How to Get Baby to Sleep Through the Night

I am a mother of two beautiful children: Lillian who recently turned 2, and Nicholas who is 3 months old. Both of my children sleep through the night. Nick just started two weeks ago and Lily began when she also was 2 and half months old.  I figured after two children successfully sleeping well so early, I have a pretty good method for training a child to sleep. Here are some great tips to get baby to sleep through the night.

• 1. Keep the lights dim.
  I have a very dim 20 watt light I use when I wake up for night feedings. It can be hard when you are also sleepy to stay awake in such dim light, but that’s the point. It’s hard for baby to stay awake, too.

• 2. Move slowly and calmly.
  You do NOT want to behave as if the night feeding is similar to day time feedings. This feeding should be so gentle they feel like they are still sleeping. This also helps to minimize burps and spit up which prevents baby from getting back to sleep after eating.

• 3. Change baby’s diaper in the middle of the feeding.
  Often you need to change baby’s diaper when they are up at night. Do not change their diaper after they have eaten a whole lot of milk and are full and drowsy. This upsets their full stomach and wakes them up again. The other great thing about this is if baby falls asleep on one breast before they ate very much, changing them can awaken them enough to eat again and really fill their belly.

• 4. Limit how many times you offer the breast.
  I let my baby eat until falling asleep or unlatching on one side. I burp them and change their diaper. I offer the other side until they fall asleep or unlatch. It’s easy to get caught in a cycle of baby unlatching and you trying to put the breast back in their mouth to feed more. When you start limiting access to the breast, eventually they will either become more efficient eaters or skip waking up altogether because they don’t consume much milk anyway.

• 5. Lay baby down drowsy, NOT asleep.
  Place baby in the crib and if they are awake and content, great, but if not, you need to gentle rustle them until their eyes open. Don’t worry if this is impossible the first couple weeks of baby’s life. Newborns sleep hard. But, the earlier you do this, the better. Learning to self-sooth is an extremely important step towards baby sleeping through the night.  If they wake up in the night, they can go back to sleep without using the breast as a vehicle.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP FOR SLEEP TRAINING YOUR BABY

• 6. Condition your baby to sleep when hearing a particular song.
  Classical conditioning works for training more than dogs. Every single day, play a mobile song or sing the same lullaby to them right before you lay them down for the night. If your days and nights are blending together because your newborn has no circadian rhythm, just pick a feeding in the general vicinity of 8pm-10pm to do the song. Before long, your child will get sleepy just hearing the tune. DO NOT abuse this song to make your child sleepy at other times of the day. DO NOT use this song before nap time. It is important your child distinguishes the night long sleep from naps or other times of day. Phase out using the song when your toddler is a great sleeper (they do exist) and then you have a tool for nights where they are especially revved up before bed. I hum the song I played for my 2 year old daughter her whole first year and she gets tired right away—it’s a mental trigger.
  

I hope all these tips help you sleep train your child. When you get baby to sleep through the night, you can be well rested to take better care of them during the day.

If you liked this post, check out 5 things to include in your birth plan.
Remember to share these tips on your Facebook or pin them to your Pinterest so other moms can benefit from a good night’s sleep.