It has been 15 months since we brought our precious little baby home & sleep training began from the very beginning. Our first night in hospital was a real learning experience, he was born 6.40 AM and slept like a baby almost the entire day. So when it came to night time he was wide awake. And not knowing much about babies and especially new born bubs I didn't really know what to do. I was in a shared room so I didn't want Charlie crying and waking up our room-mate. I called the nurse once in the middle of the night but I didn't find her too helpful as she didn't even speak to me and automatically moved Charlie into my bed and pulled up the bed-rail! I was horrified when she did it, having done my PhD in SIDS research, it is strongly recommended that babies sleep in their own bed and not share with their parents. I left Charlie there for a few minutes but felt so uncomfortable I moved him back to his crib and hung my arm over it so that he could feel me touching him.
We only stayed in hospital for one day, I couldn't wait to get home and get into our normal life routine with our new baby. When we were home I made a conscious decision from the start to train my boy to be a good sleeper, some of the decisions I made from very early on was:
1- not to rock him to sleep in my arms,
2- let him lie in his crib well fed and awake so he gets familiar with his sleep environment and falling asleep on his own
3- set a bedtime routine that's consistent but can be flexible with changing circumstances.
It may sound easy but trust me we had our hard days & nights but if your determined to train your bub to sleep well it will happen eventually... Make sure your partner is in on the training regime, it is all about consistency. So take the time to sit down & talk about how you want to sleep train your baby, it's a team effort.
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| Brand new baby fast asleep in the birth suite |
1- not to rock him to sleep in my arms,
2- let him lie in his crib well fed and awake so he gets familiar with his sleep environment and falling asleep on his own
3- set a bedtime routine that's consistent but can be flexible with changing circumstances.
It may sound easy but trust me we had our hard days & nights but if your determined to train your bub to sleep well it will happen eventually... Make sure your partner is in on the training regime, it is all about consistency. So take the time to sit down & talk about how you want to sleep train your baby, it's a team effort.
When Charlie was a newborn I noticed his natural sleeping rhythm, it was to sleep through the day and be awake at night- this is how be was in the womb. He was fast asleep while I was awake and moving around but as soon as I rested and slept he was having a party in my tum. So to help him understand day and night when he had his day sleeps I would put him in a room where the sun shone brightly through the windows.
I tried very hard not to cradle him for too long while he was asleep in my arms, it's not that I didn't want to sit there for hours gazing at my beautiful baby but in the back of my mind I kept thinking, what kind of toddler do I want, what sleep habits do I want him to have?! Ideally I wanted him to be able to go to sleep on his own without any fuss, and don't all parents want that?!
We had him sleep in a bassinet in our bedroom and around 2 months we moved him into his own bedroom and cot. We found it difficult to sleep with him in our room and vice versa. Once he was in his own room he slept much better. I used a baby monitor for a little while when we first moved him into his own room as I felt anxious and was worried I wouldn't hear him cry when he needed a feed. It worked and I woke up every time, but after speaking to a friend and having tried her advice I'd like to pass on her wisdom.
If you can resist don't use the monitor while you're sleeping, the baby will cry loud enough for you to hear them when they are ready for a feed. We had Charlie in the room across the hallway from us and we all slept with the doors shut, trust me I heard him! Eliminating the monitor allowed me to get those extra few minutes of sleep when he would wriggle and gurgle prior to the call out for milk.
As he got older putting him to sleep during the day got a little tougher as he wanted to keep playing. Sometimes I would let him 'cry it out' before he'll fall asleep and if he didn't fall asleep I would go and give him a cuddle and try to put him back down. After a while of letting him do it he has become more proficient at falling asleep.
For a while he has only been having one sleep during the day & I use to put him to sleep mid-morning around 10am. Recently I have moved his day-time sleep to anywhere between 11.30-1, I have found this to work much better for both of us as he is much more tired by and he'll go to sleep easier and by the time he awakes in the afternoon he doesn't need to stay awake for "too" many hours before bedtime. Now that I have also reduced his breast-feeds to morning and night when I put him to sleep in the middle of the day I give him a bottle of milk and then put him to sleep in his cot. This has worked well as he knows the routine and seems much happier to comply.
I tried very hard not to cradle him for too long while he was asleep in my arms, it's not that I didn't want to sit there for hours gazing at my beautiful baby but in the back of my mind I kept thinking, what kind of toddler do I want, what sleep habits do I want him to have?! Ideally I wanted him to be able to go to sleep on his own without any fuss, and don't all parents want that?!
We had him sleep in a bassinet in our bedroom and around 2 months we moved him into his own bedroom and cot. We found it difficult to sleep with him in our room and vice versa. Once he was in his own room he slept much better. I used a baby monitor for a little while when we first moved him into his own room as I felt anxious and was worried I wouldn't hear him cry when he needed a feed. It worked and I woke up every time, but after speaking to a friend and having tried her advice I'd like to pass on her wisdom.
If you can resist don't use the monitor while you're sleeping, the baby will cry loud enough for you to hear them when they are ready for a feed. We had Charlie in the room across the hallway from us and we all slept with the doors shut, trust me I heard him! Eliminating the monitor allowed me to get those extra few minutes of sleep when he would wriggle and gurgle prior to the call out for milk.
As he got older putting him to sleep during the day got a little tougher as he wanted to keep playing. Sometimes I would let him 'cry it out' before he'll fall asleep and if he didn't fall asleep I would go and give him a cuddle and try to put him back down. After a while of letting him do it he has become more proficient at falling asleep.
For a while he has only been having one sleep during the day & I use to put him to sleep mid-morning around 10am. Recently I have moved his day-time sleep to anywhere between 11.30-1, I have found this to work much better for both of us as he is much more tired by and he'll go to sleep easier and by the time he awakes in the afternoon he doesn't need to stay awake for "too" many hours before bedtime. Now that I have also reduced his breast-feeds to morning and night when I put him to sleep in the middle of the day I give him a bottle of milk and then put him to sleep in his cot. This has worked well as he knows the routine and seems much happier to comply.
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| 14.5 month old fast asleep during the afternoon |
It has been a long day-to-day process in training this active boy to sleep well, but once we got ourself a good routine all that effort was well worth it. I'm so glad he is sleeping through the night and taking his necessary nap during the day, and if there is a day he doesn't take his nap I don't stress over it too much as he'll most likely want a really long sleep the next day. So for those who are training their precious bubs to sleep, hang in there and keep on at it! If things aren't quite working and you've been trying for a while, give something else a go. There is no real right or wrong, every baby/child/parent/family is different so do what works for you. I just wanted to share my experience and what has worked for us.
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