How to Get Baby to Sleep Through the Night

Baby J. Dressed for Bedtime

Are you having trouble getting your baby to sleep through the night? How many hours is he or she sleeping at night, before waking up? How much sleep are you getting yourself? For us, we were lucky at first. Baby J. naturally fell into a pattern of sleeping through the night at around 4 months of age. We didn't have to do anything. No tricks. No special bedtime routines. It was like we were suddenly gifted with a great sleeper (after a couple rough months of always waking up due to reflux).

Then, Baby J.'s first tooth came at around 5 months. While she was teething, we weren't expecting her to sleep too well. Teething leaves babies in a general state of wakefulness, and we weren't surprised when she went from sleeping through the night to waking up every couple hours, crying and needing to be held. After the tooth was finished coming out, we kind of expected Baby J. to return to her original sleep pattern.

She didn't.

In fact, she continued sleeping as though she were teething. She must have grown accustomed to being picked up and held every couple hours, and tooth or no tooth, she wasn't about to stop on our account. After a few days of this, two cranky, exhausted parents decided something had to be done.

Don't Forget the Bath Right Before Bed

There are a few schools of thought on getting your baby to sleep through the night. There's the all-out "cry it out" method, where you plunk the little one into his/her crib, leave the room, and see them again in the morning. Some people say this utterly cruel, and you should never treat a baby in this fashion. Despite not using this exact method, I don't agree with those people. Your kid will be just fine if you let them cry it out. They'll be perfectly happy the next day. You know what your child needs more than being picked up and coddled all the time? They need a good night's rest. And crying it out isn't something that takes months and months, it takes three days tops. So, if you're considering this method, don't think you're the worst parent in the world, you're simply doing you and your baby something good that's going to (after three days most likely) get both of you a lot more rest.

The method we did try was a modification of the "cry it out" method. It's pretty simple. You put your baby in the crib. Pat them for about a minute, say "good night", and then you leave the room. They will cry. They will bawl. They will scream. This is perfectly normal. Come back in five minutes, lay them down (if they're like Baby J. and they've been standing and pulling at the crib like its a prison cage), pat them for about a minute, shush them, say "good night", and then leave. This time, wait ten minutes before coming back. Keep doubling your time. Unless you have an incredible stubborn baby, they'll probably figure out after two or three times of being laid back into their crib, patted and wished a "good night" that it's time they slept. This method isn't quite as effective as the traditional "cry it out", but it gets fast results. It only took us three days before Baby J. got the big picture and went down immediately without any more fussing. Now, she sleeps 12 hours each night from 7pm to 7am.

Remember, the most important rule is, once your baby has entered the crib for the night, he/she does NOT come back out until morning. Unless they have a giant soiled diaper or there is clearly something wrong with the child, resist the temptation to pick him/her up. Getting picked up will only encourage them to cry and fuss more the next time you put them down. The second night we tried this, I made the mistake of picking up Baby J. She cried and screamed after I put her down for four hours, because she was so convinced I'd pick her up again.

Here are some other tips for getting your baby ready at night:

1. Set a bed time. Preferably make it around 6:30pm to 7:30pm. If you make your baby wait too long to go to bed, they will get overtired. And an overtired baby is actually much harder to get to sleep than a well rested baby. Sometimes, Baby J. sleeps the longest when she's taken a nap an hour or so before her bed time. It keeps her fresh, and she's less cranky for the long night.
2. Make bedtime as routine as possible. It's a good idea to give him/her a bath right before bed time every night. Put lotion on after the bath. Dress them up in some warm pajamas, and then give them a bottle while you read to them (reading is so important, even at this early stage, don't forget it). For older babies with teeth, brush their teeth after they have finished with their bottle. If they absolutely need some sort of comfort, and they're old enough, give them some water (but don't keep giving them breast milk or formula, it will encourage them to stay up).
3. Not really a bedtime tip, but make sure your baby gets naps. A couple of naps a day will mean your baby will be less tired by evening time. This also makes everything easier, like mealtime. A baby should be getting 2-3 hours of nap time a day. Some babies don't let you know when they're tired, so try to set roughly fixed times as to when your baby should be napping such as an hour after breakfast or an hour after lunch; the more routine the naps are, the more likely he/she will go down at those designated nap times.

Remember too, you may have to "reteach" your baby to sleep through the night after certain episodes that affect their sleeping pattern, such as teething, a cold, the flu, etc.

That's all I can think of right now. Hmm, let me know if you have any further tips that might help people that read this post.

D.