Share your pearls of wisdom about babies' sleep with Pampers and you could win a £200 John Lewis voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

We’ve been asked by Pampers to find out what Mumsnetters’ pearls of wisdom are for getting your little one to sleep as much as they need.

Pampers say “Getting your baby to sleep as much as they need is the holy grail for parents, and everyone loves hearing their baby wake up in the morning with a giggle. Whether it’s teething, wind, or a damp nappy that’s disrupting those golden hours, every parent has their own tried and tested methods to help guarantee their little one has a restful slumber. Pampers Baby-Dry nappies with Micro PearlsTM stay up to 2 times drier than ordinary nappies, giving your baby the sleep they need to wake up giggling.”

Pampers are asking Mumsnetters to share their own pearls of wisdom for babies' sleep. They want you to post the useful nuggets of advice, the most valuable tips, which worked for your baby and which could help another baby to get a bit more shut-eye.

Whatever your top baby sleep tips are, Pampers would love to hear them.

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive a £200 John Lewis voucher.

Please note your comments may be included on Pampers social media channels, and possibly elsewhere, so please only post if you're comfortable with this.

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

PS: To be in with the chance of winning a pack of Pampers Baby-Dry visit facebook.com/PampersUKIre or tweet @Pampers_UK and use #BabySleep and nominate another parent to do the same to help more babies get enough sleep! See facebook.com/PampersUKIre for T&Cs.

It's all about the routine. Feed, bath, cuddles then bed whilst keeping light and noise levels low and soothing will work wonders. Your baby has to understand the expectations you have about night being different from day. Another trick I found to work well if your baby is waking for a night feed and you suspect they may no longer need it is to offer water instead. Your baby might just decide it's not worth waking for. There are no miracle cures and often tricks like this take a little perseverance but you will get there in the end if you stick at it.

Consistancy is key. Babies like routine :)

A love lavender bath and baby resting on my chest, while I watch the tv on low, gives us some bonding time and as I relax baby does to and goes to sleep. Usually works anyway

However bad it gets please don't resort to giving your baby a dummy for comfort. My daughter would then wake up crying because she'd lost her dummy even though it was attached with velcro and ribbon. It caused as many sleepless nights as it solved.

I found 'The No cry sleep solution' by Elizabeth Pantley really helpful. I was able to pick the techniques from it that felt right for me and my DD.

Having a routine worked wonders for us. Bath at the same time every night, followed by bottle and rocking in rocking chair, nappy change, and then bed. Not being afraid to let the baby cry for a short time, so she learnt to settle herself. Worked amazingly quickly, my daughter and son were normally fast asleep within about 10 minutes or less of being put down.

Try and get into a routine as soon as you can, but be realistic, it ain't gonna happen within the first week or 2. You need to get to know your baby's personality and do what works for you all. Please bear in mind that it's not just the last feed that helps them sleep through the night but the day's feeds as a whole.

Not being incredibly quiet after they've gone to bed: we tiptoed around the first and he woke with a start at every tiny sound. His little sister had to learn to sleep through his noise and an express train running through the bedroom wouldn't wake her now.

Mind you, from that we also learnt that babies are different and have different sleep needs: accepting that DS is a night owl who just seems to need less sleep than the books advise would have saved us a lot of anxiety at the time. And it made us appreciate DD and her incredible enjoyment of slobbing about under her duvet so much more!

I have three small children (0,2 and 4) and all three have needed different things to help them get a good night's sleep. For example, one loved being swaddled tight, whilst another hated being swaddled. One loved being cuddled, two of them would only sleep (including naps) if put down. Bedtime baths send one of my children to sleep; for the other two it is disasterous as it wakes them up and sends them hyperactive! I think it is all about trial and error - read some of the tips, but just because they worked for someone else's child, it doesn't mean it will be the solution for you.
The one thing I do think is important is having a bedtime routine, which includes some wind-down time near bedtime, whether that is reading a books, having a bath etc.

Stay calm and deep breathe, if it seems like nothing is working and your patience is wearing thin then take a deep breath and keep trying your child can tell if you are stressed or irritated and react to the situation.

We let our son choose a story and we have wind down time, if he cries through the night we don't go to him straight away but leave it a short moment as sometimes he is happy enough to selg settle and go back to sleep

Routine from an early age, and always put baby to sleep in bed, not to let them fall asleep on you then transfer, they have less chance of self soothing then

Try and start as you mean to go on. Obviously routine is key but other big pro points for me were to put baby down awake so he learnt to fall asleep on his own and also not to tiptoe round. They would both sleep through a war i am sure but maybe they just got it from their Daddy :)

Stick with a routine that calms the baby down so lots of lullabies and cuddles

Don't stress yourself! Make sure babe is fed and clean and it should be a doddle! I found if we had a "wind-down" hour before bedtime it helped with them going straight off. Now I have trouble getting them out of bed! (They are 14 & 11). My 2 year old loves his sleep so I've never had any trouble with him.

A warm bath and a cool bedroom seem to work for me.

Stick to a routine. Set time every evening of dinner, bath, warm milk, cuddles, story, sleep. Maybe singing a lullaby if that works for your child. Also try to always put your baby/toddler down in their Moses basket/cot/bed for any daytime naps rather than in your arms or on a sofa etc.

A regular bedtime routine, supper, bath , and bed

Routine is the best thing & put baby to bed when drowsy & not asleep. This will encourage them to drift off to sleep themselves rather than being reliant on you rocking or soothing them

Pearl of wisdom, they are all different and your child/ren is probably entirely different to your friend's/sister's/neighbour's, so just be patient with yourself and each other

Have a routine and stick to it
Bath and quiet time, lights dimmed
Baby massage after
Bottle/Breast feed
Bed

I have found that with my 5 children letting them whinge it out has worked perfectly. We never left them crying a heartbreaking cry but when they whinged we left them. If we did go in we just gave them their dummy and tucked them in without any communication. We have never had a child that hasn't slept for at least 10 hours from them being 6 weeks old!

A bath before bed, then read them a bedtime story and play soothing music before i leave the room. This works every night :)

My two sons couldn't be more different, therefore I don't think that there is just one way of giving your child a good bedtime routine. But one thing was important for both, to have a routine and to stick to it. We found that bathtime was too much of a fun-time to have them relaxed and prepared for a good sleep, so therefore, bathtime happens before dinner in our house. We also found that installing dimmer-switches was extremely helpful in the evening, so you do not send your child from a very bright room into the darkness of their bedrooms. Another thing that worked for both is that you have to be as relaxed as you want your children to be. Do not rush bedtime, take your time for all the routines, from changing, over brushing the teeth to reading or story telling. It means much less hassle when your children feel they don't miss out once it's bedtime.

I have 9 children and have found them all fairly easy to get them to sleep through at night. I didn't believe in putting a baby in a cot at 7pm and then expect them to try to get into a routine to get them to sleep through until morning so I have always kept my baby up with me in the living room to start with and fed them a lot throughout the evening and again just before I went to bed at night round 12am. I went to bed at the same time as the baby went down into the cot of moses basket at night so we were sleeping at the same time. Mostly it started off that we slept from 12-4 or 5am and then it started stretching out longer and longer until very quickly the baby was sleeping from 11 or 12 through to 7 or 8am. All babies are different though and one factor that helped me that some of my babies were on the larger side. (4 were round 8lbs and 5 were 9lbs up to 10lb 8.5oz!)