Getting Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night Step by Step Plan

Getting your baby to sleep through the night is a mystery to many. For some it may even sound impossible. The good news is that any parent with an normal healthy baby can have their baby sleeping through the night by the time their baby turns two to three months old! That's right, you and your baby could get 10 to 12 hours of sleep every night by the time your baby is eight to twelve weeks old. All you need is some self discipline and consistency.

The moment our precious baby enters our life they count on us for all their needs. They need to be loved, fed, changed.... the list goes on and on. The one thing most parents forget or don't realize is that your baby's needs include the desperate need for consistency. In this case consistency means you and your baby needs include the need for a schedule. A schedule is the only way your baby is going to know the difference form day time and night time.

Scheduling your baby's meal time, wake time, and sleep time may seem like a bit of a hassle at first ,but I guarantee knowing what to expect from your baby is going to make your life so much easier and happier as a parent. Your baby is going to be happier too having such consistency in her life.

Your baby will not sleep through the night as an infant, however it is extremely important to get baby use to a pattern of meal time, wake time, and sleep time as soon as possible. (Note: For many it is easiest to start as soon as they are released from the hospital.) The order of MEAL TIME, WAKE TIME, and SLEEP TIME is very important. The only exception to this sequence is at night when "wake time" will be skipped altogether. For the first week this will be your goal although it is important to remember that as a newborn baby your baby's sleepiness will some times get in the way of this order. It is OK, this is a goal for the first week not an absolute! Newborn's seem to be very determined to go to sleep while or right after eating, but you need to focus on keep your newborn awake. Sing to her, change her diaper, tickle her toes, wiggle her toes, switch breasts or burp her. When you focus on keeping baby awake during her feeding it will help your baby get a full feeding. When baby falls asleep at the breast or bottle your baby is just snaking which will turn into a very bad habit and long nights for everyone. We don't want baby snacking her and there. We want baby to have a full tummy. After the first week is over you won't have to put out such an effort to keep baby awake she will be now getting use to her meal time, wake time, sleep time routine.

For the first couple of weeks your goal has to been to make sure baby gets a full feeding. This will help baby to naturally fall into a schedule because her hunger will be more predictable. She won't be snacking around the clock but taking in full feedings which should fall in between every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. (Note: Start counting from the time you start feeding baby not when you finish. So if you start feeding baby at 6am and she finishes eating at 6:30am and you're feeding her every 3 hours, the next time you would feed baby would be 9am. What time it is when you finish feeding baby has nothing to do with your schedule. You always count from the time you start feeding baby.) You are striving to get your baby use to eating every two and a half to three hours however this isn't going to always happen. Remember this is just a goal not a must! There will be times that even with the best of attempts to keep your baby awake she will falls asleep while nursing. That is OK, it's going to happen and because baby didn't get a full feeding your going to have to feed her sooner than your scheduled her to. Feed her when she is hungry trying to get a full feeding this time and work on getting her back onto schedule. It's no big deal it hasn't become a habit. Other situation will come up that will force you to break from your schedule, so be flexible. As long as your 2 1/2 to 3 hour meal time is your norm then the occasional break from routine won't hurt anything.

Once you have established you baby's 2 1/2 to 3 hour routine of meal time, wake time, and sleep time you are well on your way to having a happy predictable baby that will begin sleeping through the night anywhere form eight to 12 weeks.

Note: Please remember all babies are different and some have special needs and conditions. Please ask your doctor or health care provider if a schedule is something you and your baby can start.

I wish you all the best with your new little bundle of joy!