Self-soothing
Also called self-soothe, self soothe, self soothing, self-soothes, self-soothed, self-soother, self-soothers
Self-soothing is when a baby calms down at bedtime or after waking without a parent stepping in, for example by sucking a thumb, rubbing a comfort item or fussing quietly before drifting off. Parents use it as a verb too, as in she self-soothed or he can't self-soothe yet.
How it's said
Dd self soothed from birth.
Following because I love a good "when did yours self soothe/sleep through" thread, think I've read the entire back catalogue.
Yes, from time to time even us adults require assistance with self-soothing.
Who says it
Not to be confused with
- Many people use self-soothing and self-settling for the same thing. Sleep consultants who split them keep self-settling for going from awake to asleep alone, and self-soothing for calming big feelings, a skill that grows through childhood.
Where it came from
Self-soothe is a psychology word for calming yourself with a habit, such as sucking a thumb or holding a comfort object.
Infant sleep researchers took it to the nursery. Thomas Anders studied home-recorded sleep in babies in the 1970s, and in 2001 Beth Goodlin-Jones, Anders and colleagues filmed 80 infants at night and sorted them into self-soothing and non-self-soothing styles by what they did after waking. Sleep consultants now quote this research when they talk to parents about self-soothing.