BabyBites

We always take out 3 books to read and put all the toys away. Once the reading is done we do the I love you and say sweet dreams and that is it. I think if you just repeat the pattern enough they catch on. As they get older like our 2 1/2 year old they want comfort that you will be there in the morning so we just let her know sweet dreams and see you in them too. Sometimes she starts to get sad but then we just share – hurry up and go to sleep so we can spend tomorrow together. And she goes to sleep and smiles. It is all about making it fun for them but in a loving and peaceful way. They wont always need us to put them to sleep so enjoy the times they need you.

all of my sleep secrets come from the book ‘the baby whisperer’ by tracy hogg. it’s a gentler way (they give you a ‘toolbox’ of tricks) than the screaming method.

I always swaddle my baby and he has slept thru the night since he was 6 weeks old

It’s all about routine. We watch Dora, then put on Tad the Frog (Leap Frog) who plays 10 minutes of “night-night” music. We walk thru the apartment and say good night to everything and off she goes. It’s worked like a charm for 4 months straight.

We turn the lights off, I lay with my daughter and sing to her all of the soothing songs from all of the musicals I can think of. We also bought a book, the dora countdown to sleeptime book, which we read, and it counts down to sleeptime every minute for 15 minutes.

Sticking with the same routine every night helps, i.e. bath, reading a book, bedtime music, etc. It also helps for them to have a comfort item such as a blanket or teddy bear that they associate sleep with.

Sticking to a night time routine. we do bath, bottle, & story. then she goes down usually while shes still awake.

I got this tip from a sleep doctor and it worked like clockwork. Calculate your child’s natural sleep cycle. Over several days, see when she falls asleep and when she wakes up. Then find the mid-point and add 12 hours. This is the best time to put her down for a nap. For example: bed at 8 pm, wakes up at 8 am. The midway point is 6 hours after bedtime = 2 am. Add 12 hours = 2 pm is her natural “downtime” when she’ll most likely fall asleep easily – bring her to her room, make sure it’s quiet and dark, and read her a story or whatever bedtime ritual you usually do, and put her down for a nap at 2 pm. (P.S. – this works the same for grownups – instead of naptime, you’ll feel your energy go down). It really works – my one-year old’s naps became predictable overnight.

A consistent routine is KEY to getting baby to sleep. And so is the Ferber method – don’t scoff, read the ENTIRE book, and try it. IT WORKS! My daughter is 11 months old and since she was 4 months it has been: dinner at 6pm, bath at 6:30pm, teeth brushing, book and bed by 7. She sleepts 10-12 hours a night, every night, without waking up, and is the happiest baby you’ve ever met.

I make sure the babies are scheduled during the day- not oversleeping and also getting in most of their food during the day. Then they seem ready to sleep at night! (all 3 have slept through the night between 7 and 11 weeks)

Consistency is key. Start a nighttime routine from infancy and stick with it…allowing for changes as your child grows.
We have found that blackout curtains and shades that keep the room dark really help, espcially in a metro area. A warm bath and reading session before our child is put in the crib soothes her and signals that it is almost time to go to sleep.

I loved the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I truly believe that sleep training works. My son was sleeping through the night by four months old. Consistency is key!

i’m all about the baby whisperer’s pat & shush method…

It took me a few months to realize that all the rocking, singing, bouncing, swinging, cuddling, etc that I was doing to try to get my daughter to nap was actually just distracting her from sleeping! Now I just follow a quick nap routine (dark room, comfortable temperature, white noise machine, nothing in the crib except for a favorite lovie and then I sing her a song) and within minutes of my leaving the room she is fast asleep.

We didn’t have a problem with our older daughter — consistent routing, swaddling, putting her down “drowsy but awake” and offering her the paci worked until she was out of crib. With my 6month old however, I messed up somewhere along the way. She was going down no problem at around 2months, and then I got into the habit of nursing her to sleep. I just committed to doing the Ferber method this week and it wasn’t as bad as I had feared. Night 1 she cried 25 minutes, night 2 was 19 minutes. Tonight was night 3 and she cried and fussed for less than 10 minutes and then started talking to herself. Hoping to make tomorrow night tear free!

absolutely agree with consistency – our baby girl slept through the night very early and has continued to do so and we did everything we could to make sure she could comfort and soothe herself with minimal fussing from us. We give loves and snuggles, books, milk and other soothing efforts before bedtime and make very clear that it is a lovely time for her to cozy up and get some well-earned rest. She is now 17 months and dives into her crib at night. I will also say that while we are consistent in our method and routine, we are not too strict with doing things exactly the same, so that when we are on vacation or through some twist of fate her fave lovey (versions 1 and 2) are in the wash, she is still able to get herself to sleep. The key there is self-soothing, however they manage it.

When my baby was really young, I swaddled him and it really help him fall right to sleep. Plus, I love swddling him… its just so cute! Now, we have a night time routine.. We say goodnight, to different things, read a book and then say our prayers together. Sometimes he cries a little, but more often he just goes right to sleep. He’s 9 months old and he slleps great! I used the book, Babywise to hlep me get him on a schedule and its been great!.

Routine is key…but talking about what they are going to do when they wake up DEFINITELY helps!

As everyone says, it is a consistent routine. I find that a bath helps to put an end to the day and music tells him that it is time to sleep.

I know that if napping hasn’t gone so well during the day, I can put her down at 5 or 5:30pm to reset her clock and get her the rest that she missed during the day. Then she’ll usually sleep until about 7.

Our son used to wake up during the night and I would feed him, thinking it was the easiest way to get him to go back to sleep. Finally, when he was about 6 months old, we just let him cry. The crying, thankfully, never lasted long. It took about 3 days of him waking up and crying, then he started sleeping through the night! Now, at 20 months, he’s still a great sleeper. We have a nice, short bedtime routine that includes brushing our teeth, putting our PJs on, reading 3 books and saying night night and sweet dreams and now he tells us bye-bye and basically tells us to leave his bedroom.

i have to agree with Ferber, it’s not as bad as it seems and you have to read the whole book to do it, not just the crying part!
but that being said, every kid is different, what works for one may not for the other!!

I Use A Noise Macine To Help Drown Out All The Noise And Its Soothing For My Kids,They Get Tucked In And Sleep within Minutes,Routine Routine Routine I Stick To It Every Day I Give A Nap In The Midafternoon And There Awake Before 2:30 And Then There Ready For Bed At 7:00

The best way to get a child to sleep is by a routine. We have the same routine every night. We read her a book, bathe her and then feed her a bottle. For naps I have learned to sense the signals that my daughter is getting tired and try to put her down before she reaches that point of being overtired. I just put her in the crib and shut off the lights and she goes to sleep.

For the longest time my husband fought me about crying it out/sleep training. THEN, we went away for a week and baby got sick and was up about 5x a night. This continued through the next week when we brought him home. Exhausted, my husband finally said, “OK, we’ll try it your way and try crying it out!!!”. We used the Ferber method with extended minutes. We make sure we say “It’s time to go to bed. It’s time to go to sleep. We love you. (kiss)” and we make sure we disappear from his sight. The 1st night baby cried about 25 minutes (with us going out to sooth him every so often). The 2nd night 20 minutes. The 3rd night about 12 minutes. After that he usually just either rolls over and goes to sleep or complains with a few yelps and then is out. That was at 9 months. He’s now 11 and is amazing: he usually rolls over and goes to sleep for the night and 2 naps a day. Or if he’s not that tired he now has quiet time where he talks to himself. If he can see us or Daddy just comes home when he’s put down he still does cry angrily and jump up and down in the crib.

At first our methods were singing and rocking. Once we watched Happiest Baby on the Block, we used some of those methods and they are amazing for 0-3 months. Watch it!

If I could do it over (and hope to ) I would use the HBontheBlock methods and then cry it out with baby anywhere from 4-6 months, whenever we were ready.

While Oliver was teething this week, he woke up screaming at 2 in the morning and was unconsolable. We hadn’t experienced that in months! So the next two nights, we gave him baby tylernol before going to bed, and he slept all the way through without even a whimper! The dr said it was fine to do, and he may need it for 3-4 nights until the tooth cuts through the gums.

My son loves when we read him books before bed…I also lay with him and rock him for a bit which calms him down. We also have a white noise machine which also has lullablies…

I agree with the routine. We taught my son that once we say good night, that’s it until the morning. He doesn’t cry or whine and is happy to go to bed. We don’t have him play in the crib- no toys just his Teddy and he knows that’s where he sleeps. Just pick a method and stick to it, that’s most important.

The key is to not wait too long. You have to catch them at the first signs of sleepiness (eg eye rubbing, yawns, etc)

Consistency! I don’t believe in reading and singing before he goes to sleep. It only stimulates him and distracts him. We usually give him and warm bath, comfy pjs, in a dim light so he knows to calm down, some warm milk (because it’s easier to sleep when they’re not hungry), and his favorite toy pillow. Lights out and door closed. He knows the routine. He may toss and turn for a few minutes but they need to know how to fall asleep on their own. The milk is leaving the routine since he’s getting teeth and starting to brush. So we make sure he eats his last meal within the hour so he can sleep longer. Babies wake up if they’re hungry. He sleeps from 9pm till 8am! Give and take an hour.
When we where first developing his routine he would cry more. So I would go in for one or two short visits. Quick hug and put him down under the blanket. It’s ok if he cries a little. They need to learn to fall asleep on their own. If he really cries longer then it’s probably hunger or diaper problem. Quick feed and change and ‘good night baby’!

Have swaddled her since day one and she knows now that it means its time to sleep. She sleeps like a champ and is happy now when we start to swaddle her up.

Swaddling and pacifier until she was 4 months old. Now, Angel dear blanket and pacifier do the trick. She has the same routine for naps and bedtime, and I alyways put her down at the same times. She’s liike clockwork now!

We are big fans of “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby.” Our friends recommended this book to us stating that it “changed their life.” We read it when our baby was two months old and it reinforced the idea that younger babies should have 1-2 hours of wakefulness. It helped me understand how much babies really need to sleep and taught me not to deprive our baby of important nap time.

Routine is very imporant and has helped my daughter from the beginning. We quiet things down by turning off the TV, lowering the lights and cleaning up. We then take a bath and brush her teeth. After that we snuggle in her room and read a few books and she knows it’s night night time. I have always used the “sleep sheep” white noise machine” and believe that helps a lot. She snuggles her little balnkie and usually has no problem falling asleep.