How to Get Baby to Sleep Through the Night

By Chris Towland

Few things, if any, match the overwhelming joy a baby can bring. But for many parents, the lack of a good nights sleep can sometimes tarnish that joy, just a little.

If you are in that situation where your baby is struggling to sleep and so you and the rest of your family are feeling more and more exhausted as every day goes by, here are a few ideas on how to get baby to sleep through the night.

Establishing a night time routine is one way to get baby to sleep through the night. Give him or her a bath, have one last feed and say goodnight with a warm kiss and a smile. Do not stimulate the baby, as this will make it a long drawn out process. Being consistent will also be important. The baby must know what is going to happen next and what bedtime means.

Another way to get baby to sleep through the night is to make sure that some one-on-one snuggle time is in your routine. You don’t want to just dump the baby into his or her crib without another word. Take advantage of your baby’s attachment to a blanket or cuddly animal. If they haven’t established this yet, help them to find something that will make them feel comfortable when you are not there. An object like this, often called a transitional object, can give your baby comfort and help him or her to get to sleep, both when first put to bed and also on waking during the night.

If the baby does cry for you in the night and you know she is not wet or hungry, avoid the temptation to pick her up and rock her back to sleep. She will quickly become accustomed to that and will want it every time she stirs in the night. That is not to say you cannot comfort her at all of course. Rub her back gently, speak softly but don’t pick her up. Babies learn very quickly what you will do to make them happy.

It is important that you stick to this for a several nights. Babies will often cry for a shorter period of time each night until eventually, the baby will learn how to sleep through the night. Be careful not to give in. Even if the baby has cried for an hour before you pick her up, you still must resist the temptation if at all possible. All this is going to do is teach her that you will pick her up if she cries long enough.

Let me just repeat here that this is NOT a suggestion that you just leave your baby to cry it out, instead the idea is that you are with him or her to provide comfort but just do not give in to picking your baby up to rock him or her back to sleep.


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