Baby Sleep Problems? ... Teach Him A New Routine!

Baby sleep problems can be a nightmare for the whole family...but why? I've often heard people say that they let their baby sleep in their bed, but I believe that this can cause baby sleep problems and patterns that are hard to break as the baby gets older.

I never had either of my babies sleep in my bed, but I can understand why people love this so much. To be so close to your baby through the night is wonderful, you're instantly there for him, he's comforted by your closeness... but, I think this can cause a downside, baby sleep problems. I did take my babies into my bed for their morning feed, as long as it was after 7am (maybe a silly rule, but neither of my children ever woke me in the night just to come into my bed!) My baby's sleep patterns were consistent and really good for all of us, and they were sleeping through the night.

Creating baby sleep patterns

A friend of mine used to take her baby into her bed when he wouldn't settle at night. As soon as he was in her bed he would go straight to sleep, which was fine until he got to about 12 months old and started to be a fidgety sleeper. When she tried to break the habit (because her sleep was suffering) he would cry until she gave in. She used to tell me that the only way she could get a good nights sleep was to have her son in her bed! but then he used to kick and turn alot in his sleep, which woke her anyway.By the time he was 18 months old she was physically and emotionally shattered, and his baby sleep problems were well established. Because he was set into such a pattern, things that myself and some of our other friends suggested just weren't having any effect!

My friend ended up buying an e book from the internet, which really helped her with her baby sleep problems, sleepytime secrets gave her a great insight into getting baby to sleep through the night. It explained things in great detail, and even went as far as giving techniques to help with bed wetting, sleep walking, night time fears etc. (just in case those problems arose in the future) My friend found it an all round excellent read. It took a while, but eventually her soon was sleeping through the night, and she was getting more sleep than she'd had in a long long time.

Baby sleep problems - Set the routine!

Try to establish a good bedtime routine quite early in baby's life, the sooner you do this, the sooner your baby will sleep through the night and you won't end up with these annoying baby sleep problems.A routine could include a warm bath, putting on pyjama's, singing him a lullaby and then settling him into bed while he's still awake, so he learns to drift off to sleep alone.

If your baby does have a baby sleep problem, that he can't go to sleep by himself because maybe he's used to being rocked to sleep, or falling asleep during a feed. Then there's no doubt that if he wakes in the night, he will expect you to help him get back to sleep again.

Getting baby to sleep through the night

This is where there are several methods that can help to establish a routine of sleeping through the night. Most experts recommend that you don't use these methods until baby is 6 - 9 months old. You must stick with your decision to follow one of these methods, if you try it for a couple of nights and then give in, you are teaching your baby that if he cries for long enough, he will get his own way in the end! And baby sleep problems will continue.

The "cry it out" method:

When your baby wakes in the night, or when you when you first put him to bed and he starts to cry, you do not return to the room. You just leave him to cry it out.I think this method can be a little cruel (and I don't think I could stand to hear my baby screaming and not go into him), although some people say that after 3 or 4 nights, baby will learn to settle himself.

The "controlled crying" method

This is the method that I used with Joe, and it worked instantly for me.You lie baby down in his cot, pat his back and kiss him goodnight, then leave the room. When he cries you leave it one minute then return. Lie him down if needed, pat his back, gently reassure him until he's calm (without picking him up), then leave the room again and repeat the process, leaving it longer each time before you go back in.You can be doing this for a while,I had to do it for a couple of hours with Joe, with gaps of about 10 - 15 minutes before I returned to the room.

A similar method to controlled crying is to take a chair into the room and place it next to the cot, then once you have settled your baby, you sit down on the chair, facing away from him, after a couple of minutes you move the chair away slightly, keep repeating this method until the chair is outside of the room.

The "transitional object" approach

If your baby has a special teddy or blanket, try wearing it about your person for a while, tuck it into your cardi or put it up your sleeve. This helps the 'security object' to smell like Mum! When your baby goes to bed, make sure he has the security object with him, babies have an extremely good sense of smell, and so when he wakes he will smell mums scent on the object. This can be very reassuring and settling for him.Just remember that after you've washed the object to hold onto it for a while and get your smell back onto it.

Bring bedtime forward!

If these methods don't seem to be working and your baby is still not sleeping through the night, then maybe your baby could be over-tired when you put him to bed, try moving the bedtime forward half an hour, so he is tired enough to go to sleep, but not so tired that everything is just too much for him. I had to do this with my daughter, as I would put her to bed and she would be up there shouting for the next hour.

I read this tip about putting her to bed earlier, moved her bedtime forward by 30 minutes and she went straight to sleep!

Baby sleep problems are exactly that, problems... any problem can be overcome by you. Be consistent, be calm, and be reassuring for your baby, and soon your baby will be sleeping through the night.

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