What do you think has helped your baby sleep well and what do you wish you had known about baby sleep before you had given birth? A few friends are about to have babies so I'm compiling a list. I have an eight month old and these are some of the things I wish I had known/things that worked for us:
A lot of baby sleep does come down to luck so don't blame yourself if you don't have a great sleeper. It's normal for babies to wake up in the night. There are things you can do to help your baby be a better sleeper but it's not your fault or your baby's fault if they don't work.
The principle of the 'core night': once your baby has shown they can sleep for a certain period of time at night (e.g. 11pm-3am) if they wake during those hours in future, have a go at helping them to go back to sleep without a feed (with a dummy or cuddle etc). I did this and my baby started sleeping through the night at 15 weeks without ever being left to cry and whilst breastfeeding. I learnt about this in Beatrice Hollyer's book on sleep. 'The Baby Whisperer' also mentions it. Of course if your baby is hungry, you should feed them but don't assume every night wake up is for food. I didn't try this approach until my baby was 12 weeks old.
If you have a baby who catnaps in the day, when they wake up after a short nap (say 30 mins) have a go at resettling them by whatever means they fell asleep in the first place (rocking, feeding, dummy etc). Your baby may well then start napping for longer periods of time by themselves. That was a tip from 'The No Cry Nap Solution'. My baby was a 45 minute napper. For the first few months of her life I would just get her up when she woke after the first 45 minutes. I then read that tip and instigated it and my baby now does a 1.5-2 nap each day plus a 45 minute nap.
Don't try to follow any one sleep guide. I made myself (and probably my poor baby) miserable for about 2 weeks when I tried following a well known very prescriptive routine. I'm sure that works brilliantly for some babies but it didn't suit my baby. Get to know your baby and his/her unique sleep needs rather than getting to know the baby in the book...
The timing of your baby's morning nap can make a massive difference to the time they wake up in the morning. With my baby, a later morning nap equals a later morning wake up time. That was something I learnt here on mumsnet!
Those are just a few of mine. Please share yours!