can pick them up and pat/shush in arms until calm then pop them back in the cot and continue patting/shushing until asleep.

When they are happily falling asleep in the cot with just patting and shushing for at least 3-4 days, you can move on to the next step.

Stage 5

Pop them in the cot and place your hand on their chest (or back if they are happier sleeping on their front) and shush until they are asleep. If
your child gets upset, you can go back to patting to get them calm then stop, and continue with just shushing. When your baby is happy falling asleep like this for at least 3-4 days, move onto the next stage.

Stage 6

Put your child in the cot and sit/lie next to the cot and shush them until they fall asleep. If they get upset, toggle back to the resting hand until calm then go back to shushing until asleep. When your baby is happy falling asleep like this for 3-4 days, move on.

Stage 7

Pop your child in the cot and delay shushing until they demonstrate a need (either by starting to fuss or getting upset). If your baby can fall asleep without any shushing you may be able to move on to putting them down in the cot and leaving.