Baby Parenting Guide

How to do baby sleep training?

Can anyone give more information on how to do sleep training on a baby? My baby is almost four months old and I would like to teach him to try to sleep through most of the night in his own crib.

Public Response to How to do baby sleep training?

2. Let the baby sleep when he needs to for goodness sake! You don't train a baby to sleep, it needs its sleep when it needs it. Stop being so selfish. Mothers have to sacrifice for their children. Get up and take care of your child. PS ** get your tubes tied.
3. This isn't something you have to 'teach' a baby. Babies sleep the night when they are physically able to do so ... usually sometime before 9-12 months. If you really want to do 'sleep training' for some reason ... there are dozens of authors, each of which has his or her own system. The one you choose will depend on your preferences (Do you want to make baby cry? For how long? How strict of a schedule do you want to force?) and, of course, on baby's reaction (If one author's plan doesn't work for YOUR baby, you wouldn't want to keep working at it; you'd want to try something different). So go to the bookstore or library, and browse the various options, and find the one that YOU are most comfortable with. (If I was going to use one, I'd prefer a 'no cry' system ... but there are others that tell you to put baby in his crib and leave him there until he screams himself to sleep -- and repeat every night until he gives up.)
4. First: Birdy it sounds like you have no idea when you say that "Mothers have to get up". I have been a mom for ten weeks and my daughter has started sleeping until 6.30am and I have never been happier. Second: We just came up with a bedtime routine and stuck to it: We have a bath at about 6pm, followed by a bit of baby massage and a bottle of milk. For this feed we turn the lights of in the nursery and sit in the dark. I put her to bed about 7pm and usually she will sleep within 15min. If she cries I go in and settle her with a cuddle and put her back in her cot. I then wake her at 22.30 for a bottle and she is usually back in her cot and asleep by 23.00. Was fairly easy for us but she went in her own cot and room from 6 weeks so was a bit earlier then you Good Luck !!! It makes a lot of difference
5. Hi, I think the most important thing to start with is to get your baby into a good sleep routine. I had massive problems with getting my 4 month old son to sleep. He would just lie awake and cry for hours, then when he finally went to sleep he would wake every hour or two hours through the night and cry again! Talk about pulling our hair out .... we were absolutely desperate for sleep! It was a baby sleep audio program recommended by a friend that finally saved us. We followed the advice and began by creating a baby sleep routine which included bathtime, dimming of the lights, putting James into his crib, final nappy change and then lullabies. We also made recommended changes to his naps during the day and used some of the other recommended techniques. Within two weeks he was sleeping through the night most nights with just the odd night where he would just wake once! Definitely start by creating a good baby sleep routine though and you could find that solves most of your baby sleep problems. Good luck!