Our baby boy has been sleeping through the night as early as 2 months (by sleeping through the night, I mean 8 hours straight without waking up to eat)! We read a few parenting books and Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo taught us about having set baby schedules. Although we do not practice word for word, we did follow a few tips that helped us especially as new parents. We practice a mix of attachment parenting, with baby wise parenting and it has worked like a charm! So what has been the key to help our baby sleep through the night? Have a bedtime routine! We started Caleb on his bedtime routine when he was 5 weeks old and he slept an hour more week by week. At 2 months he slept 8 hours and at 3 1/2 months he slept 11-12 hours! He currently continues to sleep 11-12 hours straight. This is our bedtime routine.
- 8.30PM Bath time
- 8.45PM Massage, PJs, daddy time (interacts with his dad)
- 9PM Set the night time mood & feeding time (see below)
- 9.30PM Baby falls asleep. Put down in crib
Feeding time
- Turn off lights. Babies need to learn to associate light with day and darkness with night. This is not innate, it must be learned.
- Have a nightlight or TV on (I like to have the TV on so that it’s not totally quiet that way he gets used to sleeping around slight noise).
- Do NOT interact with baby. Sleep time is not play time. If you talk to your baby, they may think it’s time to play.
- Make sure your baby is full. This is most likely the key for a baby to sleep entirely. A hungry baby WILL wake up every 3 hours. Newborns will be able to hold more food as weeks pass by. Usually when they are 5 weeks old, it’s believed that they will be able to sleep 5 hours, and at 6 weeks, 6 hours, and so forth.
- If you are nursing, nurse for at least 25-30 mins. The ultimate goal for newborns is 20 min. on each breast. Babies easily get comfortable in their mother’s arms while nursing, hence they may fall asleep quickly. In order to prevent your newborn from falling asleep, gently touch his or her feet until you feel suction again.
A baby that sleeps through the night is a happy baby and also has happy parents! Caleb is the happiest baby – he only cries when he is hungry, needs a clean diaper, or is overtired. Having a bedtime routine for our baby was the best thing for him and for us because we are all able to sleep through the night. And who doesn’t appreciate a good night’s rest?
There are exceptions when we have not been able to proceed with his routine for instance, the holidays. He continued to sleep through the night however not as long as usual. Also keep in mind, every baby is different. What worked for us may not work for others.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave us a comment or email us at hello@ARaadStory.com. We’d love to hear from you!
