Getting your baby to sleep through the night is a common challenge among parents. As a newborn, babies need to wake every few hours to feed since their tiny tummies aren’t big enough to keep them full throughout the night. However, as your baby grows they need those night time feedings less. This is usually when parents expect their babies to start sleeping through the night, but things don’t always turn out as expected, leaving parents utterly exhausted and searching for solutions.

Believe it or not, sleep is actually a learned skill. Babies need to learn how and when to sleep before sleeping through the night. Once they're ready, our 7 tips will help your little one start sleeping for those longer stretches.

 

1. Establish a bedtime routine

It’s never too early to get a bedtime routine started. Your bedtime routine should be simple and sustainable, so it’s easy for you to do every night. Even the smallest change in your baby’s routine can leave them feeling off, and suddenly waking more frequently at night. Include calming, soothing activities that your baby seems to respond to, like swaddling and shushing. The bedtime routine can be where you create positive sleep associations for your baby. 

 

2. Teach your baby to self-soothe, which means trying your best to soothe them less

When your baby wakes in the middle of the night and cries for you, it’s always okay to go check on them. However, try and limit your time in there with them. Make it clear that it’s still time to sleep, not play or eat. Place your hand on their chest for a few moments to calm them, then leave the room.

Programs like sleep sense help parents create a customized sleep plan to help children from 0-13 get restful sleep. The easy-to-follow, step-by-step plans lets you make some choices about what is the right approach for your child.

 

3. Start weaning the night feedings

Once you get the okay from your doctor to stop night feedings, you should slowly start to reduce them. In many cases, feeding becomes a sleep association because you fed your baby every time they woke up. Just because that’s no longer necessary, doesn’t mean your baby won’t want it anymore. Slowly wean them off the night feedings, feeding them less and not as frequently over a few days or a week to get them used to not feeding every time they wake.

 

4. Follow a schedule

Make sure your baby is getting the right amount of daytime sleep to prepare them to get the right amount of nighttime sleep. As newborns, babies can’t differentiate between day and night, they just sleep ‘round the clock. As they get older, they start sleeping longer periods, the longest stretches being at night. If their sleeping too much during the day they won’t stay asleep as long at night.

 

5. Keep a calming ambiance

Ambiance can be everything! Keep the room at comfortable temperature, make sure it stays dark, and even try adding some white noise in there! The softest of sounds can disturb your baby at night, the white noise will provide a consistent, soothing sound for them to fall asleep to, and it will drown out any other noises happening around the house.

 

6.Stick to an appropriate bedtime

Putting your baby to sleep later in the hopes that they’ll sleep later in the morning most likely won’t work. If you’re following a schedule, it’s important to keep an appropriate bedtime for your little one to keep them on track. Remember, newborns don’t have a set bedtime, because they’re just sleeping whenever they need to. But around 3 months old, you can start to establish a healthy bedtime to accompany your sleep schedule.

 

7. Be Patient

If your baby was sleeping through the night on their own before, and suddenly stopped, it might be a sleep regression or growth spurt’s fault. Growth spurts usually only last a few days, and then your baby should return to normal patterns. A regression can last 1-4 weeks. Be patient during times like this and focus on the fact that it won’t last.