Is your baby constantly waking up at night, disturbing your sleep and making you feel drained and restless? If this is happening to you, remember that you aren’t alone as statistics show that at least a quarter of kids under 5 experience sleeping problems. Usually, children refuse to sleep at night and may even wake up crying at night. These problems often end up with the parent frustrated and depressed.
Babies being able to sleep at night and them actually doing it are two different things. A lot of things can make them awake when they are supposed to sleep. However, there are lots of tricks of getting baby to sleep all night.
Tips on Getting Baby to Sleep all Night
1. Make Your Baby Learn to Self-Comfort
Help the baby learn to draw comfort himself. This method helps the baby to fall asleep again on his/her own if they wake up during the night. It would be a good idea to give him a soft toy, pacifier or just a soft blanket to hold on or just let him suck his own thumb. In addition, it is vital to make the baby sleep in his bed when he is awake instead of making him sleep while he is being nursed.
2. Keep Different Activities for Night and Day
It is important to remember that you make the baby feel active and positive in the day time, but keep it as silent as possible in the night time. Just like adults, the baby’s body follows a routine and you can set its body clock by being firm and making the baby understand the difference between the day and night. Try to keep your noisy activities at a minimum during night time so that it doesn’t get the baby active. Develop a routine for bedtime to get the baby ready to fall asleep and repeat the process every night. Comfort, rock and soothe the baby to help him settle down and fall asleep.
3. Avoid Stimulation Before Bedtime
Don’t over-stimulate the baby at night as he might have trouble falling asleep again. It is very important to nurse him as silent as possible. You can do this by avoiding harsh lighting and keeping the light dim. It is also better to not use lighting at all, if possible. Reduce eye contact and talking considerably to make him understand that night times are reserved for only sleeping. Never play with the baby when its sleep time as this can make him active, allowing him to stay awake for a long time during the night.
4. Cuddle with the Baby Gently
Cuddle with the baby if you want him sleeping in your bed. Try to comfort the baby so that he understands that it’s time to fall asleep. You should do this as low key as possible and you can pretend to sleep while you are cuddled up with him, letting him know that it’s bedtime firmly. However, you need to be sure about making co-sleeping safe because if the baby is about six months and younger, it is best to make him sleep in another cot next to your own bed.
5. Offer a Security Object
Make sure you give the baby a security object like a stuffed animal or baby blanket. The baby would recognize the smell and you can keep the object near you to make it mum-scented, so that the baby feels it’s you. If the mother is breastfeeding, then she can try by expressing some milk on a muslin cloth. Babies usually have a strong sense of recognition and can understand the sense of smell. By doing this, you are making sure that the baby doesn’t panic after it wakes up. As soon as the baby smells the mum-scent, it will calm down.
6. Set a Consistent and Soothing Bedtime Routine
You can set a routine for the baby’s bedtime but make sure you keep it simple. You can give the baby a bath or a nappy change and change the baby into some comfortable pajamas. In addition, you can try soothing the baby the baby with a song, story or a gentle massage. Try to make the baby’s bedroom as pleasant as possible to make the baby feel happy and you can finish all this in the baby’s bedroom. However try not to take long with all this as it could make the baby active and lose its sleep. Therefore, try to wrap up everything with 30-45 minutes.
7. Consider If It’s Growth Spurts
After you try all these methods, you baby will be able to sleep peacefully at night, without waking you up. However, if your baby still wakes up at night even after you have experimented with all the techniques mentioned and wants to eat more than usual then it could be a growth spurt or you would need to consider the milk you are feeding it. The milk often goes through the growth spurts and you just need to feed the baby. It will be normal after growth spurts.
Experiences of Another Mom
Drawing on the experience of other moms about getting baby to sleep all night can provide reference on how you can deal with your own problem:
“My baby (8 months old) has started sleeping through the night just now. I stopped nursing her to sleep and that helped me the most as she always used to sleep during the last feeding. Usually, I would transfer her to the bed and would nurse her whenever she woke me up. Now, I have found out that letting her sleep on her own is the answer. Though it was hard in the beginning, it got easier after a while. I realized that although she wakes up somewhere during the night, she just goes back to sleep without me having to breastfeed her. It has just gotten better with every night. Just last night, she reached out for her crib after we were done with the usual routine during bedtime. She didn’t fuss about it and went back to sleep after I had put her down.”
You can check tips for getting baby to sleep all night for newborns:
For kids who are older than that, you can check: