Best Ideas for Helping Baby Sleep Through the Night? (Not CIO)

I used the No Cry Sleep Solution. My daughter was 2 years old before I really tried anything! LOL! This book was recommended to me by a pediatrician because he knew I couldn't handle CIO. I loved it and it really was painless for both of us. It takes longer than CIO, but for me it was worth it.

Best of luck to you!

I am not a CIO mom either! I pulled really great tips, tricks and info about infant sleep and ideas on how to teach them to sleep (because they have to be taught to sleep) from Dr. Sears Baby Sleep Book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution and The Baby Whisperer. I didn't use any one of those methods exclusively but used things that worked for us to come up with a plan.

My son was in the 6 month range when I started a set routine-literally did and said the same things at nap and nighttime. It took about 6 weeks and he got it. Started sleeping 10-13 hours a night. There were times during that when I knew he didn't need to nurse (moms know) and would stand with my head down on the side of the crib with my hand on him till he settled back down. I really followed his lead/what he was telling me he needed. If it was a full on I need you cry Ipicked him up but if not I did the head down/hand on him and he was soothed by that.

I started much earlier with my second but she was a different baby and still woke frequently to nurse until she was close to a year. Except when she was tiny. She was a champ sleeper-5-6 hours-from 7 weeks till around 4 months then all thos big milestones and growth spurts jumped on our sleep. But that's what she needed so again I followed her lead and gave her what she needed. She didn't do it every night but she was/is not the same sleeper that my son is.

It's good to have a solid routine that is flexible to meet babies needs. A routine helps baby learn what to expect and what is expected of him at night.

Babies typically only sleep in 4 hour stretches at most. If breastfeeding, do it on demand, even through the night. You'll both get back to sleep faster and it'll help keep your supply up. We co-slept along with that. Had the co-sleeper crib and all, but as soon as she could crawl she was back in our bed. Would literally crawl over me to sleep between me and DH. No biggie. Three years on and she's still in our bed, but it works for us.

Even when they are old enough that American society thinks they should be sleeping through the night, never expect it. As soon as you're potty training, you're then up taking them to the bathroom once or twice a night.

So throw the idea that he'll eventually sleep through the night out the window. If he does, let it be a wonderful surprise. Lower your expectations and just roll with it, there's no magic bullet. But if you're more relaxed, your baby will be too.

I hope you get some great answers on this one because I'm also in your shoes and the only thing that ever worked for us was co-sleeping and breastfeeding. Your baby is still VERY young, don't expect him to sleep through the night for a while now but he should be able to sleep throughout most of the night pretty soon. But if you're not co-sleeping, I recommend you at least try it and see if it helps, a baby that young wants nothing more than the comfort of being close to mommy again, and it's a little harder habit to break in the long run, but helped me get so much more sleep in the beginning. Good luck with everything and hope you get some good advice.

I just nursed my son until he went back to sleep, or tried patting his back if he wasn't fully awake. I did the "No Cry Sleep Solution" before even reading the book! lol I was just tending to all his needs while giving him the best sleep environment. I keep things cool but not cold, a ceiling fan is on, a nightlight on, and quiet music.

From the first few weeks (and still today), I put in a CD before my son goes to bed. I have about 20 lullaby, soft music, soothing, restful CDs and he loves them! We switch them out every so often so he doesn't get too bored of one. I also check some out from the library from time to time to switch things up.

Remember that all kids are different, so hopefully this baby will begin to sleep through the night by the four month birthday! :)

Hi there! With our first born we used CIO and he was a champion sleeper from 8 weeks on. I didn't want to do it again when our daughter was born. I used more "attachment parenting" techniques with her and just couldn't do CIO. She was my baby! There was no way I was letting her cry.

WE DID NOT SLEEP FOR 9 MONTHS! I felt like a zombie. I was so sleep deprived, so horribly exhausted, and so impatient. I seriously couldn't even remember what feeling rested felt like.

I am never knocking CIO again. We finally caved after not sleeping for more than 1.5 hours at a time for almost a year. We did CIO and she is now sleeping soundly through the night after just one night of CIO.

Just thought I'd share since I was adamantly against CIO too -- but it ended up being the only thing that worked for us.

Good luck with whatever you end up trying!

Not sure what to do to make you baby sleep through the night, my daughter (and seriously, honestly NO other child I know in person) woke at least once for the first year.

I do know though, what helped ME getting more sleep:
I went back to work FT at 6 months, and the "sleep training" and "teaching her to self soothe" resulted in her crying herself into a tizzy (including gasping for air and spitting up) and everyone being awake for hours, while we took turns going in to "pat her on the back" as the books and well meaning friends and relatives suggested, while I was crying my eyes out to cause that kind of anguish to my baby.
So that, as you can assume was my only attempt in "sleep training", and after giving my DH the satisfaction of trying it for a few days (after ALL of his family SWORE it would work) I put my foot down.
If you can (wasn't an option for us) consider co sleeping. Since we couldn't, I would simply sleep on an airmattress in her room. Not the entire night, just for stretches at a time. I started out in our bedroom, when she even so much as whimpered I went to nurse her (usually took about 30 second for her and myself to fall right back asleep, if I caught her before she woke fully). If I woke back up, usually when she unlatched, I would go back to my bed... otherwise I just coslept with her.
I also went to bed early, sometimes at 8PM, to make sure I got some longer stretches of sleep, especially when she was still waking a few times a night.
I think were were down to one waking at around ten months, she started sleeping through the night without much drama shortly after her first birthday, just the same as my nieces and friend's kids.
The only thing I would do differently if I had to do it again, is get a better mattress for the baby's room and forgo the rocker (too dangerous to fall sleep in). Even though I got up every morning at 6 AM to go to work, I never felt particularly sleep deprived...even though my sleep was interrupted, I didn't actually loose that much.

My sister btw, does practice CIO - her kids were still waking up at night, she just would just let them cry themselves back to sleep. That's what CIO is. I love my sis, but that's not the kind of parenting I subscribe to.
Good luck!

I think the book "Happiest Baby on the Block" was a great help to us; it discusses how to replicate the safe feelings your baby had in the womb out in the "real world". This not only helped us with sleep time, but I was able to comfort my baby at any time and calm her. A real life-saver!

Our daughter slept pretty much through the night at 6 weeks.
Once we got her on the schedule, we could tweak it a little each time her sleep patterns changed..

She did become very ill at one point and we allowed her to sleep with us, it took forever to get her out of our bed.. so be careful about trying it, if you are really not into it.

Here is how we got her to sleep in her crib starting at 6 weeks.
You need to make sure you have a night time routine.
In the evenings make sure to have a nice quiet dinner, no TV no Cell phone calls, keep the areas your child is in as calm as possible. Then a nice warm quiet bath with nice strong massage like bath strokes. The more you get her riled up, double that time to calm her down. She is more aware of all of the interesting stuff going on and does not want to miss out. If you make it seem boring, she will stay more calm.Have her room ready when you walk her in there.

Feed her while listening to quiet music or a book on CD.

How is her room set up? Does she have a fan, quiet music, night light? Does she have a lovey? Is her room dark enough?

When you get up to feed her at night, do it with the lights off, only work by the light from the night light.

Do not speak with her or engage her. Keep your face blank. Change her in the dark and feed her in the dark. Lay her down and walk out. Again she may cry, but just check on her, without comment.
Feed her and then lay her down and pat her on her back..

If your child is still an infant, place her head up against the corner of the crib. That pressure will mimic the pressure that was in your womb.