Jimmy Giggle shares very personal update about sleep training babies
For some families, sleep training is the difference between sanity and some sort of exhausted abyss. And for other families, it’s just the opposite, with the efforts needed to get their kids to sleep independently way too upsetting to contemplate.
“Do what feels right”
ABC Kids star Jimmy Rees – also known as Jimmy Giggle – says for his family, sleep training their kiddos wasn’t really a good fit. Jimmy is married to Tori, and the pair are also parents to four-month-old twins Mack and Vinny.
But rather than pushing a ‘my way or the highway’ attitude to getting small children off to sleep, Jimmy’s urging parents to ‘do what feels right’ for their family.
Sharing a photo of himself and his four-year-old son Lenny snoozing together, faces pressed very very close, Jimmy urged mums and dads not to agonise too much over how they get their little ones to sleep.
“Our sleep routine!!” he posted. “Kids and sleep and routines and the constant doubt – ‘are we doing it right’ … ‘do I need sleep school’ … it’s very stressful!!”
“From our experience, I’d say don’t stress!!! Do what feels right to you!!”
From boob to snuggles
Jimmy says Lenny used to fall asleep while breastfeeding and then moved on to being cuddled to sleep.
“We rocked him and cuddled him and there were times we thought that it would never change, we’d be rocking him all night long!! We tried a sleep regime, we failed!! We’re not the parents that wanted to listen to our little fella scream all night!!”
Beside this snuggly photo, he noted that this is where things were at right now.
“This is how Lenny falls asleep every night, his face pressed against mine, kissing my cheek, cuddling his dad (or mum). This won’t last forever, Tori and I look forward to bedtime, we will cherish every last cuddle coz time flies and soon he’ll be 18.”
“It doesn’t last long”
Jimmy’s followers were so happy to read this update, especially those who shared a similar philosophy.
“I did with my now 34 and 23 year old babies,” one parent wrote. “Everyone said don’t do it they’ll never sleep by themselves. Guess what, no teenager ever wants to sleep in their parents bed…..it doesn’t last long. Cherish every second.”
“Sometimes you do everything ‘wrong’ and then one day it turns out that wrong was actually right all along,” another mum wrote. “And they don’t need you any more and sleep like they are ‘supposed’ to.”
“I still lie with my 6 year old every night to help him fall asleep,” another parent commented. “This is the time that he relaxes after a big day at school and tells us about is day – the nights sometimes seem so long but before we know it he won’t want to do this and we will miss it!”
Wise words – from all – indeed!
