Encouraging “good” sleep habits.

[littlebid]

Our first baby was a pretty terrible sleeper until the age of 2: our second baby is now 4 weeks old and I’m keen to do what (little?) we can to encourage good sleep habits.

For example, I think we were often far too quick to pick up our first when she stirred, when she may in fact have settled back down herself.

I realise it may still be a bit early for this, but what are your top tips for creating a baby / child who sleeps for than 60 consecutive minutes?

Do you think the No Cry Sleep Solution for Newborns would help?

Almost certainly, if I could find time to read :-( With my eldest off for the summer now, it’s a bit hectic. I’m looking for over simplified sound bites ideally

Honestly, do whatever works. There’s no magical solution. If you leave her for a couple extra minutes, does she settle quickly or wake up more? I would do whatever makes her happy and settled faster. Our first was attached to us 24/7. That’s just how she was, absolutely nothing to do with how we parented. We did exactly the same with our second, very much attachment parenting, never leaving him to cry, feeding to sleep (he is ebf), etc. and he started to self settle and sleep through most nights from 10 weeks. It’s not because we did anything differently. In fact, he was held constantly from birth until 6 weeks, like literally we never put him down. We did nights in shifts so one of us could stay up and hold him. Basically we just did whatever got them both back to sleep quicker and kept them asleep longer and the rest was down to temperament. So I would do what works and keep doing it until it doesn’t work anymore and then experiment with something new.

One thing I got from Baby Calming by Caroline Deacon was to gently rest a hand on their tummy if they stir. With DD it was often enough to settle her back down.

Have you tried using a tshirt that DH has wirncas the sheet in the Moses basket? Lots of babies find that reassuring and have you tried white noise too?

I think having bedtime cues helps- for us that was a dark room, grobag, white noise.

Co-sleeping is our answer.
You also can never respond to a baby too much, they don’t spoil. Do what feels right for you. X

My son is now almost 5 months old and it's taken until now to fully get into the way of his sleep routine and create positive sleep associations. I recognise his sleep cues quicker and when I put him down (sleepy but awake) if he cries I know whether it's a hungry cry, etc. If he is tired he just does a kind of slow moany cry with his eyes closed and I know this him actually trying to get to sleep and most times he goes to sleep. He doesn't sleep through the night yet but sleeps 8/9 til 4/5, feed then then back over til 8/9. Although he recently had his 4 month injections which has unsettled his sleep a bit but is still only waking twice a night. Prior to this he was waking every 1.5 or 2 hours! Just stick to a routine as much as possible.