Good Sleeper Tips

Meltodd's post gave me inspiration... how about we start a thread giving all our words of wisdom and tips for raising good sleepers?

Um, I'll start, but as you all know, my daughter isn't a good sleeper candidate. What helped the most was setting a routine. 7am wake-up, 12:30pm-2:30pm naptime, 8pm sleepytime.

I still haven't mastered the art of getting her to sleep anywhere but the car or her crib...

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

I have a few:

1. When she was a newborn after 6 I woudl feed her every 2 hours, instead of every 3.

2. Bedtime Routine: Ours was eat, bathtime, massage, read, eat again and then off to bed.

3. Dream feed. When she was 3-6 months, the dream feed saved us. I would take her out of her crib and feed her between 10 and 10:30. It helped her sleep at night.

4. Lots of pacifiers in the crib. Now that she is older, shec an just reach out and a pacifier is right there. She usually pops it into her mouth and goes back to sleep.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

CIO, CIO, CIO worked wonders for us

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

From the first night in the hospital if I needed to feed him during the night it was dark or their was a night light.

I started to put him to bed at 7:30pm instead of lettting him nap at that time

Once he started to stay awake after he finished his bedtime bottle I put him in his crib awake with the mobile on and he would fall asleep on his own.

I also have not master the "my baby sleeps anywhere" and I get slack for that sometimes but I really can't help it if he wont sleep anywhere else.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

Learning finally how to breast feed in bed- she goes right back to sleep rather than from the rocker to the basinett.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

Consistency is the key...keep to the schedule

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

Get him into his crib IN HISHER ROOM by the first month for atleast naps, by two for sleeping.
Close the door, this was easy for us since we had a video monitor.
Allow your phone and door bell to ring as well as use your vac during naps get them used to white noise and interruptions early so that hopefully they will get used to them
And around 6-7 months turn that monitor off once you know they are alseep!!

And remember its about them sleeping not really us, so try your best not to fall into the taking the baby into your bed routine so you can both nap more then a few times.... the couch and the hammock are a different story as long as you learn when you wake up to get them in their crib.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

I am NO expert, but here's my tips, pfft, sounds funny to even say that

I found the most useful information to be for babies over 4 months, their conditions at bedtime need to match the conditions they wake up to in the middle of the night. For example, don't rock them to sleep at night if you don't want to wake up and do it everytime they wake up, as well. So, put them in their crib awake to fall asleep on their own so that they are used to it when they wake in the middle of the night.

Also, NO SNEAKING OUT OF THE ROOM! If you make leaving the room into a sneaky thing, they think something's wrong.

Having a consistent schedule is such key!

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

Don't jump up at the first wimper. I always wait 5-10 minutes to see if Molly will go back to sleep on her own. Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't. Just resist the urge to rush right in.

Also, keep your monitor turned down low or turn it off. We can hear the kids from our bedroom, so if someone wakes up and they are crying we will hear them. Having the monitor right next to your ear during the night will not give anyone a good night sleep.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

Message edited 3/6/2007 9:44:47 PM.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

I have 2 children who have been sleeping 12 hour nights since they are 3 months old.... I think they are just good sleeper like their mommy , but

1) Consistency is key, I agree. Same routine at nap and bedtime.

2) 2 minute rule. If you hear them stir, wait 2 minutes and they usually go back to sleep on thier own.

3) both sleep in their own bed/crib in their own room.

4) I do not use room darkening blinds, they can sleep in any kind of light and/or dark. I do have small LED night lights in each of their rooms.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

For us consistency was the key. I rarely deviate from her night time routine. In the middle of the night wait a couple of minutes to see if they will settle back down on their own. They need to get used to sleeping on their own so start putting them in their cribs as often as possible after they are 3 months old. Don't keep a lot of toys in their room. I don't really let my DD play in her room either. Her room is for sleeping and getting dressed. So she knows if we go in there it's for either reason and that's it. Read their sleepy cues. If she refuses to nap then she is going to bed earlier.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

For us a schedule worked wonders. We also put them down awake from the beginning, there was no way I was holding two babies until they fell asleep. We put them in the crib, swaddled them in the beginning and left. We went in to sotthe them only in the beginning, but we were lucky to have very good sleeprs from the beginning.

We also just let them stay in their crib until they fall asleep. Even at nap times, they go in at 1:30 - 1:45 and even if they are stil babbeling and playing at 3:30 they are there until 4:30 - 5:00 unless they start screaming, which is rare. At times they will not fall asleep until 4:00, but we want them to know that this is realxing time. They have each toher in the same room so this makes it a lot easier they have someone to talk with which they play wiht the stuff in thier crib. Normally they nap once a day from 1:45 to 5:00 unless they cat nap in the car before we can get them in thier cribs.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

Posted by Moehick

Consistency is the key...keep to the schedule

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

If you're doing a bassinet at night, start using the crib for naps as soon as you can.

Agree with consistency with the schedule.

Sleep begets sleep. If your baby isn't taking at least two naps during the day lasting one to two hours, you will have sleep interruptions throughout the night.

Learn to recognize the sleepiness signs - 10 mile stare, turning away from stimuli, rubbing eyes.

Put them down to sleep when they're sleepy, not when they're asleep.

and for my kids personally - Belly sleeping resulted in 3 hour naps versus 20 minute naps. (insert SIDS warnings here).

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

I had 2 bad sleepers...Im taking notes from all you smart ladies for # 3!!!

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

Well what I have learned especially for when #2 rolls around is this:

1) From day one, it will be sleepy time in the CRIB AND CRIB ONLY.

2) There will be no rocking to sleep of any kind. There will be cuddly rocking, but not rocking until fully asleep.

3) There will be CIO implemented at 5 months old. I will not wait a year until sleeping thru the night takes effect.

I will be consistent and stick to my guns.

I will be drinking more.. j/k...

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

Julia pretty much set her own schedule, I feel co-sleeping had a lot to do with it.

Truthfully Julia never had any sleep issues from day one. She really was a great sleeper and never had any problems sleeping where ever she was (except the crib-lol).

Sorry I can't give out any tips cause I just followed what ever Julia wanted to do, I wasn't so stressed on a schedule plan with her.

BF I feel also helped, she was never on a schedule with eating, she would BF when ever she wanted also, I did that for 11 months!

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

Posted by CheeChee

Well what I have learned especially for when #2 rolls around is this:

1) From day one, it will be sleepy time in the CRIB AND CRIB ONLY.

2) There will be no rocking to sleep of any kind. There will be cuddly rocking, but not rocking until fully asleep.

3) There will be CIO implemented at 5 months old. I will not wait a year until sleeping thru the night takes effect.

I will be consistent and stick to my guns.

I will be drinking more.. j/k...

Message edited 3/6/2007 11:42:59 PM.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

I am not blessed with a good sleeper but what works for us is to read books with her in her room with a small light and then put her in her crib awake. We play soft music and keep pacifiers in her crib. She will grab one and roll over and we rub her back for a few minutes. We then leave the room and let her fuss. We usually dont let her go longer than 15 minutes and she is usually out before that. If she is still awake, we lay her back down and rub her back some more and that usually works.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

Posted by Moehick

Consistency is the key...keep to the schedule

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

Even a half hour difference in bed time can make a difference. Jack sleeps in until 8am if he goes to bed at 7pm. If he goes to bed past 7:30 he is up at 6:45. Putting your kids to bed early is key!

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

DS is a pretty good sleeper (with exception of a couple of night a week for the last few weeks), but what really helps us get him down for bed and naps is to put him in the crib when he is still awake. If he falls asleep in arms, he will not sleep well. I calm him down by holding and snuggling, then when his eyes are droopy, I put him down and he falls asleep in minutes.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

--never put the lights after midnight

--at 2 months when we moved Bella to her crib, I started saying goodnight to her when we put her in bed at around 9-10 pm even when she wasn't sleeping through the night. I had people who babysit do the same thing.
She associates that now, and that night-night means bedtime.

She actually came over to me at 7:45 the other night and looked up at me and said night-night with her arms up. Into the crib she went and that was that.

--I learned from Stefanie, the 3 hour rule. Every 3 hours, a nap. definitely helped even when she was only taking catnaps...still does only it's a 4 hour rule.

Re: Good Sleeper Tips

DS isn't a very good sleeper, but he's gotten better with a strict schedule. I also know the second he puts his hands to his eyes it's time for a nap. He doesn't nap for long usually but he does take 3 naps a day.