Skip to main content

Why sleep training books for kids are also great for parents

Sleep training books are a great way to help children understand their bedtime routine and begin to calm down at the end of the day. It’s more than just sleep training, however. Reading has powerful emotional, social, and mental benefits, both for your child and for you.

Parents can benefit from reading these sleep training books as well, which makes this time together before bed a vital part of your child’s life as well as yours. If you’re wondering what the point is in sleep training books or need any more encouragement to be intentional about reading them with your child before bed, this article is an excellent place to start.

Why does reading matter?

It’s drilled into us as parents that reading is a vital part of early development, but why should we be focusing on reading? It’s a foundational skill and experience that can have profound impacts on your child’s development. Here are a few good reasons.

Cognitive development

man reading to baby
nappy/Pexels

Your child is busy building new pathways in their brains for critical thought and learning. Reading helps children understand, empathize, and perceive the world. As you’re reading, your child is receiving valuable background information about life and the world.

Sleep training books capitalize on this learning process to begin teaching your child what to expect at bedtime and why they’re doing the things they’re doing. And as you’re reading, the interaction is helping your child bridge the story with what’s happening in their lives.

Emotional Development

Your child is also responding emotionally to what you’re reading. Reading is valuable by itself, but it’s also vital to interact with your child. This bonding experience creates a ritual and a sense of safety. Your child loves to be around you, and reading the story together helps both of you bond emotionally.

Improved Language

As you read to your child, valuable language input is happening. Your child is learning vocabulary to describe the nighttime routine and the emotions with it. Reading from an early age is correlated with greater cognitive skills that your child needs to start school, including vocabulary, visual skills, and meaning-making.

Why do parents benefit from reading?

Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean that the benefits of reading have stopped for you. Reading can help adults to gain empathy skills as well as provide stress relief at the end of a busy day.

As you bond with your child, you’re also receiving important emotional input, which allows you to build a greater understanding of your child and to slow down and offer your full attention in the present. This meditative practice at the end of each day can also be an important signal for your body that it’s time to unwind and begin the bedtime routine yourself.

family reading
Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

Parents can also use these sleep training books to discover why children may be having trouble with the bedtime routine itself. Very young, emerging verbal children can use the pictures from the book to provide feedback about bedtime, helping parents brainstorm solutions for specific sleep issues.

Reading can provide valuable stress relief for parents, but only if it’s something that doesn’t challenge them or cause distress. Sweet bedtime stories that give parents the chance to slow down and enjoy the moment can help with your daily stressors.

How to get the most out of reading at bedtime

To make reading at bedtime a memorable and valuable time for both you and your kids, keep these things in mind.

Create a ritual

A ritual, rather than a strict schedule, means doing things in a particular order. Give your child an understanding of the steps to bedtime to encourage them to wind down and fall asleep more easily.

For example, make reading the last thing you do before turning out the light and just after putting on fresh pajamas. Your child can follow the routine and knows what’s coming each time. Then, if bedtime happens a little later on a particular day, the ritual is still in place.

mother and daughter reading
cottonbro/Pexels

For some parents, the book could also be a signal to begin their own bedtime ritual as reading has the power to calm the mind and body down in preparation for sleep.

Lead by example

Parents who mimicked yawning and calming down have a better chance of getting their child to calm as well. Children can listen and interact with the pictures, but reading at bedtime is meant to be the verbal equivalent of rocking an infant.

As your child gets calm and watches you pretend to yawn, the social cues have an effect on them as well as you. Yawning is a social activity, so you could find yourself getting sleepy and calm even if you weren’t before.

As you begin the ritual and show your child what to do, it can have a profound effect on your emotional state. Everyone gets ready for bed together, and the house begins to quiet down. It’s time for everyone to relax and prepare for the best sleep.

Parents sometimes forget their own bedtime rituals, so this could be a jumping-off point to ensuring that everyone in the house has a reliable bedtime ritual. Again, yours may start where your child’s ends, but it all accomplishes one thing — a relaxing and soothing bedtime that helps everyone sleep more soundly.

Allow reading to transform your household

Books are a vital part of helping your child develop awareness and build critical cognitive skills. It’s essential that you help your child build awareness, critical neurological pathways, and emotional skills. And it’s not just your child that benefits from this time you spend together with a good book.

For you, reading can be an essential bit of stress relief. Once your body becomes accustomed to the bedtime ritual you provide for your child, you may feel yourself unwinding as well. Everyone in the house can have the best chance at a quality night’s sleep, and it can all start with that child’s sleep training book.

Editors' Recommendations

NewFolks
When should a baby sleep in their own room? The best time to make the switch
How to tell if your baby is ready to sleep in their own room
Baby sleeping on their back.

Babies grow and develop so much during the first year of their life and with that comes a constantly evolving sleep schedule. Many parents choose to either co-sleep or have a bassinet near their bed to provide as little sleep disruption as possible, especially for newborns. But as the baby gets a little older and begins to sleep longer, many parents find themselves wondering when to move their baby to their own room. From official recommendations to your own gut instinct, we'll take you through how to make these choices.

When to move from a bassinet to a crib
You should move your baby out of their bassinet once they reach its weight limit, which will likely be between 10 and 20 pounds. Additionally, if your baby begins to roll over or sit up, you should move them to a crib. Even if neither of these factors applies, and if you see your baby becoming cramped with its head touching the wall of the bassinet, it's time to move to a crib. You don't have to move from a bassinet to a crib and from your room to their own room at the same time, but it is most convenient for many.

Read more
These 4 pre-nap routines will help your child sleep peacefully
Here's some advice to help your baby nap better
Infant boy sleeping on bed

Any parent or caregiver can tell you how important nap time is. Not only does it allow your little one to get the rest they need, but it also helps give everyone a much-needed break. Frankly, getting kids to nap during the infant and toddler years is an important caregiver skill that can help maintain everyone’s sanity. Dealing with toddlers who refuse sleep, can be frustrating for everyone involved.

While it may take a few tries and even more adjustments, once you develop a solid baby nap time routine, your little one will be sleeping like a baby. Keep reading for four great pre-nap routines for every age and stage.

Read more
Does every baby need a sleep sack? It’s complicated
How to help your baby sleep better
A baby in a sleep sack in their crib.

Getting your baby to finally sleep through the night can feel like winning the lottery when you're a parent. When you find something that works and allows you and your baby to get a good night's sleep, you definitely want to stick with it. One item that some parents swear by to help their baby sleep better is a sleep sack. But, while this may work for some babies, others absolutely cannot stand them.

You may be wondering if you should use a sleep sack for your baby before you decide to invest in one. Our short answer is that it totally depends on your baby’s personality. Babies are pretty vocal about everything, and they will let you know pretty quickly if they enjoy being tucked into a sleep sack. We give you some of the pros and cons of sleep sacks to help you decide whether to buy one before you bring your baby home,

Read more