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 How to Make a Baby Sleep Through the Night: 8 Tips for Exhausted Parents

If you’re like me, your baby wakes up in the middle of the night and it feels like pure torture, whether you’re breastfeeding or bottle-feeding. And of course you want to help your baby sleep through the night as quickly as possible, but how can you make it happen?

Here are eight easy tips to get your baby sleeping through the night and give yourself some much-needed rest during those early months of parenting.

Don’t Give Up

Whether you’re co-sleeping or cosleeping, it’s important that your child feels secure and comfortable in his or her own space.

Remember that it might take several days or even weeks of consistent work before your baby gets used to his new room and environment, so be patient and don’t give up if he isn’t sleeping through the night right away.

Create a Consistent Bedtime Routine

When babies are first born, they don’t have strong circadian rhythms yet.

Therefore, it’s not uncommon for them to wake up at all hours of the night.

One of my biggest recommendations is that you create a consistent bedtime routine before your baby even arrives.

Create an evening schedule that helps tuck him or her into bed early enough so he or she can sleep through most of (if not all) his or her nighttime wake-ups.

Avoid Nighttime Feedings

To get babies to sleep through their first night, you need to stop giving them food in between their daytime feedings. In other words, if they eat at 10:00 A.M., 3:00 P.M., and 7:00 P.M., don’t give them another feeding until 9:00 A.M. the next day—and even then, skip it if you can (and most likely, you can).

This will ensure that your baby is still hungry when he wakes up from his nap during the night, which means he’ll be more likely to go back to sleep without eating. Remember: This is only temporary!

Once your baby has been sleeping well for a few weeks, you can start putting him down with a bottle of formula or breast milk before bedtime; just make sure not to overdo it so that he isn’t waking up hungry throughout the night again.

Include Dad

Many of today’s dads want to be hands-on parents. If you’re one of them, it might be time to talk about baby sleep with your partner and start helping out—at least when it comes to getting your child down at night.

If he or she is fussing and crying before bedtime, or after you’ve both put in an hour or two of shushing, rocking, bouncing and burping, consider taking over.

Comfort Your Child During Wakeups

First, determine if your baby’s waking is normal or related to sleep issues. If he wakes due to discomfort, help him feel more comfortable by swaddling, providing a pacifier (if applicable), changing his diaper and/or making sure he isn’t too hot or cold.

There are also certain night-waking behaviors that can be trained away with consistent positive reinforcement and an understanding of child development.

Keep Kids Busy During Naptime

Most babies will sleep soundly once they’re out cold. To set your baby up for success, put her down drowsy but awake—and then make sure she stays occupied during naptime.

To do so, keep these tips in mind when putting your baby down at night and think about incorporating one or more of them into your daily routine. (It might take some trial and error before you find what works best.) For example, start singing a song every time you lay your baby down (it may take some practice).

Soon enough, she’ll associate that song with going to sleep. She may even learn how to fall asleep on her own! Or maybe certain toys calm her better than others. Whatever it is, try different strategies until you find something that works consistently well.

Stick to Bedtime, Even on Weekends

Just because it’s Saturday or Sunday doesn’t mean you can let your baby sleep in. In fact, sticking to his regular bedtime on weekends will help him develop a habit of sleeping soundly at night—which will make it easier for you come Monday morning.

Here are some tips on how to stay consistent with your child’s bedtime, even when everyone else is staying up later than usual.

 

Your first step is to determine what time your baby should go to bed every day so that he gets enough rest and develops good sleep habits.

Consult with his pediatrician about what time would be best and then try and stick to it, no matter how much older siblings might protest about having later bedtimes.

The important thing here is consistency; after all, you wouldn’t want someone changing how often he or she bathes or eats meals!

Experiment With Sleeping Separately

While it may seem counterintuitive, you’ll find that it’s easier to get your baby to sleep on his own if you don’t share a bed with him. Instead, set up a co-sleeper (also called bedside sleeper) or attach your crib side railings with blankets and pillows.

You can also try putting your baby in her own room at night while still letting her stay in contact with you via audio or video monitor.