How to Train Your Baby to Sleep Early

Train your baby to sleep through the night.

It is important to establish good sleeping habits with your baby early. Healthy sleeping habits will make bedtime more enjoyable for the whole family. With some practice and a lot of patience your baby will be sleeping through most of the night in due time.

Instructions

1. Speak with your doctor to ensure your baby is ready for sleep training. Make sure your baby does not have any medical conditions that would affect her sleep. Generally speaking, a baby between 3 to 6 months is ready to be sleep trained because they have developed a regular sleep pattern and can sleep for longer stretches at a time.

2. Decide if you're going to use the Ferber approach with your sleep training or the co-sleeping method approach. The Ferber method recommends that you put your baby to bed when she's still awake. Allow her to cry for short periods before comforting (but not picking up) her, until she soothes herself to sleep. The co-sleeping method takes a more gradual approach and offers comfort right away to a crying baby.

3. Create a bedtime routine at the same time every night. For example, you can give your baby a warm bath, followed by reading and/or singing before you give him his final feeding before bedtime. A strict routine will help him know when it's time to go to sleep.

4. Wake him up at the same time every morning and lay him down at the same time each day for a nap. Consistency is key to training your baby to sleep.

Tips & Warnings

• Babies are able to sleep through the night by six months.

• Start training your baby on a Friday because the first two nights are the hardest.

References

• Baby Center; Baby Sleep Training: The Basics; January 2007
• Baby Center; The Ferber method demystified; August 2006
• Ed.gov: Your Six Month Old