Does your baby wake you up two, three, four or even more times per night? Do you have to soothe your baby back to sleep all too often? If so, now is a great time to teach him or her to fall asleep on his or her own, without the use of the breast, bottle, pacifier, or rocking, cuddling and patting. Teaching your baby to soothe him or herself back to sleep will help not only your baby but you as well. And once your baby gets the hang of falling asleep on his or her own, he or she is much more likely to stay asleep all night long with relatively few interruptions.



The first thing you need to do is establish a bedtime routine that makes sense for you and your family and stick with it. Go through the whole ritual. Give baby a bath, nurse or feed one last time, say a deep, heartfelt goodnight to your baby's hundred or so stuffed animals, sing a lullaby, or whatever works for your baby. The specifics don't matter very much as long as it is soothing rather than stimulating, and consistent.

If your baby has a cuddly toy or blanket or item which he or she enjoys, it should be part of this routine. Make sure you carry or have the blanket or stuffed toy with you as you go through the nighttime routine.

When your baby is still awake, but sleepy, put him or her in the crib. Baby needs to learn how to get him or herself to sleep, and if he or she gets used to nursing or being rocked, when he or she falls asleep, it will become a dependency. If you do rock your baby to sleep, then when baby wakes up and you are not rocking him or her, he or she can get rather upset or agitated, and you will most definitely hear about it. You won't be receiving kudos from baby, either. In the long run it is better to get baby accustomed to falling asleep without every comfort available since baby will not always be able to utilize a misplaced pacifier or lovey.

If you put baby to bed and he or she cries, don't pick baby up! Stay in the room so baby doesn't panic, if you want, and you can speak softly and even pat him or her on the back briefly. Just don't take baby out of the crib! Repeat your process of calming baby without removing him or her from the crib until success is achieved. If you do this from the start it should not be a long process for baby to learn. But if you have to retrain your child then this could take considerable time to achieve.

If baby wakes up in the middle of the night and cries, go to him or her, but again, do not pick her up, unless you need to do a quick diaper change or a feeding for an infant. If you stick to this routine religiously for only three or four nights, she should gradually start to settle into a long, peaceful beatific sleep.

A word of warning: although most babies can be sleep trained in three or four days, it may possibly take longer. You must commit to sticking to this routine for at least a week, tantrums and lengthy crying spells included. Remember, if you give in the baby has just learned that you will cave in, and that he or she is the one calling the shots, as long as he or she is loud. If you are firm, but caring, baby will learn to sleep in a way that will allow both of you to get a good night's rest.