May 14th, 2010 by admin

I have run into so many people lately who have told me about their troubles with getting their baby to sleep. These people are not parents of newborns. These are parents of babies who are seven months or older! I can’t imagine being sane after seven months of waking up every two hours each night. Right now, Sera is sleeping (more often than not) through the night. In fact, this week alone she has slept completely through the night at least three days in a row. Otherwise, she will usually wake up once for a bottle or snuggle, then go right back to sleep.

Disclaimer: I am obviously no expert, I am just sharing what we’ve learned works with our daughter so far.

These are a few tips from our house to yours on getting your baby (and yourselves!) a better night’s sleep:

1) First and foremost, advice from the experts: I was amazed when I read an article in Parents magazine (February 2010) about getting baby better sleep. One of the fundamental points that stood out to me was the issue of bedtime. Apparently, setting your child’s bedtime between 5:30PM and 6:30PM gets them on the right track to assume the natural sleep pattern they crave and puts them in alignment with their natural circadian rhythm. According to the article, babies are naturally ready for sleep during this period and if you miss this window, baby’s body tends to ramp itself up to overcome her natural fatigue, making her more wired and difficult to put to bed than otherwise. It may seem counterintuitive, but keeping baby up until 10PM so she will sleep longer actually will make her sleep less restful and will result in more frequent and earlier wake up times. So, keep to an early bedtime schedule to start things off right.

2) The most important thing you can do to start good sleep habits is to form a routine. What kind of routine will work best? Well, as I continue to find to be true when it comes to parenting: do what works best for you and your family.

We have found that the two necessities in our routine are dark and quiet. Beyond that, we can do just about anything and she will wind down for sleep on time. I made some curtains for her room, which I lined with black felt to keep the extra light out from outside. (Canvas may be an even better choice.) White noise helps soothe babies by reminding them of the womb. (It has also been shown to potentially decrease the chances of death by SIDS!) So, we also added a box fan on her floor near the door (facing away from her crib).

She doesn’t take baths everyday yet, so when we do give her a bath, we just start a bit earlier. We usually try to read her a book right before bedtime also. Generally, the mainstays of our bedtime routine are: turn on our glowing lullaby seahorse, close the curtains, change her diaper & clothes, wrap her loosely in one of her blankets (she tends to flail while she’s eating otherwise) and give her a bottle. I usually rock her while she’s eating, but John doesn’t, so it doesn’t seem to matter. We sit in the dark while she eats and she is usually calm enough by the time she’s done eating to be burped and put in her bed. Most of the time she isn’t asleep when she gets put down, which is great because it teaches her to fall asleep on her own.

3) What does “sleeping through the night (STTN)” really mean? Some experts say you should expect about 6 hours straight from your baby. I think that’s nonsense. Sera sleeps from when I put her down for bed at 6PM to approximately 8AM. This was a huge improvement over waking up every 2-3 hours, which occurred once we started her on this sleep schedule.

4) What about naps? When she’s at home with me, she takes 2-3 naps per day. Each nap can be between approximately 45 minutes to 2 hours long. Generally, she naps at about 9:30AM or 10AM and again at about 1PM. Depending on how long those naps are and how sleepy she is, she may nap again at about 4PM. Either way, she is ready for bed by 6PM.

5) What about feeding? We generally feed her on an as-needed basis. In other words, when she’s hungry, we feed her. However, around bedtime, we always try to make sure that we get her last bottle in right at bedtime to send her to sleep with a full belly. Don’t forget to burp or she may wake up from spit up or gas!

Hope this all helps and I’d love feedback and other suggestions!