How to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night

You brought home that bundle of joy and marveled at how beautiful she was. Weeks later, your bundle of joy cries for food every hour of the day and night. The best solution for you and your baby is to help her learn to sleep through the night.

Things You'll Need

  • Patience
  • Persistence
  • Courage
  • Love

Instructions

    • 1

      Monitor your baby's sleeping and eating habits for one week. Write down the time she wakes to eat, how long she stays awake, and how long she sleeps. There is no need to be rigid with this because you are just trying to get a rough idea of her routine.

    • 2

      Analyze your baby's habits. Does she like to sleep for three hours and then eat? Does she sleep for more than four hours and then wake to eat every hour for the next five? Look for any patterns.

    • 3

      You will set a flexible feeding routine for day/evening feedings with a start time of about 5 a.m. and an ending time of about 10 p. m. Breast feed or bottle feed your baby during these hours every 2 to 3 1/2 hours. This is not a rigid schedule, just a guideline.

    • 4

      It is important that your baby gets enough to eat at each feeding. Getting enough to fill her stomach should take about twenty to thirty minutes. If you breastfeed, make sure that baby gets equal time on each breast. Stop about half way through the process to burp your little one.

    • 5

      Once your little one is done eating, change her diaper and play with her. It is good for her to get used to spending some time awake. After a short play time, put her down for a nap.

    • 6

      If the baby sleeps longer than 3 1/2 hours during the day or evening, wake her up and feed her. Then play with her and put her back to sleep. This is the key to the entire process, but you only wake her up during the hours between the early morning start time and 10 p. m.

    • 7

      After the last evening feeding, change her diaper, put on her sleeper, and put her to bed for the night. Do not wake her up to eat at night. When she wakes to eat during the night, feed her while keeping the lights out and staying quiet. Change her diaper and put her back to bed. If you diligently follow these steps for a few weeks, your little one will sleep like a baby all night and so will you. Gradually, the night feedings will reduce and baby will sleep through the night between two to three months of age.

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