You are probably no stranger to waking up around the clock whenever baby does, helping to soothe her back to sleep. It will most likely take her 12 to 24 weeks to start sleeping through the night (it’ll happen- we promise!), but you can start developing healthy sleep habits today!
We called in an expert for the best advice on helping baby get to sleep on her own and stay asleep longer - so you can, too! Share your slumber-time successes or sleep goals you’re currently working on with your little one!
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My sleep success story is this. My DD's doctor told us at her 2 week appointment to start the bed time routine now. Supper crazy I know (we thought the same thing). Well what she told us to do starting out is during the day open the blinds have lights on, tv up a decently loud volume, and don't try to be quite. Then about an hour before bed time close the blinds, turn out more of the lights, lower the volume, and try to be a little more quite. Then as your child gets older, change it depending on your child and situation. Read a story, have then brush their teeth etc. Try to keep it the same as much as possible. For us we would clean up toys and do the normal get in pj's, brush teeth, read a story. Well my soon to be three year old has been sleeping through the night since she was 4 1/2 months old. You do what's best for you but I believe helping them understand the difference between night and day is the start.
We get our son out of his swing before bed since he likes to swing back and forth and nap, change him, feed him, burp him, then to bed. I follow the same routine every time I feed him (figured out that he eats about 10, 2, and 6 night and day), the only difference is that at night I turn the lights low and close the curtains and make it as dark as I can. Works like a charm! He's almost 2 months now and only wakes us up once at night to eat
Music/silence. There are babies that fall asleep better when someone sings for them, someone likes melodic music more, but there's some that are too sensitive to sounds and even mouse scratching could wake them up, so there's a need to consider it too.
My son has been sleeping through the night since 8 weeks old. He's also colicky so I feel like a lucky one. That's another thread though. He was in NICU for first 3 weeks of life but every night they turned the lights out at a certain time (8pm) and kept them off until morning (5am) but you can change times accordingly. It really does help. My baby can still nap with a light on but at night lights out is a cue for him he's now fully picked up on for bedtime. I also do sleep with him in My bed in his bassinet so I'm able to rub his head (which he loves while falling asleep) and shoosh him or sing to him quietly. Btw I bought one of those shooshers and he still prefers my voice to it so it's useless at thus point lol. He loves lullabies! In gentle string instruments or xylophone 😆 so classic right but he loves it. Also.. like another user mentioned, I always feed him first. Sometimes bath time right before bedtime helps as well with lavender scents. Also, a God send of a swing is the 4Moms Mamaroo. He didn't like it until around 6 weeks old but now he can rock in there for awhile and often will doze off in it! The motions really are different and soothing for baby. Last but not least, never let baby nap too close to bedtime/past 2hrs before bedtime. For example, bedtime is 9pm, always wake him if he's napping before 7pm. If he's always taking longer naps so close to bedtime he could easily start to naturally shift his bedtime to earlier and earlier.
Re: How to help baby become a good sleeper
My DD's doctor told us at her 2 week appointment to start the bed time routine now. Supper crazy I know (we thought the same thing). Well what she told us to do starting out is during the day open the blinds have lights on, tv up a decently loud volume, and don't try to be quite. Then about an hour before bed time close the blinds, turn out more of the lights, lower the volume, and try to be a little more quite. Then as your child gets older, change it depending on your child and situation. Read a story, have then brush their teeth etc. Try to keep it the same as much as possible. For us we would clean up toys and do the normal get in pj's, brush teeth, read a story. Well my soon to be three year old has been sleeping through the night since she was 4 1/2 months old. You do what's best for you but I believe helping them understand the difference between night and day is the start.