Master this baby sleep tip, and you’ll be well on your way to a baby who not only sleeps well, but you’ll have also laid the foundation for a toddler and child who sleeps well in the future.  Sound good?  I thought so.

 

Many new parents make the mistake of putting their baby down to sleep when s/he is totally asleep because this is the easiest way to do it.  These parents rock their baby and go through their sleep routine to get their baby to fall asleep in their arms (which is fine), but they wait too long to make the transfer into the crib or whatever else the baby will be sleeping in.  However, it is much better in the long run, to get in the habit of putting your baby down to sleep when s/he is half-asleep and drowsy rather than waiting until s/he is totally asleep.  On a scale from one to ten, where "one" means that your baby is wide awake, and "ten" means that your baby is totally asleep, you probably want to put your baby down to sleep somewhere around a six or seven - in other words, half-asleep.

 

So why is it better to put your baby to sleep when s/he is half-asleep rather than when s/he is fully asleep?  Although is is probably easier to wait until your baby is fully asleep to transfer him or her to the crib or cot, and although your baby will probably startle awake the first several times you try to put your baby to sleep when s/he is half-asleep, it is better in the long run because your baby will learn to put him or herself to sleep without you.

 

It is important to teach your baby to fall asleep when s/he is half-asleep because as your baby develops and becomes physically able to sleep longer and longer at night without needing to eat, you eventually want him or her to be able to put him or herself back to sleep when they wake up (as is normal) sometime in the middle of the night.  What you don’t want is a baby that is dependent on you to help them fall back asleep every time they wake up in the middle of the night.  That’s why it is important to set good patterns when your baby is young, rather than needing to break bad habits when your baby is older - say a toddler that hasn’t learned to go to sleep on his or her own.

 

Like just about everything else related to babies, this may or may not be a battle that you want to fight right away.  If you have a very young baby that is having trouble sleeping - period - you may want to work on getting them to sleep any way you can at first, and then start trying to get them to sleep with better habits later.  Just don’t forget about this idea, because it is important to remember for your baby’s long term sleep habits.

 

Andrew Dolbin-MacNab

Pediasleep LLC

 

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     About the Author:

 

Andrew Dolbin-MacNab is a father, sound-engineer, and the founding member of Pediasleep LLC, a leader in the production of white noise and other soothing sounds to aid the healthy sleep of infants, cosleepers, and parents. Having successfully survived his daughter's early sleep problems with the help of white noise, he is also an expert on infant sleep problems and their solutions. Pediasleep can be found online at http://www.Pediasleep.com.