All parents want to know, “When will my baby start to sleep through the night?”
And, that reveals one of the top myths about infant sleep! Because no baby…no child…no adult EVER sleeps through the night!
Yup! You heard me right! Three to four times a night, we all rouse at least a tiny bit. So your goal is not to really to get your baby sleeping through the night, but to help her learn how to self soothe when she – inevitably – begins to wake up in the middle of the night.This is where sleep training are mentioned.
What is sleep training?
It might be strange to think of sleeping as a skill that does not come naturally. As a new parent, you’re probably so exhausted that you pass out as soon as your head hits the pillow. Your baby, however, doesn’t have this same ability yet. Although they spend a lot of time sleeping, they need to learn when to sleep (day vs. night) and how to sleep.As for baby, sleeping in day or night has no difference. Until they do the regular sleeping, they need your assistance, which is why you (as you should) help soothe them to sleep at bedtime and comfort them when they wake in the middle of the night. Sleep training is teaching your baby how to sleep without any help from you - just like you’re able to fall asleep without anyone there to help you do it.
Do they need sleep training?
There’s no rule that says you have to sleep train your baby. It’s a personal decision, one that depends on you, your baby and your pediatrician’s recommendations. But many experts do recommend sleep training as a way to start healthy sleep habits early on and address specific sleep issues, like constant middle-of-the-night wakeups.
How do I prepare for sleep training?
There are a number of ways you can prepare yourself and your baby for sleep training, but the most important step in your preparation is: research.
Do your research! There is a lot of information about there about sleep training, and much of it is controversial or contradicting. However, just like making any important decision, your choice to sleep train (or not sleep train) should be informed by your own reading, research, and inferences. We should choose the corresponding sleep training according to the specific situation of our children, and we can even create the sleep training that conforms to our children.In short, be flexible.Furthermore, there are many different methods of sleep training (which we’ll cover in this article as well) and you’ll need to decide which method is right for you.
Make sure you have discussed sleep training thoroughly with your partner and clear your schedule for the next 2 to 4 weeks. Sleep training takes time, patience, and consistency. You’ll want to be sure nothing is going to disturb your sleep training schedule and that you and your partner are fully devoted to sticking with the plan!
How to sleep train a baby?
Training your baby to self soothe and sleep through the night is made possible through a technique called “wake and sleep.”
Here’s how to sleep train your infant with this method:
Every evening at bedtime, swaddle your little one, turn on rough white noise as loud as a shower, feed and burp her, let her fall asleep in your arms and then lay her down.
BUT, right after you slide your munchkin into bed, rouse her until her eyes open (tickle her neck, scratch her feet, etc).
After a few seconds she will close her eyes again and she’ll slide back into slumberland.
If she fusses, she may be hungry or uncomfortable, so pick her up to feed and calm her, but be sure to wake her again when you put her back down.
I know it sounds crazy, but those few seconds of drowsy waking are the first baby steps to helping your infant learn how to sleep through the night!
Regardless of which sleep training method you choose, a solid bedtime routine is a great way to get babies ready for sleep. And it’s important to get your baby’s daytime naps and feeds on track so they’re able to sleep through the night like a pro.
Lastly, having confidence in your baby is a big part of sleep training, as is getting the whole family on board and committed to one method. “Sleep training won’t work unless you do it fully,” “Believe your baby can do it – they can sleep independently.”