My Little House Of Sleep Model

After my studies and a few months of working with so many tired parents, I started noticing a pattern in how sleep is shaped in our little ones (and us as parents when you think about). What we know as sleep is not an something that we can just decide to do and there are very, very few people who can go from fully awake and alert to dozing off on the couch in a matter of seconds. It is exactly the same in our children.

Sleep is an outcome of several factors with each factor playing a unique role and all of the factors together producing independent sleep. Long ago, our environments provided these factors naturally - today, it’s a little more difficult with all the artificial lighting, sound and stimulation we face on a day to day basis.

I realized that this is very similar to the way a house is built: from the ground up, on a solid foundation, each room playing its part and the overall strength allowing it to manage and thrive in the outside world.

I call this model of mine the Little House Of Sleep:

✔ The Foundation of the house: Timing, Nutrition, and Stimulation (mental and physical)
✔ The Rooms: the Sleep Environment and Sleep Routine
✔ The Walls: your Child’s Unique Needs
✔ The Roof: Independent Sleep
✔ The Outside World: family, culture, travel, school, daycare, etc.

By understanding how all of this fits together, you can understand everything about your little one’s sleep and you can clearly (and quite easily) identify where sleep struggles are coming from.