When will baby sleep through the night without feeding


How long should a baby sleep at night without eating?

Photo credit: iStock.com / AleksandarNakic

Most babies are able to sleep through the night – or sleep for at least six hours without waking up to eat – sometime between 3 to 6 months of age. Healthy babies who are born full-term are generally able to sleep through the night without a feeding starting at 3 months of age or when they weigh 12 to 13 pounds. However, babies' sleep cycles only become consistent and predictable around the time they're 6 months old.

Just because babies are technically able to go through the night without a feeding, however, doesn't mean they will. Night wakings can happen for many other reasons, including separation anxiety, an inability to self-soothe back to sleep, sleep regressions, teething, and bed-sharing.

If your baby doesn't start sleeping through the night without a feeding between 4 to 6 months of age, you can try night weaning. There are lots of different sleep training methods, from the cry-it-out method to the fading method. Learn about your options (BabyCenter's virtual course, Baby Sleep 101, can help) and choose one that feels right for you and your baby.

How long should a newborn sleep at night without eating?

Newborns generally sleep for two to three hours before waking to eat, day and night. As they get older, babies are usually able to sleep for increasingly longer stretches of time at night without waking to eat.

Between the age of 2 to 3 months old, healthy babies are often able to sleep for six hours without feeding. Research suggests that about half of babies are able to sleep at least six hours without a nighttime feed by 3 months of age. That rate rises to 62 percent by 6 months of age and 72 percent by 12 months of age, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

So how can you prepare your baby to sleep longer periods at night without eating? Start healthy sleep habits early. Help your newborn learn to fall asleep on their own by following a bedtime routine, putting them to bed when they're sleepy but still awake, and waiting for a few minutes to respond to their fussing when they do wake at night. Although your baby may still need to be fed during the night for some time, these tactics help them learn to nod back off without the help of your breast, arms, or a bottle.

If your baby was premature or has other health considerations such as digestive problems or failure to gain weight, be sure to discuss their feeding schedule with their doctor before making changes.

Should you wake a sleeping baby to feed?

For the first one to two weeks of life – or until your newborn regains the weight they lost after birth – it's important that they wake up to eat about every two to three hours. Newborns usually do this on their own, but occasionally will sleep for longer. If your baby does sleep for a stretch of more than four hours during this period, wake them to eat.

After the first couple of weeks, when babies surpass their birth weight, most healthy babies don't need to be woken to eat as long as they're growing and feeding well. That means they're gaining weight as expected and producing at least four wet diapers and three poopy diapers per day. Talk to your doctor if you're concerned about your baby's growth or feeding habits.

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What if my baby won't wake up to eat?

If your baby is healthy, has passed their birth weight, and is feeding and growing steadily, you usually don't need to wake them to feed. Unless their doctor tells you otherwise, let your baby sleep – they'll let you know when they need to eat!

If, however, your baby hasn't yet surpassed their birth weight, or if they were premature or aren't growing as expected, you do need to rouse them to eat anytime they sleep for more than four hours straight.

Know that newborns sometimes have a hard time waking up to eat for the first few days, especially if:

  • they're small
  • they have jaundice
  • you had a difficult labor
  • you had an epidural or other pain reliever during birth

If your baby is lethargic and uninterested in eating, these tips can help a groggy baby wake to feed:

  • Look for signs that they're in a light sleep cycle, which include flutters under closed eyelids, arm and leg movements, and sucking movements.
  • Be sure the room is cool (around 18 C or 65 F) and your baby isn't overdressed, since being too warm makes babies sleepier.
  • Try skin-to-skin contact and/or a laid-back breastfeeding position, which can encourage feeding.

Premature babies have unique nutritional needs and may not show hunger signs like crying.

If your baby is premature, or if you're concerned about your baby's weight gain or feeding patterns, talk to their doctor about how to ensure your baby is getting enough to eat.

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Colleen de Bellefonds

Colleen de Bellefonds is a freelance health and lifestyle journalist. She's raising her toddler daughter and newborn son with her French husband in Paris.

When Do Babies Sleep Through the Night & What Might Be Preventing It– Nested Bean

The sleepless nights that come with having a baby are no joke. 2 AM feedings, 4 AM diaper changes…it’s not easy. Now, after what feels like an eternity of sleepless nights, you’re asking yourself “when will my baby finally sleep through the night?”  

In this article, we will go over: 

1. When babies are developmentally able to sleep through the night? 
2. At what age can you typically expect babies to sleep through the night? 
3. What might be keeping your baby from sleeping through the night? 

Getting your baby to sleep through the night is a common challenge for parents. As I’m sure you’ve already realized, your definition of sleeping “through the night” might not mean what it used to. Before baby, you considered sleeping through the night to be a full 8-hour snooze, whereas now you might be only getting a half hour to an hour of sleep at a time. At this stage, even getting a 4 to 5 hour stretch of sleep will feel like sleeping through the night. While the 8-hour stretch of sleep might not happen until closer to 6-9 months old for most! 

The good news is your baby will sleep through the night! With a little bit of effort and a lot of patience, it will happen! And we’re here to guide you through it. 

Development: When are babies able to sleep through the night? 

Here’s a little-known fact: when babies are able to sleep through the night and when babies actually do sleep through the night are two different stories.   

Sleepless nights are somewhat expected when you have a new baby. Newborns sleep a lot, but they only sleep in short intervals waking up frequently to be fed. This stage is where that patience comes in. Many doctors refer to the first 3 months of the baby’s life as the 4th Trimester. During the 4th Trimester, you’ll notice your baby’s sleep patterns are very erratic, and that’s completely normal. Although you can introduce good sleep habits during this time, it’s more important to focus on loving and caring for your little one, doing whatever you need to soothe them and make sure they’re getting all the food and sleep they need. During these first 2-3 months, you are getting them used to the outside world while bonding with your baby. Don’t worry about spoiling your baby or creating bad habits. There is no use training your baby. Just respond to their needs. 

FROM THE EXPERTS - WHEN IS MY BABY READY TO SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT?

“First, it is most important to talk with your healthcare provider about your baby as every baby has various needs at each stage developmentally. Has your baby hit their milestones where your doctor feels baby has the capability to sleep through the night? Many babies need to keep night time feedings in place to help extend their overnight sleep and help baby not go into sleep deficit as their body still requires the feedings to help them thrive. Do not rush to remove the feedings before baby is developmentally ready."

- Kelley Thompson, Serenity Sleepers


After this so called 4th Trimester, you’ll start to notice a more predictable sleep pattern emerge, which means sleeping through the night is getting closer! As your baby is slowly reaching the following milestones, his sleep is getting longer gradually. Each baby being different, you may see them fall into a more predictable sleep pattern and have longer stretches of night time sleep any where between 10 weeks to 6 months. Getting familiar with what these milestones are will help you set some expectations: 

1. Moro Reflex has decreased or stopped.

 Moro (startle) reflex is an involuntary reflex all babies are born with. This is a sign of a still developing nervous system. The moro reflex will gradually ease and cease to awaken your baby mid sleep. You can calm your baby and help them sleep through this reflex by swaddling them. Although the moro-reflex is completely overcome by 4 – 5 months, your baby can be calmed with swaddling to help them sleep through this reflex.  

2. Your baby is gaining weight at a healthy rate. 

One of the reasons your baby needs to feed so frequently- even in the middle of the night - is because they need those nutrients for their growth and healthy development! Your baby will NEED those night feedings until they have established a healthy pattern of weight gain and reach the proper age-weight milestones established by your pediatrician.  

3. Night feedings have started to decrease.

 Newborns have very small tummies. They are unable to take in large quantities and hence need to eat more frequently.   As they grow so do their bellies. At 10 weeks to 6 months, your baby may be able to eat more and spend more time sleeping or playing between feeds. As your baby reaches healthy weight milestones, as approved by your pediatrician, the number of night feedings should begin to decrease. Your baby is now eating more during the day and can stay asleep longer between feeds. However, just because your baby no longer needs to feed at night, that doesn’t mean she won’t wake up wanting and/or expecting to be fed or soothed. Many moms, especially those of breast fed babies, are used to nursing their babies to sleep. More than likely, feeding has become a soothing mechanism for your baby. Once you know that your baby is not hungry, try to change your baby’s soothing habits both during the day and at night so that an association is not created between mid-night awakenings and feeding or nursing.  

4. Your baby is learning to self soothe. 

Just like adults, it’s normal for babies to stir or wake in the middle of the night. However, to get them sleeping through the night without crying out for you when they do wake up will require them to learn how to self-soothe. During the 4th trimester, you did whatever you could to help soothe your baby. Around 3-4 months, is a good time to start a consistent sleep routine during naps and bed time gradually teaching them to self soothe so that as they are 5 or 6 months they have a predictable sleep schedule, routine and are able to self soothe most of the times. The Zen Swaddle and Zen Sack are helpful aids as your baby learns to self soothe because thy mimic the gentle comfort of your touch. Your baby will feel your soothing touch even when you’re not there and cycle from one sleep cycle to the next thus increase their overall sleep duration. Also check tips on healthy sleep routine and schedule.

Real Mom Review

“I absolutely LOVE our swaddle!! My little one used to wake up a few times a night, mostly because she wanted to be snuggled. She new sleeps [with the Zen Swaddle] through the night until 5-7:30 am!!"

-Sara P.  9/9/2017


Some moms may expect their 2-week-old to sleep for longer stretches. Due to babies’ smaller tummies and frequent feeding needs, as you can see, such an expectation may be a risk to their health.  Although these milestones are usually reached between 4 to 6 months, every baby is different. Some babies may begin to sleep 5-6 hour stretches as early as 8-10 weeks while others may not find a longer sleep pattern until past 6-8 months. Keeping your expectations realistic and working with your baby until they are able to surpass these milestones consistently will eventually help you and your baby get longer sleep stretches.   


Zen Sleepwear™: the perfect solution to get baby sleeping through the night!


When do babies sleep through the night?
 What should I expect? 

According to the National Sleep Foundation, 70-80 percent of babies are sleeping through the night by 9 months old.  There’s quite a large age range for when babies start to sleep through the night. Between 4 and 6 months old is when babies start getting most of their sleep at night instead of throughout the day. As they get older, the number of daytime naps will decrease, and the number of hours slept at night will increase. Every baby is different - some parents get lucky and have a 1-month-old snoozing 4-6 hours at a time, while other parents might go a full year without a full night’s sleep. But not to worry, there are steps you can take to help your baby sleep through the night.  

 Age
Total Hours of Sleep (24-hr period)
Daytime Sleep Duration
Nighttime Sleep Duration
Awake Time Between Sleeps
0-6 Weeks
15-18 hours 15 minutes-3 hours (3-5 naps) 2-4 hours 30 minutes - 1. 5 hours
6-15 Weeks
14-16 hours 30 minutes - 3 hours (3-4 naps) 3-6 hours 1-2 hours
4-6 Months
12-15 hours 1-3 hours (3 naps) 6-8 hours 1.5-2.5 hours
6-8 Months
12-15 hours 1-3 hours (2-3 naps) 9-12 hours 2-3 hours
8-10 Months
11-15 hours 1-2 hours (1-2 naps) 10-12 hours 2-3 hours
10-12 Months
11-14 hours 1-2 hours (1-2 naps) 10-12 hours 2.5-3.5+ hours


Now that you know the age and developmental milestones to look out for and how and when to start working on a predictable routine, you may feel more confident than before. Being a part of a new mom or new parent community may offer some support as you battle these first time sleep issues. As long as you allow the teachings from other parents or online articles to be as a guide and adapt them to your unique baby, you will gradually find success.   

FROM THE EXPERTS

“Some babies are ready and able to sleep through the night at 4-6 months of age, while others may not be ready until they are between 8-10 months of age, and there are babies that need a feeding between 10-12 months. There is a misconception by many that there is a magical age that all babies will sleep through the night without a feeding...every baby has their own needs and meets their own milestones and sleep goals at various times.

- Kelley Thompson, Serenity Sleepers


Even after your baby has followed regular sleep patterns and schedule, despite your best attempts, your baby may sporadically awaken mid sleep for apparently no reason. We have created a chart to indicate night-time sleep and awake patterns by age.  Click here to see the typical number of night time awakenings by age. The next section speaks about some of the reasons why your baby may awaken mid sleep despite having a normal night-time schedule. 

What is keeping my baby from sleeping through the night? 

Although you can’t expect your baby to go from sleeping short stretches to double digit hours in one day, sleeping through the night should happen gradually. Always keep in mind that every baby is different and will reach this phase on their own timeline. Even after babies begin to sleep for longer stretches, it is common for their sleep to at times regress and wake up mid sleep. Parents are bewildered as to what may be causing the change:

ZEN MOM ZONE

“I have a 6.5 moth baby. She tends to wake up every 30 minutes. She just cries, so I rock her and she goes back to sleep. She's not hot or cold, and she is well fed. I'm very confused why she wakes up randomly like this. This is something new - she has never done this before. Is something bothering her? Please help!"

- Reem S., January 8, 2018


Reem’s situation is one many mom’s find themselves in. There are a number of problems that could cause a disruption in your baby’s sleep, like teething or gas. Check for some of these common culprits and follow our tips to remedy them. But if the problem persists or you find your baby isn’t sleeping for longer periods of time at night by six months old, check in with your pediatrician. Your baby could simply have their days and nights confused, or there could be an underlying problem like acid reflux that’s keeping your baby from snoozing like they should be.   

Here’s some reasons that could be impacting your baby’s precious zzz’s:  

1. Your baby is going through a sleep regression.

 Sleep regressions seemingly come out of nowhere and might include changes in your baby’s behavior such as refusing to nap, waking up frequently at night, or fighting sleep for no apparent reason. They most commonly occur at 4 months old, 6-8 months old, 10 months old, and sometimes even 12 months old. This period usually lasts anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks. Get the scoop on how to get through a regression here. 

2. Your baby is experiencing a growth spurt or illness. 

Growth spurts have been known to interrupt a baby’s typical sleeping patterns. A cold, flu, or other illness will also cause your baby to be fussy and sleep less or erratically. If you think your baby is sick, consult your pediatrician. But growth spurts are usually short and you should see your baby’s sleeping and feeding return to normal within a few days.  

3. Your baby can't fall asleep independently. 

Here’s where that self soothing milestone comes in. If your baby is not used to falling asleep on their own, they’re going to need you to help them fall back asleep every time they wake up, even in the middle of the night. The things that help them fall asleep are referred to as sleep associations, and they can make getting your baby to sleep and stay asleep very difficult. The Zen Swaddle and Zen Sack as part of a bedtime routine can help establish positive sleep associations that teach your baby to self soothe and get back to sleep on their own. 

Real Mom Review

“This sleep sack has made a world of difference for our little guy! He went from making every 2 hours or so, to sleeping a good 6-8 hours in a row, EVERY night!!"

-Shannon M. 7/10/2017


4. Your feeding/diaper changing schedule needs to be altered.

 Maybe you’re feeding your baby right before bed and it’s become one of those sleep associations we talked about. OR it’s causing them to wake up from a wet, uncomfortable diaper in the middle of the night. And it may seem like a no-brainer, but loading up your baby with food before bed in the hopes that they’ll sleep longer without needing to be fed isn’t great advice. Think about how you would feel eating a large meal right before bed. ..it’s the same for babies. It might be time to get strategic about your feeding and diaper changing schedule.   

5. Your baby's environment isn't conducive to sleep.

The environment around your baby plays a large roll in how well they sleep. 

FROM THE EXPERTS

“The sleep environment is one of the most important aspects to help a baby sleep more soundly. Do you have the right sound machine, black out curtains or shades, the right temperature for the room, and is she dressed appropriately? The early morning light could be hindering baby, or they could be waking from being too cold or too warm. Is the noisy neighbor waking baby at 5 am and causing a disturbance in baby's sleep? Addressing the sleep environment is important for baby."

- Kelley Thompson, Serenity Sleepers


So to summarize, to help your baby sleep for longer stretches in the night, help them with their developmental milestones, institute a consistent sleep routine, maintain a feeding routine that meets their and your nourishment needs, help them develop healthy sleep associations that don’t necessarily depend on your presence and you will have a sleeping angel through consistent habits and a little patience.  

FROM THE EXPERTS

“I find it very helpful to keep a daily log of baby's feeding and sleep schedule, this can help you see their overall schedule in a 24-hour period and where there may be any issues. It is vital that a baby has the important sleep foundations set in place. 

- Kelley Thompson, Serenity Sleepers


Read more on How to Get Your Baby To Sleep Through the Night for tips, proven pre-bed-time routines and schedules that work. 

If you’re baby has nighttime sleep down, but could use some help with naps, take a look at our article on How to Get Baby to Nap: Baby Nap Schedule During Their First Year.  

Check out our 7 Tips and Tricks on How to Get Your Newborn to Sleep for more baby sleep advice! 

Other Resources

American Academy Of Pediatrics: Baby sleeping through the night

Standford Children's Health: Infant Sleep

American Academy of Pediatrics: Infant Sleep Problems

Zerotothree. Org: Getting Baby to Sleep

American Academy of Pediatrics: The CALM Baby Method

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Helping Babies Sleep Safely

You Might Also Like...

Surviving Sleep Regressions

Moro Reflex: What it is and how swaddling can help

The Zen Sack: How it Works 

8 Solutions to Get Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night

When will my child start sleeping at night without waking up?

Interest in the world beyond the crib

When the baby starts sleeping at night without waking up is a very individual matter. By responding to the needs of the child, parents can help promote healthy sleep for the child.

Starting at about 6 months old, children no longer need nighttime feedings, as at this age the rhythm of hunger and satiety in a healthy child stops at daytime. Brief awakenings at night are quite normal. Ideally, babies fall asleep quickly and on their own again.

Awakenings can have many causes

Note that waking up or crying at night can have many causes. Along with hunger, thirst, and a wet diaper, there are occasional periods (teething, infections, or an eventful day) when the baby changes his habits: wakes up, babbles, or again asks for a breast or a bottle. Some babies cry when they need attention and care, or when they need to relieve some stress. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees for an uninterrupted night's sleep for your baby. It also happens that the baby, who until now slept well and did not wake up at night, suddenly starts waking up again at night. Basically, it's just a temporary thing.

A regular daily routine is very important

A regular daily routine is important with regular meals, sleep duration and other activities such as walking. Repetitive rituals such as bathing, feeding, evening fairy tale, lullaby, as well as a calm atomosphere always have a calming effect.

Patience Needed

Don't lose patience if your child doesn't find his sleep rhythm right away. Miracles do not happen! You cannot control your child's sleep. However, you can help your child develop a regular rhythm by ensuring healthy sleep. Do not be discouraged if other children have allegedly been sleeping at night for a long time without waking up. This concept is relative, because, as for infants, we can talk about continuous night sleep even if they sleep from midnight to 5-6 in the morning. Parents of young children, as a rule, should tune in to the fact that in the first 3-4 years of a baby's life, their nights will be restless.

Learn more: Tips

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When a child starts sleeping through the night

Do your children sleep very badly at night, wake up 3 to 10 times, go to bed for a long time and protest against daytime sleep? You are not alone! Studies of children's sleep and surveys of parents around the world show that about 60% of parents of children from birth to three years old experience the problem of children's sleep in one form or another. Most often, these disorders are manifested in children in long and difficult falling asleep and frequent awakenings at night.

“When will the baby start sleeping through the night without waking up? How to make sure that the baby sleeps all night, falls asleep quickly and without the active help of parents, and daytime sleep is long and of high quality? How to teach a baby to sleep at night without waking up? Almost all parents of badly sleeping children have such questions.

In response to these questions, the topic of teaching children to fall asleep on their own often comes up. Indeed, the inability to fall asleep on your own is one of the reasons for frequent awakenings at night. And children who have mastered the skill of falling asleep on their own sleep at night without waking up.

But how do you teach your child to fall asleep on their own? And will sleep training really solve all of your child's poor sleep problems day and night? In this article, we will analyze the topic of self-falling asleep in detail and you will understand what you need to do to teach your child to sleep through the night.

Content:

  • What is self-falling asleep?
  • Why should children be taught to fall asleep on their own?
  • When can I start learning how to fall asleep on my own?
  • How to prepare your baby for learning to fall asleep on his own?
  • What are the methods of teaching self-sleeping?

What is spontaneous falling asleep?

Sleeping on their own is when a child falls asleep with little or no parental help. Putting down a baby who can fall asleep on his own looks like this:

  • Parents perform a ritual of preparing for sleep
  • Putting a sleepless baby in the crib
  • Kiss him
  • They say "Sleep baby"
  • Turn off the lights and leave
  • Baby falls asleep in his own crib in 10-15 minutes
  • At night, the baby wakes up for feeding and immediately falls asleep
  • When waking up at night between sleep cycles, the baby moves on to the next cycle on its own

This kind of bedtime may seem like a miracle to most moms and dads who put their babies to sleep for several hours with motion sickness, feedings and rise to them 10 times a night. But we can say with confidence that this is not a miracle, but a reality! Because every healthy baby can learn to fall asleep on their own, and the task of parents is to help the baby master this.

Falling asleep on your own is a skill that can be taught to any healthy baby from the age of 6 months.

Just like you help your baby learn how to drink from a cup or eat with a spoon, crawl, talk, walk, you need to help your child learn how to fall asleep on his own. All toddlers can learn these skills on their own sooner or later, but with your help they will learn them faster and more effectively. Teaching your baby to fall asleep on their own is the task of parents!

Why is it important to teach your child to fall asleep on his own?

Why is it important to teach your child how to fall asleep on his own? Because the inability to fall asleep on your own is one of the reasons for frequent awakenings at night and short daytime sleeps. It's all about short-term awakenings between sleep cycles. All adults and children during a night's sleep wake up between sleep cycles (see "falling asleep - waking up" in the illustration). Only adults straighten the pillow and blanket, roll over to the other side and fall asleep again. Because adults know how to fall asleep on their own, without outside help.

And infants with brief awakenings need help getting back to sleep. When awakening at night, children need to recreate the conditions under which they fell asleep, such as motion sickness or breastfeeding. And if these conditions can only be recreated with the help of parents, then parents will have to get up and help the child fall asleep.

Children who are taught to fall asleep on their own easily cope with short-term awakenings without the help of parents and wake up only for feeding.

It is important to understand that the inability to fall asleep on your own is NOT the ONLY reason for frequent nighttime awakenings. Therefore, before starting training, it is important to understand the reasons and prepare the baby.

When can I start learning to fall asleep on my own?

Don't rush to start learning. One UK study shows that learning to fall asleep on your own before 6 months of age:

- causes stress for both mum and baby

- May cause feeding problems (whether breastfed or bottle-fed)

- The effect of any early learning does not guarantee the absence of sleep problems after 6 months

We do not recommend self-sleep training for babies under 6 months of age!

But you can instill the right sleep habits almost from birth. The first and surest step to falling asleep easily on your own is to use the different ways to soothe the baby , do not accustom to one method of soothing. Let the child sometimes fall asleep with other family members, not only with his mother. Let your baby at least try to find his own way to calm down and fall asleep, so put your baby to bed sleepy, but awake!

VIDEO LESSON

How to Teach Falling Asleep on Your Own?

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Which method of learning to fall asleep on your own should I choose?

In order to teach your baby to fall asleep on their own, many methods have been created. The essence of all methods is to give parents a clear algorithm of actions and help to clearly and consistently instill in the baby new associations for sleep. It is especially important to follow the algorithm for tired parents who stay up all night and often make “bad decisions” out of fatigue.

All the many existing methods of self-falling asleep can be divided into two main groups: hard methods (or Let Cry methods) and soft methods (or No Cry methods).

Hard or Let Cry methods involve rapid changes in associations to falling asleep, minimal or no parental assistance, and allow the child to cry during learning.

- In the group of Let Cry methods there are 2 main methods:

- Cry-it-out (CIO), "Cry before falling asleep", "Scream": method Mark Weissbluth

- Time checks, Periodic Check Method, Controlled Crying Method: Method Richard Ferber / Edouard Esteville

Despite numerous studies confirming the effectiveness and safety of rigorous sleep training methods, they are heavily criticized by professionals and parents. And the argument is the danger of prolonged weeping. Crying is the baby's only way to communicate with the outside world, and ignoring crying can harm the baby's psyche and cause attachment disorders.

Mild or No Cry Methods advocates the slow and gradual replacement of one sleep association with another with maximum parental help and parental comfort. Among the soft methods, 3 main ones stand out:

- The Shuffle, Slow Distancing Method: Kim West method, which the Sleep, Kid team represents in Russia

- Put Up - Put Down, The Hug-Put Down Method: Tracy method Hogg

- Fading: Elizabeth Paintley method

We urge you to be very careful in choosing the method of teaching your baby to fall asleep on his own. Remember that prolonged crying before bed can develop into a negative association with sleep and negatively affect the child and his emotional state.

The first task of the Sleep Baby project is the physical and psychological safety of the baby. Therefore, we adapt all the proposed methods, taking into account the views of modern psychology on the development of babies, they have been examined by child psychologists and breastfeeding specialists!

We have adapted the Kim West method to the Russian mentality and characteristics of parenthood. We made sure that the Slow Retract method is effective and has passed the test of time, it has been successfully used all over the world for more than 20 years!

Why do we think the Kim West Method is the best method possible? Because:

  • Parents do not intervene where the child can cope on his own, and help where he cannot yet!
  • Mom or dad stays with the baby in the room until he falls asleep.
  • Adults gradually reduce the degree of their assistance until the child masters the skill. The pace of change is individual!
  • You can teach your baby to fall asleep on his own both in a separate bed and when sleeping together.
  • The method is complex and requires an obligatory stage of preparation!

Be sure to pay attention to our video tutorial "How to teach your baby to fall asleep on his own?" >>

What is important to do before starting the course?

The most common mistake of all parents is to start learning to fall asleep on their own without preparation. Learning to fall asleep on your own without adjusting sleep conditions, sleep patterns and habits will be ineffective! Both the baby and the mother must be ready for change.

What is important to do before starting?

  • Get a "green light from a pediatrician" to make sure there are no medical reasons affecting your baby's sleep
  • Adjust the sleep conditions in which the baby sleeps
  • Choose a sleep and wake schedule that is comfortable for your baby
  • Help the baby to get away from negative associations for falling asleep

Choose a time to start training, at least 2 weeks without moving and significant changes in your usual way of life.


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