By Elizabeth Pantley, Author of No Cry Sleep Solution

A good way to encourage good sleep is to get familiar with your baby’s sleepy signals, and put her down to sleep as soon as she seems tired. A baby cannot put herself to sleep, nor can she understand her own sleepy signs.

A baby who is encouraged to stay awake when her body is craving sleep is typically an unhappy, fussy baby. Over time, the pattern develops into sleep deprivation, which further complicates and interferes with your baby’s developing sleep maturity.

Pia, mother of eight-month-old Carrson talks about this problem, “I discovered that I had been putting Carrson to bed purely by the clock, not at all by his tiredness. Once I changed this dynamic and began identifying his sleepy signals he fell asleep easier and slept longer.”

Watch the clock, too!
Most newborns can only handle one or two hours of wakefulness at a time. A three-month-old gets tired after two to three hours of awake time. A one-year-old can be cheerful for about three to four hours, and a two-year-old about five to six hours. Once your child has passed his happy wakefulness stage he’ll quickly become overtired. He’ll then be easily overstimulated and find it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Find that magic moment
Using the clock as a guide, and your child’s sleepy signals as indicators, you can find the magic moment when your baby is tired, but not overtired. When you witness those signs it’s a quick but calm trip right to bed – don’t launch into a prolonged pre-bed routine since your child may then get a second wind!

Typical sleepy signals
Every child is unique and has his own sleepy signs, and you can watch and learn these. Your child may demonstrate one or more of these signs that tell you he is tired and ready to sleep – now:

• reducing his level of movement and activity
• becoming more quiet
• losing interest in people , toys and playtime
• rubbing his eyes
• looking glazed or unfocused
• having a more relaxed jaw, chin and mouth (droopy looking)
• becoming whiny and cranky
• fussing or crying
• losing patience or having tantrums
• yawning
• lying down or slumping in his seat
• watching television or a movie with a blank expression
• caressing a lovey or blanket
• asking for a pacifier, bottle or to nurse

Your child may demonstrate one or two of these sleepy signs, or even something entirely different. The signs may change at each stage of development. The key is to watch your child and encourage him to go to sleep when he is tired.

Excerpted with permission by McGraw-Hill Publishing from No Cry Sleep Solution (McGraw-Hill) by Elizabeth Pantley http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth

About the author:
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of several books, including Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry — Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, Kid Cooperation (with an introduction by William Sears, MD), Perfect Parenting, as well as her latest The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and is also president of Better Beginnings, Inc. She is a popular speaker on family issues, and her newsletter, Parent Tips, is seen in schools nationwide. She appears as a regular radio show guest, and has been quoted in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, American Baby, Working Mother, and Woman’s Day magazines. Visit Elizabeth’s web site http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth.

By Elizabeth Pantley, Author of No Cry Sleep Solution

According to sleep research, and motherly experience, the length and the quality of naps affect nighttime sleep. (And, conversely, nighttime sleep affects naps.)

Babies differ in their napping needs – but here’s a general guide that applies to most babies:

When should your baby nap?
Timing of naps is important. A nap too late in the day will negatively affect nighttime sleep. Certain times of the day are better for napping because they suit your baby’s biological clock; these optimum periods balance sleep and wake time to affect nighttime sleep in the most positive way.

All babies are different, but generally, the best nap times are as follows:
If baby takes three naps: midmorning/early afternoon/early evening
If baby takes two naps: midmorning/early afternoon
If baby takes one nap: early afternoon

Watch your baby’s sleepy signals!
Naps should happen immediately when your baby shows signs of tiredness. If you wait too long, she becomes overtired, “wired up,” and unable to sleep.

Once you are familiar with the your baby’s nap needs you can plan a nap routine to start the wind-down process. If consistent naps are new to you look more for your baby’s signs of tiredness and scrimp on the routine until you settle into a predictable pattern. In other words, don’t begin a lengthy pre-nap routine if your baby is clearly ready to sleep! Watch for these signs of fatigue; your baby may demonstrate one or more of these:

Decreasing activity quieting down losing interest in people and toys rubbing eyes looking “glazed” fussing yawning laying down caressing a lovey or asking for a pacifier, bottle or to nurse

Timing is very, very important!
You have probably experienced this scenario: Your baby looks tired and you think, “Time for a nap.” So, you wash her hands and face, change her diaper, answer a phone call, put out the dog, and head for baby’s crib or the family bed, only to find that she’s suddenly wide awake and anxious to play!

What happened? She has moved through her window of tiredness and gotten that “second wind” that buys her another hour or two of alert time before she re-enters her tired state. This can often happen later in the day. Suddenly, your baby is (finally!) ready for a nap at dinnertime, and the plot thickens- do you put her for a late nap and thus extend bedtime, or keep her awake and deal with a tired, fussy baby? Rather than face this ordeal, respond earlier to her signs of fatigue and get her in for her nap right at that time.

Once you have watched your baby carefully for a week or so, you should be able to create a nap schedule that works with her daily periods of alertness and tiredness, thus making your nap schedule easy to adhere to.

The nap routine
Once you’ve established a nap schedule for your baby, it is very helpful if you create a simple but specific nap routine. This routine should be different from your nighttime routine, although it can have similarities that signal sleep- for example, the presence of a lovely or special sleep-inducing music. Follow your nap routine the same way every day. (Except, as I mentioned before, if your baby is showing clear signs of being tired and ready to sleep. Then abbreviate or even eliminate your routine for that day.)

For a reluctant napper, your routine might include some relaxing motion, such as rocking/relaxing in a swing/walking in a sling or stroller, and some gentle lullaby music.

A nap routine doesn’t have to be long and involved to be effective. If your baby’s nap occurs about the same time every day there will be many subtle cues, such as the timing of his lunch, that tell your baby that nap time is nearing.

Better naps mean better nighttime sleep.

About the Author:
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of several books, including Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry — Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, Kid Cooperation (with an introduction by William Sears, MD), Perfect Parenting, as well as her latest The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and is also president of Better Beginnings, Inc. She is a popular speaker on family issues, and her newsletter, Parent Tips, is seen in schools nationwide. She appears as a regular radio show guest, and has been quoted in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, American Baby, Working Mother, and Woman’s Day magazines. Visit Elizabeth’s web site http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth.

By Elizabeth Pantley, Author of No Cry Sleep Solution

The environment that your baby enjoyed for nine long months in the womb was not one of absolute quiet. There was a constant symphony of sound — your heartbeat and fluids rushing in and out of the placenta. (Remember those sounds from when you listened to your baby’s heartbeat with the Doppler stethoscope?) Research indicates that “white noise” sounds or soft bedtime music helps many babies to relax and fall asleep more easily. This is most certainly because these sounds create an environment more familiar to your baby than a very quiet room.

Many people enjoy using soothing music as their baby’s sleep sound. If you do, choose bedtime music carefully. Some music (including jazz and much classical music) is too complex and stimulating. For music to be soothing to your baby, pick simple, repetitive, predictable music, like traditional lullabies. Tapes created especially for putting babies to sleep are great choices. Pick something that you will enjoy listening to night after night, too. (Using a tape player with an automatic repeat function is helpful for keeping the music going as long as you need it to play.)

There are widely available, and very lovely, “nature sounds” tapes that work nicely, too, as well those small sound-generating or white-noise devices and clocks you may have seen in stores. The sounds on these — raindrops, a bubbling brook or running water — often are similar to those sounds your baby heard in utero. A ticking clock or a bubbling fish tank also make wonderful white-noise options.

“I went out today and bought a small aquarium and the humming noise does seem to relax Chloe and help her to sleep. I didn’t buy any fish though. Who has time to take care of fish when you’re half asleep all day?” Tanya, mother of 13-month-old Chloe.

You can find some suitable tapes and CDs made especially for babies or those made for adults to listen to when they want to relax. Whatever you choose, listen to it first and ask yourself: Does this relax me? Would it make me feel sleepy if I listened to it in bed?

If you must put your baby to sleep in a noisy, active house full of people, keeping the tape running (auto rewind) will help mask baby-waking noises like dishes clanking, people talking, siblings giggling, TV, dogs barking, etc. This can also help transition your sleeping baby from a noisy daytime house to which he’s become accustomed subconsciously to one of absolute nighttime quiet.

Once your baby is familiar with his calming noise, or music, you can use these to help your baby fall back to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Simply sooth him by playing the music (very quietly) during the calming and falling-asleep time. If he wakes and cries, repeat this process.

If your baby gets used to his sleep time sounds you can take advantage of this and take the tape with you if you will be away from home for naptime or bedtime. The familiarity of these sounds will help your baby sleep in an unfamiliar environment.

Eventually your baby will rely on this technique less and less to fall and stay asleep. Don’t feel you must rush the process; there is no harm in your baby falling asleep to these gentle sounds. When you are ready to wean him of these you can help this process along by reducing the volume by a small amount every night until you finally don’t turn the music or sounds on at all.

Babies enjoy these peaceful sounds, and they are just one more piece in the puzzle that helps you to help your baby sleep – gently, without any crying at all.

About the Author:
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of several books, including Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry — Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, Kid Cooperation (with an introduction by William Sears, MD), Perfect Parenting, as well as her latest The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and is also president of Better Beginnings, Inc. She is a popular speaker on family issues, and her newsletter, Parent Tips, is seen in schools nationwide. She appears as a regular radio show guest, and has been quoted in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, American Baby, Working Mother, and Woman’s Day magazines. Visit Elizabeth’s web site http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth.

By Elizabeth Pantley, Author of No Cry Sleep Solution

Here’s something that may really surprise you: As much as we may want our babies to sleep through the night, our own subconscious emotions sometimes hold us back from encouraging change in our babies’ sleeping habits. You yourself may be the very obstacle preventing a change in a routine that disrupts your life. So let’s figure out if anything is standing in your way.

Examine Your Own Needs and Goals
Today’s society leads us to believe that “normal babies” sleep through the night from about two months; my research indicates that this is more the exception than the rule. The number of families in your boat could fill a fleet of cruise ships.

“At our last day-care parent meeting, one father brought up the fact that his two-year-old daughter wasn’t sleeping through the night. I discovered that out of 24 toddlers only six stayed asleep all night long.” …Robin, mother of thirteen-month-old Alicia

You must figure out where your own problem lies. Is it in your baby’s routine, in your management of it, or simply in the minds of others? If you can honestly say you want to change your baby’s sleep habits because they are truly disruptive to you and your family, then you’re ready to make changes. But if you feel coerced into changing Baby’s patterns because Great Grandma Beulah or your friend from playgroup says that’s the way it should be, it’s time for a long, hard think.

Certainly, if your little one is waking you up every hour or two, you don’t have to think long on the question, “Is this disruptive to me?” It obviously is. However, if your baby is waking up only once or twice a night, it’s important that you determine exactly how much this pattern is disturbing to you, and decide on a realistic goal. Be honest in assessing the situation’s effect on your life. Begin today by contemplating these questions:

By Heather Owens

When you first come home with your new baby, there are so many new things to learn that it can be quite overwhelming. One priority, however, is to help your baby establish good sleeping habits. For a long time now baby has been sleeping in your womb, which is quite a restful place. The big, wide world is quite different, and it takes time for baby to learn to adapt. But the sooner you can help baby sleeping well, the sooner you can get some much needed rest yourself!

There are probably as many stories about what helps babies to sleep as there are babies – and the reality is that there isn’t one totally successful secret that works with all babies. However it’s very important to find a way to help your baby to transition between being awake and being asleep. Once baby can do this on his own, he will be able to fall asleep much more easily and with a lot less effort from you. Establishing a routine that baby associates with going to sleep. Use the tips below as a starting point, to try and determine the best way to help your baby through transition. And always remember to trust your instincts – it’s amazing how often they’re right.

Fathering Down

One useful trick if daddy is around at bedtime, is called “fathering down”. Just before putting the baby to bed, daddy should cradle baby, with baby’s head resting on his daddy’s neck. Daddy should then talk to baby in a gentle voice. A male’s voice is much deeper than a female’s, and many babies find that deepness soothing, and so will transition into sleep more easily.

Wearing Down

Another technique is called “wearing down”. No, this doesn’t mean playing with baby until he’s so exhausted that he falls asleep on the floor! The idea is for you place your baby in a sling or carrier – “wear him”, basically – and go about your regular household activities in the lead up to bedtime. This is particularly helpful if baby has been very active and is either too excited to sleep or overtired. Moving about with you helps to rock and soothe baby, and so calm him down in preparation for bedtime.

Driving Down

A more modern option is “driving down”. Most parents have heard of this trick, which basically involves putting your baby in his car seat and driving around for a while until he’s asleep. Unfortunately this is rather inconvenient and uses up petrol, but if you’re desperate, it’s worth a try – it has a very high success rate. When my children were babies, I often used to time driving somewhere or coming home so that it roughly coincided with the start of my baby’s naptime. Then once we were home I’d transfer my baby into his bassinet or crib, and he’d have a lovely long nap. I’ve been known to take the long route home for just this reason!

Although these techniques are generally successful, obviously you don’t want to be obliged to drive around with your baby every night just so he’ll go to sleep. The idea of these techniques is to start out with these more drastic techniques, to help baby learn the feel of going off to sleep, then gradually ease out of them. Replace driving in a car, for example, with being rocked in the bassinet. Always remember that learning to transition into sleep is a big thing for your baby to learn, and it probably won’t happen overnight. With patience and persistence, however, baby will gradually learn how to fall asleep by himself, helping both baby and yourself get a good night’s sleep.

About the Author:

Discover more ideas for helping baby to sleep well at Info About Baby You can sign up for a FREE Baby Tips newsletter at Baby Tips Newsletter. The author’s book about babies is available at Baby’s First Year.

by: Elizabeth Pantley, author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution

Naps are important for your child’s health and growth. A nap refreshes a child so that she can maintain her energy for the rest of the day. Studies show that children who nap are more adaptable, have longer attention spans, and are less fussy than those who don’t nap.

Does your child needs a nap?
Here are signs that your child would benefit from a nap:

1. Wakes up happy, but gets cranky later
2. Has more patience early in the day
3. Cries more easily in the evening
4. Has an afternoon slump then gets a second wind
5. Has temper tantrums during the bedtime routine
6. Falls asleep in the car or when watching TV

How much naptime does your child need?
Children differ in their sleep needs — but this chart applies to most. Even if your child’s sleep hours add up to the right total, his behavior tells you more than any chart could. When in doubt try for a nap, since even quiet time can help a child feel refreshed.

Average hours of day and night sleep

*These averages don’t signify unbroken stretches of sleep since night waking is normal. © Elizabeth Pantley, The No-Cry Sleep Solution (McGraw-Hill)

Timing and length of naps
Timing of naps is important. A late nap will prevent your child from being tired at bedtime. Generally, the best nap times are:

• Two naps: midmorning (9:00 – 11:00) and early afternoon (12:00 – 2:30)
• One nap: early afternoon (12:00 – 2:30); after lunch

If your child tends towards short naps, don’t assume it’s all she needs. Try these tips for better naps:

• Provide a healthy lunch or snack before nap.
• Keep the room dark.
• Play lullabies or white noise during the nap.
• Dress her in comfortable clothes.
• Be sure that discomfort (teething, allergies, etc.) isn’t preventing sleep.

Watch for signs of tiredness
Tired children fall asleep easily. If you miss the signals they become overtired and are unable to sleep. Your child may show one or more of these signs that tell you he is tired and ready to nap:

• losing interest in playtime
• becoming whiny or fussy
• losing patience
• having tantrums
• rubbing eyes or yawning
• caressing a lovey or blanket
• asking for a pacifier, bottle or to nurse

The nap routine
Once you’ve created a schedule that works with your child’s periods of tiredness, follow a simple but specific nap routine. Your child will be comfortable with a pattern to his day. He may predict when naptime approaches and willingly cooperate with you.

Nap routines change
Children’s sleep needs change over time. The routine that you set up today won’t be the same one you’re using a year from now. Be adaptable!

Copyright Elizabeth Pantley. (McGraw-Hill, 2003)

About the Author:
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of several books, including Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry — Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, Kid Cooperation (with an introduction by William Sears, MD), Perfect Parenting, as well as her latest The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and is also president of Better Beginnings, Inc. She is a popular speaker on family issues, and her newsletter, Parent Tips, is seen in schools nationwide. She appears as a regular radio show guest, and has been quoted in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, American Baby, Working Mother, and Woman’s Day magazines. Visit Elizabeth’s web site http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth.

It can be so hard to get your baby to fall asleep, even when you know he is tired. He may fight sleep and having to rest by kicking, screaming, crying or just fussing. Needless to say, while he is fighting it, you will probably be going nuts yourself. Babies are stubborn and when they do not want to do something they are sure to let everyone who will listen know about it. Parents often find themselves asking what they can do to get their babies to sleep easier and sleep longer. We have the answers!

1. Create a bedtime routine. Your baby may fall asleep easier if there is an order that you do things every evening and he knows what to expect. Some babies don’t like the feeling of surprise when they are put to bed and would rather be eased into it. Start with dinner, a bath, nursing and then bed. If you want you can throw in a song, a story, or a massage.

2. Try to get your newborn to bed when he is sleepy but not overtired. If you let him get overtired he may have a harder time falling asleep and fight it more. If he is sleepy he will probably let his body’s natural instinct take over and lull him to sleep.

3. Use the light and dark to help “program” your baby. Wake your baby up in the morning once the sun comes up and start putting him to bed as the sun goes down and the room gets dark. Let the natural light help teach your baby when to fall asleep and when to wake up.

4. Check the sleep environment. You don’t want the area he sleeps in to be too busy or have too much going on. Find a quiet corner his bed can go in and take the toys out of the bed. Allow him no distractions so that he can easily go to sleep.

5. Teach your baby how to self-soothe. It is never too early to think about it so that when it is time to begin you can easily help your baby start putting himself to sleep. Once your baby can calm himself and put himself to sleep, it will free up your time to take care of other family matters. It will also help him be able to fall BACK to sleep after being awoken.

6. Pay attention to his pattern. If you watch his sleeping you will begin to notice a pattern forming of when he is tired, is ready for bed, how long he will sleep and you will know about when he will wake up. Knowing your baby’s schedule will make it easier to judge when he needs to sleep and how long you have before he wakes up.

7. Avoid stimulation. Highly stimulating forms of activity right before bedtime can wind up your baby making it hard to get him to settle down and go to sleep. Keep it calm and quiet in the house leading up to his bedtime so that he will fall asleep with little fuss.

Napping a Six Month Old
By the halfway point of your baby’s life, not only has he hit a ton of milestones, but he is probably on a regular nap schedule throughout the day. Most babies will be waking up and going to bed at night about the same time, and taking a couple of naps a day for a couple of hours each. These will normally be in the morning and afternoon. At this point it becomes much easier for mom and dad to plan outings as well as meals in the house, because they know when their baby will be awake, and when he will be asleep.

Napping a One Year Old
Most one year olds are still taking a couple of naps a day at this point; however the naps may not be lasting as long. Your baby is probably up walking, running, and very interested in the world around him. It may be hard to get your baby to actually settle down and take a nap, when there is so much else that they would love to do. Enjoy the down time you do have however, because it may not last much longer.

Napping an 18 Month Old
By the time your baby is 18 months old he probably would have cut out one of his naps. Instead of a mid-morning and mid-afternoon nap, he will probably just be taking his afternoon nap, although it may have moved closer to noon or right after lunch. It also may have gotten longer. Where your baby may have only been sleeping an hour to an hour and a half in the afternoon, he could possibly be sleeping 3 hours now. Make the most of this time during your day and get stuff done.

Napping a Two to Three Year Old
Sometime during your baby’s second and third birthday it is highly likely that he will no longer be taking naps. There is entirely too much going on in his world and too much to see and do. You will put him in his crib or toddler bed and he may sit and play for the two hours he is there instead of napping. Your peace and quiet may be coming to an end. The good news is that since your child still needs at least 12 hours of sleep a day, it might be possible to put him to bed early, around six in the evening and have him sleep all night. This will give you that free time in the evenings to get done things that you were not able to get done during the day.

It will happen. We promise you. One day your baby WILL sleep through the night. It may be soon, and unfortunately it could be much, much later. If you are lucky by the time your baby is a few months old you will both be getting at least a full eight hours of sleep. If you aren’t so lucky you may have a baby that wakes up several times at night throughout at least the first year.

What constitutes sleeping through the night? Many people consider it eight hours straight, without waking up. Others may consider it the time that they are asleep themselves, whether it be six hours or 10. Some people may consider their baby sleeping through the night when he only wakes up to nurse once in a 12 hour period. Sleeping through the night can really be a subjective issue for the parents.

Some babies will begin sleeping through the night very early. Some parents will have a baby who first sleeps through the night as young as two weeks old. This age is rare but is definitely possible, however some pediatricians will recommend to parents to wake their baby up in order to feed them, instead of letting them sleep all night. Other babies may not start sleeping through the night till two, three or even six months. Breastfed babies may not sleep through the night till after they have been weaned or until most of their nourishment comes from table food and not breast milk.

Now contrary to a popular myth, starting your baby on cereal early, or putting cereal in a bottle of breast milk or formula will not help your baby sleep longer or through the night. In fact starting your baby on cereal too early as an effort to make them sleep longer could trigger allergies in your child that will make life harder down the road.

If your baby is having a hard time sleeping through the night, or putting himself to sleep there are sleep training books on the market that offer different points of view and can help you in getting your child to sleep. These range from letting them cry it out, to letting them fall asleep on you and sleep with you in your bed.

If you feel like you can no longer handle your baby not sleeping through the night or that it is taking a toll on you, your family or your marriage, don’t hesitate to ask your pediatrician for any suggestions they have to help your baby sleep through the night, and helping you cope with the lack of sleep you may be feeling.

By Marvin Perry

As a new mother or father, one of your priorities should be to develop good sleeping habits for your newborn baby. It is important for your baby to learn how to sleep on his or her own. The transition from sleeping with parents to sleeping on their own can be demanding and take some time. Of course, the need for a full night of rest, for the parents, should be adequate motivation to help one’s newborn baby learn how to sleep on their own. In order to instill good sleeping habits in your baby, you have to research and investigate a variety of baby sleep tips and solutions: try as many methods as you can and see which ones work for you and your newborn. Don’t be afraid to trust your parental instincts also.

Most baby sleep methods converge around the concept of determining routines and associations for your child’s naptime and sleep. The sooner your little one starts to relate bedtime with sleep, the more likely he is capable of going to sleep with no problem at all and sleeping through most of the night. A period that is commonly disregarded in forming day and night associations, is the “transition” period, the time between being awake and falling asleep. The following are a list of some transitioning techniques to try:

1. “Fathering Down” is good method parents should use in encouraging your baby’s sleep routine. Prior to placing the baby in bed, the father should cradle the baby so that the newborn’s head rests on the father’s neck. The father should then talk gently to the newborn until the child falls asleep. Babies are usually more soothed and calmed by a male’s deeper speech, and can fall asleep more smoothly upon hearing it for some time.

2. You can also attempt to execute a technique that is sometimes referred to as the “Wearing Down” method. If your baby is extremely energetic throughout the day and becomes so aroused that, at night, he or she cannot sleep, then this would be a very effective technique to use. All you have to do is “wear” your baby in a sling or carrier for about thirty minutes to an hour before their bedtime. Simply go about performing your normal household duties and, over time, the baby will gradually fall asleep. The idea and process of the baby being next to his or her parent and slowly rocked before bedtime aids the newborn in making an easier transition from being awake to being asleep.

3. Finally, if you’ve exhausted all the other options, and nothing works, you can attempt to employ the rarely used but effective “Driving Down” method. Unfortunately, most parents are informed about this procedure as a last resort. This technique involves placing your baby in the car and driving him or her around until they fall asleep. This method, while inconvenient, usually works all the time, and if you desperately need a full night of sleep, it is the most trusted and reliable method to use.

Apparently, you shouldn’t have to drive around every night or carry him in a sling to make your baby sleep through the night. The initial idea is to begin with these more demanding methods and slowly ease out of them. Keep in mind that your baby is going through major development while he is yet very young and small. They have never slept on their own before and it may take a while for them to adjust to their new sleeping routine. Newborns simply don’t know how to transition from being awake to being asleep, and it may require much patience on the part of the parents. However, by utilyzing these effective techniques you will be slowly conditioning your baby’s sleep pattern and habits, which will ensure that both you and your little one will obtain a good night of sleep.

About the Author:
Marvin Perry is the author of “Newborn Baby Sleep Solutions -Tips and Wisdom” and he maintains an informative site on developing healthy sleep habits for babies. To view Marvin’s helping baby sleep site go to: http://www.helping-baby-sleep-pattern.com.

By Elizabeth Pantley, Author of No Cry Sleep Solution

Congratulations on the birth of your new baby. This is a glorious time in your life. Whether this is your first baby or your fifth, you will find this a time of recovery, adjustment, sometimes confusion and frustration, but — most wonderfully — of falling in love.

Babies younger than four months old have very different sleep needs than older babies. This article will help you understand your newborn baby’s developing sleep patterns, and will help you develop reasonable expectations when it comes to your baby and sleep.

Read, Learn, and Beware of Bad Advice
Absolutely everyone has an opinion about how you should handle sleep issues with your new baby. The danger to a new parent is that these tidbits of misguided advice (no matter how well-intentioned) can truly have a negative effect on our parenting skills and, by extension, our babies’ development…if we are not aware of the facts. The more knowledge you have the less likely that other people will make you doubt your parenting decisions.

When you have your facts straight, and when you have a parenting plan, you will be able to respond with confidence to those who are well-meaning but offering contrary or incorrect advice. So, your first step is to get smart! Know what you are doing, and know why you are doing it. Read books and magazines, attend classes or support groups – it all helps.

The Biology of Newborn Sleep
During the early months of your baby’s life, he sleeps when he is tired, it’s really that simple. You can do very little to force a new baby to sleep when he doesn’t want to sleep, and conversely, you can do little to wake him up when he is sleeping soundly.

A very important point to understand about newborn babies is that they have very, very tiny tummies. New babies grow rapidly, their diet is liquid, and it digests quickly. Formula digests quickly and breast milk digests even more rapidly. Although it would be nice to lay your little bundle down at a predetermined bedtime and not hear a peep from him until morning, even the most naïve among us know that this is not a realistic goal for a tiny baby. Newborns need to be fed every two to four hours — and sometimes more.

During those early months, your baby will have tremendous growth spurts that affect not only daytime, but also nighttime feeding as well, sometimes pushing that two- to four-hour schedule to a one- to two-hour schedule around the clock.

Sleeping “through the night”
You have probably heard that babies should start “sleeping through the night” at about two to four months of age. What you must understand is that, for a new baby, a five-hour stretch is a full night. Many (but nowhere near all) babies at this age can sleep uninterrupted from midnight to 5 a.m. (Not that they always do.) A far cry from what you may have thought “sleeping through the night” meant!

What’s more, while the scientific definition of “sleeping through the night” is five hours, most of us wouldn’t consider that anywhere near a full night’s sleep for ourselves. Also, some of these sleep-through-the-nighters will suddenly begin waking more frequently, and it’s often a full year or even two until your little one will settle into a mature, all-night, every night sleep pattern.

Falling Asleep at the Breast or Bottle
It is very natural for a newborn to fall asleep while sucking at the breast, a bottle, or a pacifier. When a baby always falls asleep this way, he learns to associate sucking with falling asleep; over time, he cannot fall asleep any other way. I have heard a number of sleep experts refer to this as a “negative sleep association.” I certainly disagree, and so would my baby. It is probably the most positive, natural, pleasant sleep association a baby can have. However, a large percentage of parents who are struggling with older babies who cannot fall asleep or stay asleep are fighting this natural and powerful sucking-to-sleep association.

Therefore, if you want your baby to be able to fall asleep without your help, it is essential that you sometimes let your newborn baby suck until he is sleepy, but not totally asleep. When you can, remove the breast, bottle, or pacifier from his mouth and let him finish falling asleep without something in his mouth. When you do this, your baby may resist, root, and fuss to regain the nipple. It’s perfectly okay to give him back the breast, bottle, or pacifier and start over a few minutes later. If you do this often enough, he will eventually learn how to fall asleep without sucking.

Waking for Night Feedings
Many pediatricians recommend that parents shouldn’t let a newborn sleep longer than three or four hours without feeding, and the vast majority of babies wake far more frequently than that. (There are a few exceptional babies who can go longer.) No matter what, your baby will wake up during the night. The key is to learn when you should pick her up for a night feeding and when you can let her go back to sleep on her own.

This is a time when you need to focus your instincts and intuition. This is when you should try very hard to learn how to read your baby’s signals. Here’s a tip that is critically important for you to know. Babies make many sleeping sounds, from grunts to whimpers to outright cries, and these noises don’t always signal awakening. These are what I call sleeping noises, and your baby is nearly or even totally asleep during these episodes. I remember when my first baby, Angela, was a newborn. Her cry awakened me many times, yet she was asleep in my arms before I even made it from cradle to rocking chair. She was making sleeping noises. In my desire to respond to my baby’s every cry, I actually taught her to wake up more often!

You need to listen and watch your baby carefully. Learn to differentiate between these sleeping sounds and awake and hungry sounds. If she is awake and hungry, you’ll want to feed her as quickly as possible. If you respond immediately when she is hungry, she will most likely go back to sleep quickly. But, if you let her cry escalate, she will wake herself up totally, and it will be harder and take longer for her to go back to sleep. Not to mention that you will then be wide awake, too!

Help Your Baby Distinguish Day from Night
A newborn baby sleeps about sixteen to eighteen hours per day, and this sleep is distributed evenly over six to seven brief sleep periods. You can help your baby distinguish between nighttime sleep and daytime sleep, and thus help him sleep longer periods at night.

Begin by having your baby take his daytime naps in a lit room where he can hear the noises of the day, perhaps a bassinet or cradle located in the main area of your home. Make nighttime sleep dark and quiet. You can also help your baby differentiate day naps from night sleep by using a nightly bath and a change into sleeping pajamas to signal the difference between the two.

Watch for Signs of Tiredness
One way to encourage good sleep is to get familiar with your baby’s sleepy signals and put her down to sleep as soon as she seems tired. A baby cannot put herself to sleep, nor can she understand her own sleepy signs. Yet a baby who is encouraged to stay awake when her body is craving sleep is typically an unhappy baby. Over time, this pattern develops into sleep deprivation, which further complicates your baby’s developing sleep maturity. Learn to read your baby’s sleepy signs — such as quieting down, losing interest in people and toys, and fussing — and put her to bed when that window of opportunity presents itself.

Make Yourself Comfortable
I’ve yet to hear a parent tell me that she or he loves getting up throughout the night to tend to a baby’s needs. As much as we adore our little bundles, it’s tough when you’re woken up over and over again, night after night. Since it’s a fact that your baby will be waking you up, you may as well make yourself as comfortable as possible. The first step is to learn to relax about night wakings right now. Being stressed or frustrated about having to get up won’t change a thing. The situation will improve day by day; and before you know it, your little newborn won’t be so little anymore — she’ll be walking and talking and getting into everything in sight…during the day, and sleeping peacefully all night long.

About the Author:
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of several books, including Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry — Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, Kid Cooperation (with an introduction by William Sears, MD), Perfect Parenting, as well as her latest The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and is also president of Better Beginnings, Inc. She is a popular speaker on family issues, and her newsletter, Parent Tips, is seen in schools nationwide. She appears as a regular radio show guest, and has been quoted in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, American Baby, Working Mother, and Woman’s Day magazines. Visit Elizabeth’s web site http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth.