How can I teach my baby to sleep through the night?
Hi, I think the most important thing to start with is to get your baby into a good sleep routine. I had massive problems with getting my 5 month old son to sleep. He would just lie awake and cry for hours, then when he finally went to sleep he would wake every hour or two hours through the night and cry again! Talk about pulling our hair out …. we were absolutely desperate for sleep! It was a baby sleep audio program recommended by a friend that finally saved us. We followed the advice and began by creating a baby sleep routine which included bathtime, dimming of the lights, putting Josh into his crib, final nappy change and then lullabies. We also made recommended changes to his naps during the day and used some of the other recommended techniques. Within two weeks he was sleeping through the night most nights with just the odd night where he would just wake once! If you want to take a look, the audio program is at http://www
The brain develops the ability to sleep through the night on average about four months of age. If your baby is old enough here is a plan that I’ve used for three children and has been prescribed for thousands of children. action plan 1.have a goal of an early bedtime. If his bedtime is late just jump to between 5:30 pm and 7:00pm. If it is already close to that move it earlier gradually by about 20 minutes each night. 2. Soothe him and then put him to bed and (if necessary), let him cry it out, don’t go in until he is asleep (crying it out for naps is different) 3. Make sure he wakes up between 6:00 and 7:00 in the morning (wake him up if you have to while sleep training him, this will help with the early bedtime later on in the day) 4. Have an active morning and make sure he gets a short nap around 9:00 am (don’t let this be the long nap, let him cry for about 10 minutes for this nap, if he doesn’t sleep try for the nap again in 30 minutes. 5. Don’t allow naps in the car. Keep him awa
Although babies decide when to sleep through the night on their own, you can do a little coaxing. My daughter has been sleeping through the night since she was 8 weeks old. During the day, I would feed her whenever she wanted to eat. At night when she woke up to eat, I would feed her, but would not give her any stimulation…no talking, no smiling, no whispering, as little light as possible, etc. Also, I would keep her out of sleepers during the day and only put her in regular clothes – the thought was that they are less comfortable than sleepers. She was about 10.5 pounds when she started sleeping through the night, so I think her weight may have had something to do with it as well. Good luck, and hold your baby while you can because before long crawling and walking begins and you can’t stop them!
