My son first slept through the night shortly before turning 6 months old in early May, a whole month and a half earlier than his older sister did and with a lot less crying, and he has been regularly sleeping through the night since.
By sleeping through the night, I mean that he sleeps at least 11 hours or so straight, from bedtime to wake up, with no nighttime visits from my husband and me. Yes, life is a whole lot better with a good night’s sleep, and now I finally have the energy to reflect on how we made this happen.
So how did we get our baby to sleep through the night so much earlier this time around? Today’s hint is the method we used – an “Express Sleep Plan” from The Baby Sleep Site – as well as my favorite tip from the plan.
What’s an Express Sleep Plan, you may be wondering? It’s a new offering from The Baby Sleep Site that is essentially a budget-friendly how-to customized for your family’s lifestyle and your child’s sleep problem.
To get a customized plan, you fill out a brief survey about the sleep situation you’re facing (nighttime wake-ups and feedings every three-hours, in my case), and then a plan is instantly generated for you to download. The plan can be for any sleep problem you’re dealing with, including those related to older children, and in contrast to The Baby Sleep Site’s more expensive sleep consulting options, the Express Sleep Plan is just $49 (and just $39 through 5/31). The Baby Sleep Site is giving away an Express Sleep Plan to three lucky Hint Mama readers – details below.
There are several reasons I found the Express Sleep Plan so helpful. It literally provided me with a day-by-day, step-by-step plan for sleep training my son. So, once I started following the plan in March, I knew roughly how many days to spend on each step of the process as well as what to focus on first (namely schedule changes, sleep associations and bedtime) and last (think extending the nighttime feeding gaps).
It also included a sample schedule I could easily modify for my son, as well as tons of practical tips that I believe really made a difference in encouraging my son to sleep without our help, such as tips to do a dream feed, put my son in his crib before bedtime drowsy but awake, and have my son play in his nursery and crib during the day to help him “feel content in his sleep space.”
To be sure, every child is different, but the Express Sleep Plan recognizes that, offering advice on how a child’s temperament can impact sleep coaching and on how to handle setbacks.
Finally, here’s my favorite tip from my plan: to wait five minutes before giving my son attention during a night waking, a variation of the “pause” idea common in France, according to the book Bringing Up Bebe.
As my Express Sleep Plan points out: “It is normal for babies and toddlers to wake and fuss/cry a little between sleep cycles. As [your son] gets better at sleeping and adjust his expectations, it might just take you waiting a few (5 to 10) minutes during night wakings, and he will start to get faster at getting through them without your ‘help.’” After we began following this advice, my son was sleeping through the night like a champ.
What’s your top tip for getting baby to sleep through the night? Share your thoughts, and enter to win one of three Express Sleep Plans, below.
The Baby Sleep Site provided me with an “Express Sleep Plan” to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own.
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I wish I had a tip for helping my daughter sleep through the night, but I don’t! She is starting to wake more frequently than she used to. Although, I would say that waiting a little bit like you mentioned has helped her a few times. I love all of the advice I can get about infant sleep!
It’s funny seeing this hint today. I’ve been having trouble getting a consistent routine established with my little one. Now that he’s 6 months, eating solids, and crawling everywhere, he really needs good sleep and ways to self soothe. I was just looking at The Baby Sleep Site yesterday and curious if their plans are as good as advertised.
We are going to have are baby in sept. and After the long night with the baby the first couple months I need to find a way to keep the baby sleeping longer so we can charge up the months of sleep that we miss out on.
I’ve been receiving emails from the sleep site for a couple months, and every night I get a little closer to buying one of their packages! I feel as though we have tried every sleep training method in the book with my little guy, and he just has the hardest time transitioning between sleep cycles still at 7 months old. We definitely need all the help we can get at this point!
Hoping for a giveaway!
I’m still struggling with an 11 month old who wakes every 3 hours, and more frequently as the night goes on (I feed her at least 3 times after putting her to bed each night). She was sleeping 7-8 hours since she was 7 weeks and only when we moved and had to take a week road trip when she was 6 months, did her sleep habits completely go haywire. Still trying and won’t give up but would absolutely love to win a sleep plan!
hmm i guess my best tip would be to get them to bed before they are overtired. i noticed that when my son is overtired he is very restless even in sleep. he sleeps even later, doesn’t necessarily wake up during the night but flails around and cries out like he’s having a bad dream, and wakes up earlier than usual
One thing that has helped us..is cutting out the cat nap she had at 6 pm. That ensured that her bedtime at 7.30 pm would be unchanged.
that being said…she’s a terrible sleeper. It’s been ages since I got more than 2 hours of sleep at a stretch!
Having a consistent bed time routine and waiting 5 minutes after he begins to fuss in the middle of the night to go get him are what helped us!
I unfortunately don’t have a tip for getting a baby to sleep through the night. My son will be 3 next month, and he’s never slept past 3-4 am. He wakes up around that time, for the DAY and doesn’t take a nap.. :/ He got up at 4am this morning. yay me.
My daughter was going to sleep so easily and waking only once a night for a feed and it is now a nightmare. She fights sleep constantly, every nap is torturous and at nighttime she is waking so often. She is cranky during the day because she doesn’t sleep enough! I’m a first time mom and I just don’t know what to do anymore! Any help would be AMAZING!!!