Ways to Help Your Baby
Sleep All Night

Ways To Help Your Baby Sleep All Night, by Jennie Crawford

Are you the mom or dad of an infant? If you are, you are likely wondering when that magic night will come when your baby will sleep through the night. Did you know that a 5 hour stretch is considered to be sleeping through the night? I can remember when a five hour stretch of time sleeping sounded like a little slice of heaven.

I have two children. I’m not going to tell you that I used these methods and they magically began sleeping all night. There are so many variables involved with different babies and their schedules. What I will tell you is that I employed these strategies with my own kids and I had success with them.

To begin, let me just say that please don’t hope your baby will sleep through the night until they are at least 6 weeks old. I have heard about babies that have managed it before then, but not many. Babies are simply too small and need the nourishment from those nighttime bottles. I always used when my babies weighed 10 lbs before I started really following these techniques. Why 10 lbs? I’m not sure. It just seemed to me to be a weight in which they wouldn’t really need the constant night feedings.

The first thing is to keep your baby to as much of a routine as possible. Try to keep the feeding in 3 hour intervals throughout the day. Although if your baby is hungry more often then that, by all means feed him/her. The more food they ingest during the day, the less they will need at night. But don’t force feed them. That will only result in a very fussy, gassy baby. If you need to, wake them up for a scheduled feeding. Unless they have just fallen asleep. Babies definitely need their sleep. As do their mommies!!

Put your baby to be at a set time. But make that time 10-11pm. This way, if your baby starts to sleep those 5 hours, it will be from 11pm to 4 am. That is much better then 9pm to 2 am. Put your baby down ready for sleep, but not all the way asleep. They will learn to sooth themselves this way. This may help them fall back asleep on their own when they wake in the night. I was never able to allow my kids to cry themselves to sleep. I’ll bet it works. I just couldn’t do it. I was able to let them fuss and cry for short periods of time, them check on them. For me, this was easier. It probably took them longer to learn self soothing skills, but it was easier on my heart.

Lastly, try to make as little fuss when you go to your baby in the middle of the night as possible. If you’ve allowed them to fuss a little and they clearly aren’t going back to sleep on their own, get the bottle before going in their room. Don’t turn the light on. Don’t talk-just give them the bottle and put them back down. This will make it so they are not waking looking for interaction with you. I know its hard, but try to enjoy this nighttime time with your baby. Believe it or not, it will end and you may even miss it!!

Jennie Crawford is the stay at home mom of two samll children. For more information go to http://www.jenniecrawford.com/sleepytimesecretsArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennie_Crawford

Back to Home Page from Ways to Help Baby Sleep All Night