Best Way to Get Your Baby to Sleep through the Night

Sleep – or lack of it – is a major issue for most parents. But sleep is vital for babies, too, so that they can grow and develop properly: it is during sleep that growth hormones are released and new cells grow fastest. Not enough sleep can make an otherwise happy baby irritable, difficult, and maybe less responsive.

By the time your baby is six months old he should be able to sleep through the night. If he isn’t sleeping through, there are steps you can take to help give you both a good night’s rest. But that doesn’t mean your baby will go through every night without a problem: as he experiences separation anxiety, for example, he may start waking again and looking for you for comfort

How much sleep does he need?

While newborn babies tend to sleep for as many as 18 hours out of 24, by the time they are six months old many babies need 12 to 14 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period, including a couple of one- or two-hour naps. This arrangement may not last long, however. Within a few months your baby may drop one daytime nap – usually, the mid-morning rest – while a few babies decide to drop both naps and want to slay awake all day!

When will he sleep through the night?

Every new parent is desperate for this moment to arrive! While, very occasionally, some newborn babies will give their parents an unbroken night alter six to eight weeks, most won’t sleep for more than five hours or so at a stretch until they are over three months old. But by the time babies are six months old – when they no longer need a night feed – they should be able to sleep through the night for anything up to 11 or 12 hours.

However, even though your baby may be physically ready to sleep through the night, he may still find it hard. This may be because he is ill or teething, or experiencing separation anxiety. But often babies wake in the night simply because of their sleep pattern. During a normal night your baby will alternate between periods of deep sleep and light sleep. During these lighter sleeps -which can occur five or six times in a night – it’s not unusual for babies to wake up and open their eyes, and even cry out if they can’t see or feel you.

Settling back to sleep

Babies who depend on being nursed, rocked, or cuddled to sleep at bedtime will find it especially hard to settle themselves back down again if they wake during these lighter sleeping patterns. However, if you have established a good bedtime routine for your baby, and he is used to settling himself down, he should quickly fall back into a deep sleep pattern again.