Getting baby to sleep through the night

Advice and strategies on getting your little wonder to sleep.

We've got great news for you! A newborn baby will sleep from 16 to 20 hour per day, allowing you ample time for recuperation and household chores. The bad news is the baby sleeps in 2 to 4 hour periods which means your night's sleep may be interrupted from 3-5 times. Here is some advice on getting your newborn to sleep through the night.

A key to getting baby to sleep is consistency in bedtime rituals. A baby should not be left to cry themselves to sleep one night while the baby is rocked to sleep another night. Maintaining consistent behaviors is your best way to signal to the baby it is time for a night of sleep.

The baby's sleep environment should be consistent. The most common environment is a quiet and dark room. However, on any given night a dishwasher or clothes dryer in the background may be enough stimulus to break the baby from establishing a sleep schedule. If a television is commonly on in another room, your baby is likely to acclimate to this background noise. Of course, a television noisily playing music would be inappropriate for the baby.

Pre-bedtime rituals should be established. The rituals should not be overstimulating to help transition the baby into their night of slumber. A common ritual may be rocking the baby to sleep, while another may be singing lullabies to the baby. Some parents may opt to give the baby a nice warm bath. Please keep in mind that at some time you will need to ween your child from these activities. There will come an age where you will not be rocking your child to sleep. In this case, you should gradually reduce the amount of rocking over a long period of time.

The room temperature of the nursery should be comfortable, not to exceed 75 degrees. Having a room temperature warmer than this can disturb the continuity of a baby's sleep.

One method which has helped parents get their baby to sleep is progressive ignoring, also known as the  five ten fifteen rule. Place the baby in its place of sleep at the beginning of the night. The baby is likely to cry at some point. The crying should be allowed to persist for 5 minutes, at which time you can pick up and nurture the baby. Each subsequent attempt to get the baby to cry should allow for an additional 5 minutes of crying time. Your second attempt might result in the baby crying for 10 minutes before the baby is picked up and calmed down. The third attempt should last for 15 minutes, and so on.

By the time your baby is 3 to 6 months old, their sleep pattern will shift to more of a day-night schedule. During this stage, it is very common for the baby to sleep throughout most of the night, while being awake for a larger part of the daylight hours.

By the time your baby is about 9 months old, 70 percent of kids are sleeping at least from midnight to five or six in the morning. When your baby reaches it's first birthday, the baby will be sleeping for around 14 hours, of which only 2 to 3 hours will during daytime naps.

Having realistic expectations about how long it will take your baby to sleep through the night is important for you and your baby. Some babies may sleep through the night after a month while others will require many additional months. But sticking to these guidelines will likely pay off for you in a big way - a full night's sleep when you deserve it the most!