Dana Obleman: Hi I’m Dana. Welcome to this week’s video. I’ve had a couple of questions recently from clients working on the Sleep Sense Program asking, “How do I explain what I am doing to friends and family?” I had one lady tell me that her mother in law thinks she’s crazy and that this whole thing seems like a complete waste of time to her.

I can remember having that same situation. I remember once leaving my son with my in laws for the weekend. It was our first trip away leaving baby with grandma and grandpa. I went through the schedule with them both. I told them all about his nap routine, and when he should go down, and about bedtime.

They smiled and they nodded and they agreed with me. We went on our merry way. When I got back my father in law said to me, “You know, he’s the greatest baby if you follow his schedule.” That told me that, “You know what? I bet the first day they did not follow the schedule.” and they thought, “Whatever, we’ll do our own thing.”

If he doesn’t get the sleep he needs he turns into a real grump. He still does to this day and he’s almost 13. When the schedule was followed he was so happy. He was so much fun to be with, but if you tried to push him too hard or miss naps he would get grouchy.

They learned the hard way, that it made more sense to do it my way than it did to do it theirs. That might be the case. You might have to let the parent, or the grandparent figure out the hard way. When they follow the schedule and the routines, things go better for them.

That’s a great idea if you’re stuck in it. Remember, too, that it doesn’t matter if they think you’re crazy. It doesn’t matter if they think this is silly. You’re the parent. You make the decisions. You’re the boss.

Let’s just cut to the chase here, you are the boss. [laughs]

It doesn’t really matter. You’ve made this decision. It’s important to you. You see the benefits of it. You’re getting better sleep. Baby’s getting better sleep. Baby’s happier when she’s awake. Everything goes so much more smoothly and better when baby’s getting the rest she needs. You know that, and that’s all that matters.

If friends are giving you a hard time because you’re not dragging your baby out till midnight so that you can go to the birthday party, oh, well. The good news is that it will get easier with time.

People will come to understand that these are your rules and they might not be their rules. I have friends whose kids stay up till who knows when. That’s their choice, and that’s their right. My kids aren’t going to, because that’s not the way things work in our house. That’s OK, we can still be friends, [laughs] right?

But they know, “OK, Dana’s going to take the kids home early and get them to bed.” That’s just the way it is. Keep that in mind. It doesn’t matter. They’ll come around eventually and if they don’t, oh well. You can agree to disagree.

Thanks so much for watching. Sleep well.

Transcription by CastingWords