These terms are often used interchangeably, which can become quite confusing, so lets break them down together 🩷
🌸 Self soothing:
This refers to your baby’s ability to be put to bed awake and soothe themselves with some* hands-on assistance, such as the shh/pat technique, before falling asleep. Your baby may* start to show signs of self-soothing around 3 months of age 👶🏻
🌸 Self-setting:
Self-settling is when your baby can be put into their bed awake and fall asleep independently without* any support or hands-on assistance. This often begins to develop around 4 months of age 😍
🌸 Re-settling:
Re-settling typically occurs after* your baby has mastered the skill of self-soothing and self-settling 🏆. This is because once they can fall asleep independently, their sleeping environment remains consistent when they partially wake between sleep cycles. This fosters their ability to re-settle into the next sleep cycle without fully waking and needing your help to re-establish the conditions they initially fell asleep to, such as if they were being held or rocked to sleep. Signs of re-settling will generally appear around 5-6 months of age 🤩
In essence, your baby will start showing signs of self-soothing and self-settling first. However, they will often still* need assistance and hands-on support to link their sleep cycles for another 1-2 months as they master this still - just like when they begin to roll from back to front for the first time, it takes a few more weeks until they can roll both ways☺️
With that said, if you are sleep deprived, wanting to break a current sleep association, or looking to consolidate your baby’s sleep and say goodbye 👋🏻 to catnaps and night wakes, please reach out and book a consultation at www.settletosleep.com.au so we can support you in restoring sleep for you and your family 🩷🌸💫