When I tell people I’m the first-time parent of a five-month-old baby, they often inquire with a knowing smirk, “How are you sleeping?” Much to their disbelief, I happily answer, “Great! We’re very blessed. She sleeps through the night.”
This wasn’t always the case. Many a night I sleepily whined, “I don’t want to,” when my baby was crying for what seemed like the five millionth time. Thankfully, my husband and I were able to implement a few precious practices that I believe have decreased our baby’s night wakings. Now most nights, she goes to sleep easily and wakes up around twelve hours later, happy and rested – just like her parents!
1. We use a bedtime routine. When our baby was just over two months old, we started a bedtime routine. It’s evolved over time in small ways, but it’s always included a bath, pajamas, a bottle, some cuddling, and occasionally a book. Our baby knows that when these activities are done in the same order, bed will soon follow. Even when we are sleeping elsewhere for the night, we’ve been able to do some semblance of the routine and had great luck with the baby’s sleep.
2. We set a consistent, early bedtime. Dr. Marc Weissbluth’s book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child taught me that children actually sleep better and longer when they have early bedtimes, as “sleep begets sleep.” It may seem counterintuitive, but I believe our early bedtime of around 7:30pm helps our baby sleep more soundly and longer. When she was under two months old, she would fight sleep until an unreasonably late bedtime after a “late evening nap.” Once I figured out that the late evening nap was actually her preferred bedtime, she was on the track to sleeping through the night.
3. We weaned her from night feedings. Our baby used to be up several times each night, and I always assumed she was hungry. Eventually, I realized she was only taking a couple ounces at a time, and then she wasn’t even hungry for her first bottle in the mornings! She didn’t need to eat at night anymore; she was using the bottle for comfort. Now if she wakes during the night, we soothe her by returning her pacifier, shushing, patting, or rocking her. Night wakings have become rare, and when we hear her make noise, she will often even soothe herself back to sleep on her own before we get out of bed.
4. We eliminated nighttime diaper changes. Our baby is a heavy wetter, so when she would wake up at night, we felt we had to change her diaper – especially if she’d leaked onto her clothes. Unfortunately, diaper changes induce wakefulness. They’re hard to do without any light, and they involve a lot of maneuvering, which can lead a baby to think it’s playtime rather than time to return to sleep. We eventually discovered Kawaii Goodnight Heavy Wetter cloth diapers, which are able to contain our baby’s wetness all night without a leak – and therefore without a disturbing diaper change.
5. We create a comfortable nighttime environment. At bedtime, we turn on white noise and a relaxing CD to create a soothing environment for the baby. With the lights off, we leave the room only softly lit by the backlight from the white noise machine. We also make sure the temperature in the room is around 70 degrees and the baby is dressed appropriately, because we’ve learned over time that if the room is too warm or too cold, or if the baby is not dressed appropriately, she’ll have a restless night. Sometimes it takes a little guess-and-check-work to make sure she’s comfortable, but it’s worth it for the resulting sound night’s sleep.
There may be a sixth reason my baby sleeps through the night: sheer luck. I admit we’re very blessed our baby sleeps the way she does. But even if these practices don’t help, they certainly don’t hurt – and as any sleep-deprived parent will tell you, anything is worth a shot when your baby won’t sleep!
More from this mom:
Getting Your Baby to Nap: Hints from a New Mom
My Top 5 Cloth Diaper Rookie Mistakes
Challenge of a Lifetime: How I Prepared for Mommyhood
