How to Get Baby to Sleep Through the Night

Newborns sleep for 2 to 3 hours at a time. As they get older, they start sleeping for longer periods of time, until they reach a point where they can sleep through the night. However, without the proper sleep training, your infant won’t guess on its own that it has to sleep for 7 to 8 hours straight at a specific time every day.

In most cases, children will be ready to sleep through the night between the ages of 4 to 6 months old. However, every child is different – some may not be ready until they are 8 months old and others may only begin sleeping through the night at 1 years old.

The first thing you need to consider are signs that your child is ready to sleep through the night.

When to Start Sleep Training

If your baby is starting to gain weight at a steady pace according to your pediatrician’s charts, this may be a good sign that they can spend longer amounts of time without feedings. The number one reason newborns don’t sleep through the night is because they need to be constantly fed. This need reduces as they get older.

The Moro Reflex is gone, which is a reflex that causes infants to jolt as if they were falling during sleep. Most parents swaddle their babies in order to lessen the Moro Reflex, but it doesn’t completely go away until 4 to 5 months. Until you no longer need to make a baby swaddle to avoid this reflex, your baby won’t be ready to sleep through the night.

Your baby is beginning to self soothe themselves when they fall asleep. You may notice your child rubbing their hair, pulling their ears or performing other such gestures near their face in order to self soothe. Once your child begins this, you can try incorporating sleeping training methods.

According to sleep experts, 70 to 80% of all babies sleep through the night by the time they are 9 months old. At this age, a full night’s sleep can vary between 9 to 12 hours. It’s important to note that your child will still need naps during the day even once they begin sleeping through the night. For instance, babies between 8 to 12 months should still be getting 1 to 2 daily naps of 1 to 2 hours each.

Sleep Training Methods

Once you’ve established that your child is ready to start sleep training methods, you’ll want to begin training them gradually. Don’t enforce these new sleeping habits on them all at once. Also, you shouldn’t expect them to be fully trained in a single week. You will most likely notice a gradual increase in sleep time over the first few weeks until they begin sleeping 8+ hours at a time.

• Separation Anxiety in Babies: The first thing you need to do is train them to deal with separation anxiety. If your baby has been sleeping next to your bed in a bassinet crib, it would be way too difficult for them to go to a crib in their own bedroom overnight. Instead, gradually move their bassinet crib further and further away from your bed every night for a few nights. Do this until the bassinet is no longer inside of your room. This will get them used to sleeping on their own and also helps with separation anxiety in general.
• Feeding Schedule: Next, you’ll want to incorporate a regular feeding schedule. Most babies have trouble sleeping through the night because they get hungry. In order to solve this, you’ll want to make sure they eat plenty during the day. Keeping a regular feeding schedule will help make sure they get enough nourishment during the day to last them through the night.
• Sporadic Wakeups: If your child is waking up sporadically during the night and can’t fall asleep without a bottle of milk, you should start incorporating sleep training methods that don’t involve feeding. You have to gradually get your child used to eating during the day and not eating at night when they are supposed to be sleeping.

Use a Video Baby Monitor as Reassurance

Incorporating sleep training methods is far from easy. These will be long nights and you may want to give up on multiple occasions. It’s easy to give in and give your child a bottle or cuddle them to sleep. However, if you push through it, you will be thankful for a long night’s sleep in no time.

One way to make it a lot easier on yourself and your child is to use a baby video monitor such as the Nursery Pal Premium. This allows you to see the baby at all times, even in completely dark rooms thanks to the night vision. You can also talk to your child to soothe them from a distance. Best of all, you can use this monitor with the mobile app, so you can see your baby from your phone. If you want to make sleeping training a little easier on both you and your child, you’ll certainly want to invest in a good quality video baby monitor.