Sleep, Baby Sleep...

This article is from experience only. I have not researched what I'm sharing with you, this knowledge comes from raising 5 children, all who slept peacefully throughout the night.

Many of my friends have come to me at one point another regarding their battles with their children's sleep patterns. My friends know that my own children all slept through the night at very early ages and never did I have trouble with getting them to sleep, so I suppose they felt I was a good source of knowledge in this area. In addition to getting my own kids to sleep, I have helped numerous others with their children. The information that I'm going to share really should be credited to my mother. The best advice she ever gave me, was to set a bedtime and stick to it. Being a young mother (I was 20 when our first child was born), I listened to her advice and did as was told. Probably, because I still felt that I should do as my mother told me, after all, I was still her child too.

First things first... You have a newborn and your baby is going to wake naturally because they are hungry, especially if you are breastfeeding. Breastmilk digests much faster and more easily than formula, so your baby will need to nurse more frequently. By no means am I saying formula feed. All my children were breastfed and still slept through the night at young ages. However, a newborn infant will need to nurse more frequently in their first few weeks of life than a bottle-fed baby. Also, babies tummies are very teeny. They don't have the room to hold volumes of food that will last them hours. Please do not attempt to get your newborn to sleep through the night until they are at least 8 weeks of age or already sleeping through the night on their own.

Do's & Don'ts

Your child will waken because they are hungry. Make sure when you feed or nurse your baby you are not rousing them fully awake by loud sounds and lights. If you are bottle feeding, have the bottle ready and warmed before picking up your baby. For nursing mothers, this will be much easier, as you simply have to feed your baby.

Do not interact with your baby in any playful or loud manner. This will stimulate your child too much at a time when you want them to return to sleep. This includes changing their diapers. If your child has not soiled their diaper, then it is not necessary to change them. Many of my friends were checking the diaper in the middle of the night to see if their child had soiled. As you know, we all know when the baby needs to be changed. Do not make changing a diaper a nightly routine or your child will learn to wake up fully at that time by their internal clock. You want your child only waking up when he or she is hungry.

Set a schedule:

Your little one may have their days and nights turned around after birth. It is very important that you work to change this as quickly as possible. While it may be impossible to keep your baby awake during the daytime, you can stimulate and rouse them from slumber frequently. Newborns sleep a lot, but if your child is sleeping through most of the day or your child has been sleeping for a long stretch, gently rouse them from slumber. Your baby may only stay awake for a few minutes and return to sleep, that's ok. The goal is to get your baby more and more alert during the daytime hours so they'll be tired and sleeping through the nighttime hours.

Set a bedtime routine.

This is the key, the magical ingredient for a future of sleep-filled nights and the earlier you do it, the better. As soon as you are able to, put your baby on a schedule. I recommend doing this no later than the end of the first week after your child is born. While it may be impossible to truly have your child on a schedule at a very young age, you can set the routine and expectations immediately. Have something you do every night with your child. This will be the key to your baby that nighttime is coming and will help them transition to bedtime. My ritual with my own children was bath, story and bottle. Whatever you decide is your families bedtime routine, make sure that it is low-key, keeping sounds down to a minimum. If your child (for older babies) is excited and active, simply keep your voice low and soothing and your manner low and soothing. Bath time can be a very exciting time for your baby and that's wonderful. You can still smile and interact and play with your baby, keeping in mind that you remain calm and soothing. These gentle cues will subtly remind and transition your child from daytime to nighttime and eventually bedtime.

Ready, Set, Go!

You have your baby on a schedule and a routine. Your baby is older than 8 weeks and eating less frequently through the night, you are ready to get your baby to learn self-soothing. Many babies do this naturally, this is where they know how to calm themselves down when they are crying. You may have already noticed your baby doing this. Babies, as you know cry for many reasons other than being hungry or needing a diaper change or burping. By now, you are attuned to the many different crying sounds your child makes. When you know your child is is full, clean and not in discomfort and it's nighttime, this is the time to begin letting your baby know that you trust your child to soothe and comfort themselves to sleep. All babies are different, some may suck their hands, their fingers, their thumbs, make small sounds (one of my children coo'd/sang himself to sleep). When your baby fusses, do not immediately pick them up. Wait a few minutes and see if your child will soothe themselves back to sleep. Your baby may do this only for a few minutes, but that's ok. Your baby has learned something already, that he or she is capable of soothing themselves. Not all babies are self-soothers and this child will be more hands-on in helping sleep through the night. Eventually, even the baby that is a not a natural self-soother, will become one over the next several months.

When your baby is crying during nighttime, go to your baby and without picking them up, gently place your hand on their back or pat them, pat their bottom. This will almost always calm your baby down. Your baby will be comforted by your presence. I encourage not talking to your baby at this time, as this may rouse them too much. Doing this routine several nights in a row, will help you encourage your child to sleep through the night.

If you think your baby is hungry, by all means feed the baby. Do not let your child be hungry. This is uncomfortable for the baby and will make them too fully awake. However, if you fed or attempted to feed your baby and they have no interest, then you know they are ok to put back to bed and continue the comforting (back/bottom patting) routine.

My tips:

My child's bed was never in a room apart from mine until they were over 8 weeks of age and sleeping through the night.

One of my children slept through the night at 3 weeks (all on his own, he is still a champion sleeper and he's 22). Even though Daniel was sleeping through the night at 3 weeks, he wasn't moved to the nursery until he was 10 weeks old.

All of my children were sleeping peacefully through the night by 10 weeks of age.

Never let your child be hungry or soiled.

I do not agree with co-sleeping for safety reasons, also this teaches your child that you must be present in order for them to sleep. I did keep the bassinet beside my bed in their early stages of infancy, moving the bassinet farther away from the bed as the weeks passed.

Do not stress over sleeping. Enjoy the sleepless nights because they are gone so quickly. Know that your child will learn to sleep through the night. Be patient. Be consistent.

If it becomes too tiring to keep returning to your child to soothe them, have someone help you, take turns. This stage doesn't last forever.

Safety Tips:

Never allow your child to sleep with anything in their bed other than a blanket. (no toys, no pillows, no excessively fluffy items)

Do not use bumper pads

Elevate the head of your child's bed (this helps with reflux, ear infections, colic, gastrointestinal issues). Elevate by placing something under the mattress. After six months of age, this is less necessary.

This article is intended for infant sleeping encouragement. These guidelines will not be completely beneficial to a toddler who is not sleeping. These guidelines were not researched nor come from medical advice.You may want to consult your pediatrician. This article is intended for healthy infants only.