Say "Goodnight" to Night-feedings.

Are you and your little one ready to sleep through the night?

If your child is 4 months or older, weighs more than 16lbs and is starting to sleep longer at night (5-6 hour stretches) this may be something you can achieve with minimal protest in a few days of consistent diligence.

The Key: keep your kiddo awake and alert for EVERY feed. Even the middle of the night ones. So, yes… diligence will be necessary.

If you are working on the Eat -> Play -> Sleep routine, you’ll notice that your child will begin to go to sleep independently for most of their naps. However, at night there is no activity time and babies are practically unconscious (and you may be too) while they are eating. So here are some recommendations for how to progress to independent sleep skills, even at night:

1. Set a 6 minute timer when kiddos wake anytime in the night. If they go back to sleep on their own, awesome! Your job is done! Remember that magical things happen in a mere 6-10 minutes.

2. If protests are increasing when the timer goes off, you may go offer them a an awake feeding, then sing your bedtime song and get them back into bed.

Patience is key, but if you’re experiencing lots of intense crying, multiple stubborn night wakings, and/or a difficultly in keeping baby awake for longer than 14 days then it’s time to reach out – my job is to make things like this easy and quick so that everyone can get the sleep they need.

If your child is 6-18 weeks of age and you’re interested in teaching the skills that support easily sleeping through the night when it’s time, I recommend you check out my 6-week online newborn sleep course, Sleep From The Start. It’s a gentle way to take baby steps to independent sleep.