How Can We Make r/sleeptrain A Better Sub for Sleepy Parents?

[philipneri]

@shiftybroccoli Maybe something on some basic key principles, safety considerations or concern mitigations?

I see surprisinglyany poster of "and then I finally went in and realised LO had an issue".

Also, some myth busters would be good - CIO works every time, once trained it's all done, never combine orbchafe the method... That sort of thing?

 

[k4tpiper]

@shiftybroccoli Maybe days where parents can say what worked for them - whether it’s an official training method or not. I sleep trained my baby with a mix of different things that I think might help others but peoples questions are always about specific methods so I feel like my tips aren’t wanted even though they might help. Idk. Just a thought.

 

[shiftybroccoli]

@k4tpiper That’s an excellent suggestion! I think a success thread would be great!

 

[dcbroome]

@shiftybroccoli I've never been a mod bit it has interested me. What's the time commitment like? How many other mods would there be?

 

[shiftybroccoli]

@dcbroome

What's the time commitment like? How many other mods would there be?

It depends on how you would want to contribute. No more than an hour a week. You can submit writings for the wiki, check through reports from sub members, etc. Can you pm me?

 

[windowsxp_98]

@shiftybroccoli I have been here for about 3 years now. (oldest is almost 3.5 yo!). It has always seemed friendly and helpful when people ask real questions with details. Which is what I like and what I think this place should be. Which I think aligns with your aims.

What you (we although not sure I post enough here to count as a we) might want to consider is a help bot. /r/flashlight has a bit where you can comment something like "botname topic" and it posts a prewritten post about that topic. It has made the more common posts much quicker to respond to but still allows a bit of a personal friendly touch as it requires someone to request it and they normally post something like "we get asked this a lot, here's some consensus advice, if you have any questions just ask".

 

[shiftybroccoli]

@windowsxp_98 I LOVE that idea!

 

[ramonguitar]

@shiftybroccoli Some people can be a little condescending to new parents who have never sleep trained. Maybe a rule about how to respond kindly?

 

[shiftybroccoli]

@ramonguitar Yes, we assumed that since Reddit already has that rule that people would follow it, we might need another one.

 

[trleithoff]

@shiftybroccoli I would love a weekly questions style post. Sometimes I have a question I want advice on, but it doesn’t feel big enough to make a whole new post.

 

[stuart1717]

@shiftybroccoli The new edition of Precious Little Sleep should be listed along with the other books in the sidebar!

In terms of sidebars, maybe we could include some more extensive info other than just links to websites. When I was TTC both of my kids, I LOVED how great the sidebar was at r/TryingForABaby in terms of orienting new folks. I know different sleep books advocate some different approaches, but perhaps we could have general info about why independent sleep matters, why age-appropriate wake times are important (and change!), why some parents opt for checks vs no checks, etc. It feels like those topics are fairly basic and might be useful for the folks who're coming here feeling totally lost.

Thanks for all of the work you're doing!

 

[damseremie]

@stuart1717 I would love to contribute to that. I mean writing some summaries, cheat sheets, downloadable/printable charts, etc, or wiki.

 

[princess7]

@stuart1717 Came here to make this suggestion also. A wiki with key information would be awesome, and allow an auto-mod to be summoned for newbies.

 

[bknight006]

@stuart1717 I LOVED this book!!

 

[adebola]

@shiftybroccoli To add to the FAQ and headers suggestions, I think a post explaining the sleep training methods (or links to articles about them) may be a good idea. Often, I see suggestions on methods but sometimes lingo is used that may not make sense to others. For example, CIO is "cry it out," but new members get confused by this.

Adding more options to flair would be great too, like another user posted. r/Parents has age ranges on their flair list and it helps.

 

[driabid]

@adebola To add to this further, a post that had people’s success stories too with different training methods would be good!

 

[needreward]

@shiftybroccoli Not sure how to go about it but being able to find age-specific stories and support would be great! In the past I have searched for posts about a 4 month olds when mine was 4 months. The sleep crutches, regressions, circumstances can vary based on age so I think it’d be great if posts were somehow grouped by age.

 

[deedae]

@needreward Awesome idea

 

[shiftybroccoli]

@needreward I love that idea, actually!

 

[okcpicker]

@shiftybroccoli At the very least, require age in the title (idk if post flair is easily seen on all platforms). Remove the post and ask them to repost if they didn't specify age. I wish all the baby-related subs did this. It's so frustrating to read a story or challenge that is meaningless with the context of baby's age.