How to get your baby to sleep through the night

Published on August 11 2011 by Sarah-Beth Watkins

There is nothing worse than a baby who can’t sleep when you are tired and exhausted yourself. This article provides some tips of how to try to get a baby to sleep through the night so that both the parents and the baby can have a good night's sleep.

Get busy in the daytime

We sleep better after we have had a busy day. That goes for a baby as well. New and stimulating things that happen in the daytime will wear babies out and help them to sleep better at night.

Try playing new games with them and give them new and exciting things to do. Physical activity is tiring and so, let them crawl about or use a bouncer to exercise their legs.

Get outside

Getting outside provides great stimulation. New faces and places aid babies development and gives them something new to recognise and think about. Meeting up with other babies for playtime can help tire them out for later on too.

Cat naps

If a baby is up throughout the day, it is more likely to sleep at night. Whilst we do not condone keeping baby awake all day, you can just let them have cat naps rather than a four-hour doze.

A baby that sleeps for hours in the day will not sleep all night long. Let them have their rest but wake them gently if it looks like they are going to have a marathon snooze.

Relax in the evening

In the evening, prepare baby for bedtime so that they feel comfortable and ready to sleep. Give them a relaxing bath with soothing baby bath to help them relax. Before you dress them for bed, use baby oil to give them a soothing and gentle massage that will help them to unwind.

Make sure that they are fed and changed so that both ends are covered. Then, you are ready to settle them down.

Make bedtime special

Make bedtime something that they look forward to by snuggling up to read a story or play soft music. If baby settles with a light and sound mobile, leave this on but make sure that it is not too stimulating and that it won’t keep it awake. Dim the lights and tuck them in you and your baby will sleep through the night.