Getting Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night (part 1)

Remember sleeping through the night? If you're a mom, you might be thinking to yourself: No, actually I don't, it was that long ago. Well we are writing this series of posts in response to a reader's question: How do you get your baby to sleep through the night?

This question is complicated and really depends on your child but we are happy to share what we know or have heard works, and you can feel free to try our ideas and determine for yourself if any of them work for your child!

To be honest, I am not that great of a person to ask about this (at least not from the experience perspective). Tenley has always valued her nighttime sleep--even as a newborn--which has been a huge blessing. But a baby's sleep patterns can change overnight, so before and after Tenley was born I did a lot of reading and gathered a lot of advice. First off, my Aunt Molly shared her nightly routine which for her has resulted in two toddler boys that not only sleep through the night (and have since babies), but get ready for bed on their own without any trouble or complaint. It's amazing--my mom and I have witnessed it ourselves firsthand. For her, the following routine has proven successful:

"Biggest thing to have good sleepers: CONSISTENCY. I had a rule the first month of bed time (so really starting in like the second month once you get to know their routine). Here are my secrets that I learned:

1. Help your baby understand the difference between daytime sleep and nighttime sleep. During the day I purposely napped the boys in the dining room and even if I wasn't watching TV I would put it on. This helps the baby not go into a super deep sleep. 

2. At night time I always "wind things down" As night time approached I kept lights low and even kept my voice a little lower, didn't want to get them too excited. 

3. Once I figured out their bed time (both mine were around 7 when they were baby-baby) I did the whole routine the same each night (and Andrew and I would share in this duty--you don't want the baby to get too used to one person). I would change the diaper, swaddle him up, read to him, sing to him, and then rock them for a couple minutes. Sometimes they were asleep before I read, but I still did it. this was nice later on because sometimes I could put them down wide awake no problem, they knew what to expect, even at five months old. When they were really little babies I had to do a feeding at 10. This is all dependent on the baby, they're all different but I found 10 to work best for mine. I ALWAYS did night time feedings in the dark. This again, was to help the baby understand this was not a play time, strictly a time for them to get more food because they need it. I would change the diaper in the dark (well there was a night a light in the room) and then feed them in the dark and then put them right back down in their crib. 

4. Sound machine and positioners. These were important for both the boys to help them sleep. The positioner is a little wedge the baby sleeps between, makes them feel snug like they're still being held when you put them down, and sound machine helped them have constant noise. Some babies can do without, Jackson needed it, Cael did not. 

5. I was strict on this schedule the first two months (especially when they were a little older and could sleep through the night, both started sleeping through the night when they were about three months). I made sure we were home every night to do this routine at 7. After the two months I would allow us to go out occasionally with the boys later. Many parents want to "just bring the baby with them"--no big deal they'll sleep in the car seat. This is true, however it could create problems later on because they are not used to a schedule so when you are ready to put them to bed, they're not always ready! This can be hard because you want to hang out with friends, but we learned that even though the first two months were hard because we couldn't hang out with others, the last four years have made up for it with our great sleepers!

Know that a lot of people will give you advice, and you'll try it and it still won't work. Babies are not all the same, and what works for one will not work for all. You have to be willing to try new things and know you will eventually figure out what's best for you and your baby."

Molly and her sweet young boys when they were much younger.

I loved Molly's advice and routine. When Tenley was born, I was determined to try it out. I incorporated many of the same things into Tenley's routine but found that she (miraculously) went to bed quite easily on her own.

What is your experience with establishing a routine?
What routine has worked for you?