How to Teach Your Baby to Self-Settle to Sleep

The concept of self-soothing sounds simple. Put baby down in his crib when he's still awake so that he doesn't depend on you to go to sleep, and the entire family benefits from a restful night. However, it's not always as simple as it sounds. Your baby may cry when you first leave him alone in his crib, and it may be difficult to fight the urge to immediately go to him. Patience and strength are required to make it work. Rather than teaching your baby to self-soothe, think of it as encouraging him to teach himself, suggests pediatric sleep disorders expert Deborah Lin-Dyken, writing for BabyCenter.com.

Instructions

    • 1

      Establish a regular nighttime routine before starting the self-soothing process. This should include calming activities such as a warm bath, a bedtime story and a few minutes of cuddling time. Follow this routine at the same time every evening, and your baby's internal clock will gradually sync with it. Put your baby to bed when she is drowsy but still awake.

    • 2

      Break your baby's habit of falling asleep while being nursed by giving him an earlier nighttime feeding, gradually reducing the length of this feeding or reducing the amount of milk he receives. Watch out for signs of falling asleep during his evening feeding. Finish the feeding and complete the rest of his bedtime routine before placing him in his crib.

    • 3

      Place your baby in his crib, say something like "night-night, time to go to sleep" and walk out of the room. Listen to your child if he cries but do nothing for two minutes, advises "Supernanny" Jo Frost. After two minutes, go to your baby. Place your hand on his tummy, look at the bridge of his nose and say "Shhhhh" in a gentle, soothing tone. Walk back out of the room. If your baby is old enough to pull himself up to a standing position, lay him back down on his back, say "Shhhhh" and leave the room.

    • 4

      Repeat this process until your baby falls asleep. Double the time you wait each go-round, suggests Frost. So the second time, you'd wait four minutes, the third time eight minutes and so on. Fight the urge to go back to your baby before the time is up, advises Frost. Remind yourself that she is not going to be harmed in any way and that the purpose of this exercise is to improve the quality of sleep for the entire family.

    • 5

      Be prepared to revisit self-soothing at a later stage if your baby doesn't seem to be getting the hang of it. She may be too young. Wait a few days, weeks or months before trying again. Consider making bedtime earlier to avoid the risk of your little one becoming too overtired and fussy to soothe herself to sleep. Consider how you are handling the process. If you are checking on your baby every five minutes, you may not be giving her the opportunity to properly self-soothe.

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