Start going to sleep... while your awake.
It's important to put your baby down while he or she is sleepy, but still awake. When you rock your baby to sleep every night or rub his back until he falls asleep, he may have a lot of trouble putting himself back to sleep when he wakes at night.
When you put your baby down while he's still awake, he learns to soothe himself and put himself to sleep. This is a really important skill that he will use for the rest of his life!
Children feel comforted by routines and they feel safe when they can anticipate what will happen next. When we are consistent in what we do and how we respond at bedtime and naptime, we help children learn new bedtime skills. Patience is necessary because parents have to wait and stay calm while their child learns something new
Consistency is important because it helps children learn what to expect. It's not fair to do one thing on one evening, and then do something completely different the next.
During this time, the use of a helpful pre-recorded calming noise CD like our Hush Little Baby®, which has a variety of constantly shifting sounds. But most importantly - stay with it... it will work out!
Email us your helpful hints, and we'll post them for everyone to use at:sleep@HushLittleBaby.com
