Sleep Medicine: The Estivill Method To Improve Your Child's Sleep

For those of you who do not know what this method consists of, we recommend you discover it with the best-selling book "Duérmete niño" (5 Days to a Perfect Night's Sleep for Your Child: The Secrets to Making Bedtime a Dream), the book that has changed many people's lives. 

The Estivill method for a perfect night's sleep for your child

Which parents have not felt helpless at some time for not getting their baby to sleep and setting up a routine as soon as possible for their newborn?  "Duérmete niño," the book about the Estivill method, has arrived in bookstores around the world to revolutionize the world's beliefs about children's' sleeping. 

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It is a true best-seller among child health care publications and has become one of the most popular sleep methods for parents all across the globe. 

This method is estimated to work in around 95% of cases, as reported by parents who have methodically tried the Estivill method. The stakes are high, and the book does not intend to offer tricks to apply only until you get it right, but it introduces a technique for when children cannot sleep. The famous doctor explains in detail in "Duérmete niño"   how to carry out a system that allows the baby to establish their sleep schedule and rely on it to go back to sleep if they wake up at night, without traumas and unnecessary dependencies.

Should we let the baby cry it out?

The Estivill method is an ambitious endeavor in the sense that it consists of what Dr. Eduard Estivill calls "educating the sleep" of the child. His system, based on behavioral methods, suggests taking the baby to their room, while still awake, and leaving them alone with the intention that they will sleep on their own without help.

When the child demands attention by crying, the parents have to wait for a few minutes  before going back to the room, but instead of holding or trying to comfort the child, they are only meant to talk to the child without physical contact for about ten seconds. The parents are then expected to leave the child alone, whether the crying has stopped or not. 

The Estivill Method: First, each parent must be firm but caring. The second part is setting up a bedtime schedule. | 

The Estivill method: Definition 

The Estivill method introduces waiting times explicitly marked to indicate the moment when parents can return to their baby's room and, this way, get the child used to gradually regulating the discomfort of being alone until falling asleep.

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According to the creator of the Estivill method, "If you follow the instructions down to the letter, in seven days, at the most, you will all be sleeping soundly." Dr. Estivill considers that starting from the child's sixth month of life, it is necessary (and possible!) to sleep without the constant attention of an adult. An ambitious goal formulated in a captivating way that any father or mother struggling with sleep deprivation can relate to. 

Sleep deprivation in children 

The Estivill method aims to avoid the consequences of children not getting adequate sleep, in the same way that other sleep methods aim to offer solutions to one of the most common disorders in society.

It seems obvious to think that having problems at bedtime will cause problems in the daily functioning of any person. But considering that the body recovers during the night and that specific processes only take place during the hours of sleep, in the case of the youngest in our families, the consequences of sleeping little can be even worse

The main goal of the Estivill method is to help each child learn their sleep schedule | 

Babies are incredibly irritable, and they are very quick to cry, an attention deficit that could be maintained in later stages of their life and impair their learning.

Children can experience interpersonal problems, mood swings and even academic trouble, but in the case of any of our children, no matter how old they are,  sleeping too little can negatively interfere with their growth. Hence the importance given by the Estivill method to finding a solution to the changes in the baby's sleep in a definitive way.

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Let us not forget that, as parents and essential figures in the upbringing of our children,  the consequences of a child's poor sleeping patterns can also negatively influence us, jeopardizing the hard work we've put in so far. Besides the inevitable exhaustion, and feelings of guilt, different insecurities may arise, even generate dynamics of mutual blame between the two partners, with the consequent wear and tear of the relationship.

While it is true that there is no single effective way to proceed in terms of applying sleep methods, knowing the Estivil method does offer some options that can supplement the techniques you're already using to get your baby to sleep on their own. 

The Estivill Method: You as parents will need to stick to the rules you’ve decided. | 

Raising children has no definitive rules nor a "user's manual"; it's more about maintaining coherence between our values and objectives and our way of proceeding as parents. And if to establish a healthy habit in our children, we have to apply a method that has worked for a good number of people, why not remember it and use it the next time we're struggling to get our child to sleep?

Check out the original article: Duérmete niño: El Método Estivill para dormir a tu bebé at bitpadres.com