What is Eat, Play, Sleep and when should I start it?
Eat, play, sleep, is a very common term thrown around the internet with little explanation. It refers to sleep - but how??
What it really enforces is the need to eliminate eating from sleeping. By adding ‘play’ in the routine, we are helping our children to fall asleep without needing a nursing session, a bottle, or even a snack to fall asleep.
If you’re sitting there thinking “who needs food in order to fall asleep?” Let me tell you….just about everyone!!
How common is it for parents to want to feed their children every single last crumb on their plate at dinnertime and then feed them a snack 1 hour later before bed? Or how about parents who put cereal in their baby’s bottle to help them feel ‘more full’ at night time. Or even ourselves - eating after dinner into the late evening hours - not wanting to go to bed without feeling ‘full.’
It isn’t actually great for our digestive system to be fully loaded right before bed. As our digestive system works, it heats our body up. Another common side-effect of eating, is the need or urge for a bowel movement. So if our children are waking up early from their naps because they’ve gone poo, then changing the timing of their last feeding (or sometimes the actual food itself) could be very beneficial. In order to set our bodies up for a good, restful sleep, our body temperature actually has to come down. So that’s why mingling eating right before bed and going to sleep are not ideal partners.
All of this being said - newborns are the exception. They require LOTS of feedings and sometimes these happen as they are falling asleep. That is okay. The first few weeks of your baby’s life should be devoted to establishing a good feeding rhythm and establishing some routines around your home.
One final reason we don’t want to directly associate feeding with sleeping (for children 3+ months), is that it becomes a sleep prop. If your child depends on a bottle, nursing, or a snack in bed to fall asleep, then when they wake in the night, they will think that they NEED these things in order to fall back to sleep again. There will also be some confusion because the last thing they remember is falling asleep in your arms drinking their bottle, and now they’re alone in their crib with no mom in sight…that’s a little frightening for them! If your child is completely aware of their surroundings when they GO to sleep, it will make staying asleep so much easier.
By incorporating a pattern of Eat, Play, Sleep into your daily routines, you are setting up your baby and your child for sleep success! This method is great to use for children 3+ months old and it can be followed until your child is much older. As awake times extend, you may find the need to do Eat, Play, Eat, Play, Sleep. This is great! We just always want to disassociate eating directly from sleeping.
Have any questions about EPS? Post them below!
