Help your baby sleep through the night

Your heart can fill with love when you watch your baby sleep. They look so sweet and innocent. However, your heart may race when you can't get them to sleep all night or when you really want them to take a nap or fall asleep.

You can reduce stress and be better prepared for scheduling your baby’s sleep by understanding what parts of his sleep schedule are in your hands.

Understand your baby's sleep needs

During the first 2 months, your newborn's need for food exceeds the need for sleep. They may feed almost every 2 hours if you are breastfeeding, and maybe a little less often if you are bottle feeding.

Your baby may sleep 10 to 18 hours a night, sometimes 3 to 4 hours at a time. But children cannot tell day from night. So they sleep without worrying about what time it is. This means that your baby’s waking time may be from 1 am to 5 am.

Between the ages of 3 and 6 months, many babies are able to sleep for 6 hours. But just as you might think your baby is getting used to a routine, normal developmental milestones can be confusing. For example, when your baby begins to associate bedtime with being left alone, he may start crying just to keep you safe.

Set a bedtime routine

A study of 405 mothers found that children who followed a nightly bedtime routine fell asleep more easily, slept better, and cried less in the middle of the night.

Some parents start teaching their baby to sleep as early as 6-8 weeks of age. Your baby’s daily routine can be any combination of regular bedtime activities. Keys to success:

Play active games during the day and quiet games in the evening. This keeps your baby from getting too excited right before bedtime but gets them tired from the day's activities.
Keep activities the same and in the same order, night after night.
Make every activity calm and peaceful, especially toward the end of the routine.
Many babies enjoy bathing right before bedtime, which calms them down.
Save your baby's favorite activity for last, and do it in their bedroom. This will help them look forward to bedtime and associate their sleep space with things they like to do.
Provide stable nighttime conditions in your baby’s room. If he wakes up in the middle of the night, the sounds and lights in the room should be the same as when he fell asleep. If you need to feed or change your baby at night, dim the lights and keep talking to a minimum. Too much stimulation can make recovery difficult.

Put a sleepy baby to bed

Once your baby is 6 to 12 weeks old, comfort him until he falls asleep. When he is about to fall asleep, lay him down and let him fall asleep on his own. Don't wait until he's completely asleep in your arms; it can be a behavior that will then be difficult to get rid of.

This procedure will teach your baby to calm down before bed, and you will not have to rock him or hug him every time he wakes up at night.

If your baby is having trouble getting to bed, try shifting their bedtime to an earlier time rather than later. Excessive fatigue can interfere with sleep.

Reducing the risk of sudden infant death

Every time you put your baby to bed, whether it's at night or during the day, experts recommend doing the following to reduce your risk of sudden infant death syndrome:

Always put your baby down to sleep on their back.
Always use a firm sleep surface. Car seats and other sitting devices are not recommended for routine sleep.
If you baby falls asleep in a stroller car seat or swing, try to remove them and lay them down on a flat surface.
Your baby should sleep in the same room as you, but not in the same bed as you.
Keep soft objects or loose bedding out of the crib. This includes pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, and bumper pads.
Don’t rely on devices which claim to prevent sudden infant death syndrome.
Do not use wedges and positioners.
Offer your baby a pacifier at nap time and bedtime.
Avoid covering your baby's head or overheating.
Do not use home monitors or commercial devices marketed to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
Make sure your baby gets all recommended vaccinations.
Get some skin-to-skin contact time with them.
Give your baby supervised, awake tummy time every day.
Don't smoke.
Breastfeed your baby.
If you are tired, don’t breastfeed while in a chair or on a couch in case you fall asleep.
If you're pregnant, get regular prenatal care.

Let your baby cry - Should you or shouldn't you?

A screaming type of sleep training is Ferber's famous method. The goal is to teach your baby to fall asleep on their own and fall asleep again if they wake up during the night. Here's how it's done:

Put the baby in his crib. Once you're done with her bedtime routine, leave the room.
If your baby is crying, wait a few minutes before checking on him. The waiting time depends on you and your baby. You can start waiting for 1 to 5 minutes.
When you enter your baby’s room, try to comfort him. But do not pick them up or stay with them for more than 2-3 minutes, even if they are still crying when you leave. One look at your face will be enough for the baby to be convinced that you are nearby, and eventually he will be able to fall asleep on his own.
If they continue to cry, gradually increase the waiting time before going to them again. For example, if you wait 3 minutes the first time, wait 5 minutes the second time and 10 minutes each time after that.
The next night, wait 5 minutes the first time, 10 minutes the second time, and 12 minutes each time after that.

Adopting this method can be difficult for the first few nights. But you will most likely notice an improvement in your baby's sleep pattern by day 3 or 4. Most parents notice improvement within a week.

Tip: If you want to try the Ferber Method, make sure you're well rested before your first night of sleep training. Especially the first few nights, you will spend a lot of time listening to your baby crying, looking at the clock, going in and out of his room.

If you find it difficult to stay away from your baby when she cries, this method may not be the best choice. Research shows that even if parents survive the first night or two, they usually find forced sleep this way too stressful. Many parents fail to ignore their children long enough or consistently for them to stop crying and eventually fall asleep on their own.