4 Tips To Help Your Baby Sleep Through The Night

We are a week and a half into this two kid business. Today I thought I would share what I do to help my baby sleep through the night as early as possible. There are a few different things I did to get Zoey sleeping through the night which I will share below. Zoey was sleeping through the night by the time she was six weeks old, which was incredible! I plan to use all these same techniques with Zander and have already started step two using our favorite new baby gadget, the SoundBub. Keep scrolling for more tips and don’t miss this post for a detailed printable schedule that will help your child sleep through the night by 6-8 weeks old!

#1 Sleep Scheduling

The first thing we did with Zoey was set up a really regular sleep schedule (here is a detailed post on how to do this schedule including a printable daily schedule for 0-24 months). It was basically a three step cycle:

• Eat
• Play
• Sleep

You can start this cycle as early as two weeks old, if your baby is back to birth weight and is nursing well. You can actually start it from day one so long as you are flexible and feed on demand if your baby gets hungry before the scheduled feeding time. That is what I have been doing with Zander and he naturally has fallen into the pattern I planned to fully implement at two weeks.

To start you will nurse every two and a half to three hours. Next is play time, which is the hard part for a newborn. They naturally like to fall asleep right after they eat, but keeping them awake for a little bit after nursing is very important. It helps establish a regular schedule and helps babies learn to fall asleep without needing to nurse.

At the beginning you might only be able to keep your baby awake for 5-10 minutes after a feeding while you change their diaper. Gradually build on that till you can get up to half hour. After play time you will put your baby down for a nap. After 2.5-3 hours from the beginning of your last feeding wake baby up and start the cycle again!

So a basic day for me looks like this:

• 6-6:20AM – Nurse
• 6:20-6:40 – Change, dress, play, etc.
• 6:40-9:00 – Nap time
• 9-9:20 – Nurse
• Etc…

At night you do things a little differently. You feed your child when they wake up and then immediately after burping and changing them lay them back in their crib to sleep. The first few times they may fuss a little bit, but eventually they will catch on to the fact that it is night time and sleeping will become a natural thing at night.

During the day don’t let your baby sleep longer than three hours from the beginning of your last feeding. Save the extra Z’s for night time. By two weeks old a healthy baby will not sleep through a feeding, so you can safely let them sleep past the three hours at night if they want to. We did this schedule with Zoey and by six weeks old she was sleeping for a six hour stretch. By eight weeks it was eight hours!! Not long after that we were at 12 hours a night and she has been a good sleeper ever since.

#2 White Noise

We found it really helpful during nap times to play white noise in Zoey’s room. Babies are still getting used to the world around them and every small noise can be a stimulant. Even things like the dishwasher, a car driving by, the AC turning on, etc. can snap them out of sleep mode and make them very alert.

With Zoey we used my phone to play the white noise on. I would have to tiptoe in after she was sleeping to grab it. I never wanted to walk in too early and accidentally wake her up, so I was usually phone-less for about half hour. With Zander we have been using the SoundBub and I am obsessed with it.

The SoundBub is an adorable little bluetooth speaker designed with babies in mind. It has two built in white noise tracks, or you can play music from your phone on it through bluetooth. It also is compatible with the WavHello’s VoiceShare app, which you can use to record personalized tracks for your baby.

With two kids this portion of nap time is even more important than it was with one! If I don’t have the white noise playing during nap time I have to constantly remind Zoey to be quiet. She is three – so she forgets after about two minutes and is loud again. The SoundBub has been a lifesaver in this department.

Some other fun features of the SoundBub a hidden handle that can be folded out to attach the speaker to a back pack, diaper bag, crib, carseat and more. It also has  a timer so you can set how long you want it to play for. If you leave it in your child’s room for nap time, you won’t have to sneak in to turn it on or off while they are sleeping.

#3 Familiar Surroundings

This one is super basic. I noticed that Zoey always slept better if she slept in the same place every night and during naps. I avoided co-sleeping and letting her sleep on the couch, in her bouncer, etc. Doing this has pro’s and con’s. It can make it a little more difficult for traveling, because you will have to set up something similar to home for your child to sleep in, but it also helps them know that when they are in their crib or bassinet it is nap time. That familiar place can become a soothing and relaxing place because it is comfortable and routine.

#4 Self Soothing

This is something you can start a little later on once you have established a good sleep schedule. As your child gets a little older they might start to resist nap time now and then. When you are a parent you will get to know the difference between different types of cries. If Zoey was just whimpering a little, rather than really crying, we would leave her for a few minutes to see if she would calm down by herself. This helped her to learn to self sooth. It is tempting to run in the second you hear any sound from your child, but allowing just a few minutes for your baby to relax on their own is really beneficial to their development and will make things a little easier in the long run. Eventually we got to the point where we didn’t have to put Zoey to sleep by bouncing or rocking for nap and bed time. We would simply lay her in her bed, sing a song, say a prayer and give her a kiss and she would happily fall asleep by herself.

Those are my top four tips for helping your baby sleep through the night! How old was your baby when they started sleeping through the night? Did you do anything special to help your baby achieve that milestone???

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.