Do you find yourself laying next to your child for what seems like hours every night because that is the ONLY way you can get them to sleep? And once they finally fall asleep, are they are back in your room a few hours later trying to crawl into your bed?

Getting your child to fall asleep and stay asleep in their own bed can be an epic challenge.  

Today, I’m going to let you in on a simple, science-backed intervention that we love to use to tackle some of these bedtime struggles…

The Bedtime Pass

The Bedtime Pass is a science-backed strategy that we use with families. It helps kids fall asleep alone, while feeling safe and secure in their own bed. It’s basically a get out of bed free card that you give to your child at night before bed.

The Bedtime Pass gives children the security they need, but provides them with boundaries to put a limit on those seemingly constant trips out of bed. Most importantly, it is a tool to teach your child to fall asleep without you having to lay next...

“I tucked my kids in last night and said, ‘See you in the morning!’ and then we laughed and laughed. Saw them 16 more times before sunrise.” - Unknown

A question I was sure to never miss when first meeting a family, whether for an evaluation or therapy, was, “How’s sleep for your child?” The most common reaction from parents? An eye roll.

I get it. As a mom to two little ones, it seems unfair the discrepancy between how much I love sleep and how much they, well, don’t.

But, before I could really help any family better understand their child’s development, increase their connection, respond to challenging behaviors, or manage worries… we had to make sure that sleep wasn’t a contributing factor. We’d be fighting an uphill battle to address these issues with an overtired child.

Often times, we are able to “clean-up” sleep with some quality sleep hygiene practices. And no, sleep hygiene is not about going to bed clean (though that doesn’t hurt!). Sleep hygiene, or positive sleep...