Babies Sleep Sleep Issues How to Get Baby to Sleep Through the Night Struggling to get your newborn to sleep? These eight strategies will help them snooze through the night, leaving your infant (and you) feeling rested. By Emily Elveru Emily Elveru Instagram Emily Elveru is the Staff Health Editor at Parents, where she covers kids' and women's health, parenting advice, and the occasional lifestyle story. When she isn't working from home, she enjoys taking long, slow walks around her Brooklyn neighborhood, browsing a local bookstore, or diving into a new craft project. our editorial guidelines Updated on July 2, 2020 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: javi_indy/Shutterstock 01 of 09 Get Your Baby to Sleep Shutterstock More than 90 percent of parents want to change something about their child's sleep routine, according to research by Jodi A. Mindell, Ph.D., a Parents advisor and chair of the Pediatric Sleep Council, a group of leading experts from around the world. Consider these helpful fixes on how to get your baby to sleep through the night. 02 of 09 Limit distractions. Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock Babies need to wind down, just like you. So start switching gears (low lighting, little noise) about 30 minutes before bed. This helps set your little one's internal clock. How to Put a Baby to Sleep 03 of 09 Believe in the power of a bedtime routine. Pixabay/smpratt90 Studies show that the more nights during the week your baby follows a bedtime routine, the better she'll sleep. Try an evening bath to mark the end of the day; even if you skip the soap, the warm water can induce drowsiness. You can also incorporate other soothing rituals like reading books, singing lullabies, and cuddling. 04 of 09 Offer one last feeding. Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock Before you or your partner goes to sleep, gently wake your infant to nurse or bottle-feed. (This will help him wake less often in the coming hours.) Then put him back down while he's still awake but drowsy. Sleep Training Your Baby: 7 Tips for Success 05 of 09 Stick with it. Put your baby to bed at the same time and in the same place each night. If you're thrown off schedule because of a holiday or vacation, don't worry. Just try to get back on track ASAP. 06 of 09 Head to bed sooner. OndroM/Shutterstock You might think an earlier bedtime will lead to an earlier morning, but both babies and toddlers wake up less often and get more total sleep when they hit the sack sooner. Shoot for a bedtime of 7:30 or 8 p.m. for your toddler and expect him to sleep for about ten hours. Choosing the Best Sleep Training Method 07 of 09 Delay an early riser. Igor Sokolov (breeze)/Shutterstock While you can't change a newborn's wake-up time (he'll always cry when he's hungry), you can adjust a toddler's. Try it by using a wake-up light. You can schedule it to glow at a certain hour so he'll know exactly when it's okay to call you or burst through your door. 08 of 09 Make bedtime fun. Shutterstock It's normal for toddlers to resist bedtime; kids this age want to practice their newfound independence (plus, they have major FOMO). Give them choices: Would they like to stomp up the stairs like an elephant to get to their room or tiptoe like a mouse? You can also create a chart together that shows every step of the bedtime routine, including how many books you read. This way, you choose when your toddler goes to sleep, but they get to pick the details. All About Baby Sleep Regression 09 of 09 Don't rely on soothing methods. paulaphoto/Shutterstock Babies can fall asleep on their own by about 5 months, says Heather Turgeon, coauthor of The Happy Sleeper. You should gradually stop soothing methods around this time, or your little one will become hooked. Turgeon recommends practicing with one nap per day, where you cut back on the rocking, shushing, and patting. Then you can slowly incorporate these practices into bedtime, too. Additional reporting by Erin Zammett Ruddy Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit