The Best Way to Put a Baby to Sleep

Best advice in the article: put them to sleep while they are awake, so that they can learn to sleep without you rocking them, using the car, etc. My 2 kids were sleeping over 8 hours at night by 10 days and 8 days...

very important article.I also faced realy bad time when my baby was getting in to sleep. But we practiced the bed time routine & got good results.

First- even the Ferber Method doesn't suggest sleep training until the baby is at least 5-6 months of age.
From a developmental stand point, frequent awakenings in the early months is a safety factor for the baby. Until essentially all "systems" stabilize( and its different for each baby) trying to force a young baby to sleep through the night can be dangerous.

. But I would suggest BEFORE you use any techniques outlined in the million of books out there- first put yourself and your husband on those "schedules" and regimes. If you two can survive it and not feel isolated, angry , hungry, thirsty, etc. by these schedules then use it on your child. They can't tell you when somethings wrong so they shouldn't be the first to experience living by all these books advice.

This article is obviously sponsored by crib, bottle and milk powder manufacturers. Why not follow the natural instinct for a change and have the baby right next to you and sleep blissfully. I can't imagine having my baby sleeping in another room and let him/her 'cry it out'. Why have babies in the first place if you want them as far away from you? Only in a 'developed nation' do babies get treated like this.

Some newborn babies can go to sleep on they're own very early, but a lot can't as they are used to being in a womb like environment. For the first 3 mos, babies don't retain 'training' and since sleep is so important for their growth and development, sometimes you just have to do whatever it takes to get them settled and sleeping. For anyone who does walk/rock your baby until they are sleeping, but find they jolt awake when they are put down, it might be handy for you to know that it takes 17 - 20 mins for them to be put down without being disturbed. At around 3 mos you will notice them waking for you to do this, then it's time to sleep train! There's lots of different methods, but 'crying it out' makes the baby feel hopeless and abandoned and leads to depression as an adult.

I love that this article gives the family bed option. So many people just berate that these days, but when my daughter was born my husband was deployed with the military, and I was breast feeding. Having her in the bed with me made both of our lives easier. I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night to feed her and she felt secure. I leave her TV on now so the steady soft noise of TCM keep outside sounds down, and the light keeps her from being scared of the dark.

I have a sure fire cure to put a baby to sleep on those night that they are fussy. Put them in the car (in a car seat of course) and drive them around. Turning on the heater in the car helps also. I did this one time with my daughter at 3am in Japan, first time I had ever gone anywhere except work/home on the same route. Anyone that has been in Japan can attest that the roads are weird and there are no nice square city blocks. I did not get lost but still do not know how I got home!

Lizzie - I would be careful to generalize your comments on Babywise. I have used this book's "take" and so have other mothers I am close to. The ridiculous judgment on Babywise "followers" is that common sense doesn't come into play. The ENTIRE Babywise book calls you to be flexible, use good judgment, follow your instincts and change things as you understand your baby's needs. Common sense and choices that fit for your family are a positive, healthy thing... whether it's Babywise or some other method. Please choose your words a little more carefully next time.
I agree this article missed a few safety notes but if you are relying on one article ever to cover all aspects of what it means to raise a child, you are already missing the boat in so many ways.

Every baby is different, but i have a problem with any parent whose goal is getting their newborn-2 months to sleep through the night. If it happens on its own, lucky you, but think about it: you are a brand new person, you live on a liquid diet and your stomach holds an ounce. Easily digested breastmilk shoots right through those little baby guts. Now imagine your parents don't care, they just want you to sleep so they can. It seems a new baby needs to wake up and feed every couple hours because their little tummies are perpetually empty! How easy is it for you to sleep when your stomach's growling?

As for co-sleeping, we kept each of our 4 babies in bed with us until they were around 2 and ready to sleep in their own beds. i (Mom) had to keep the babies on my side because DH is overweight and could have rolled over on them (i am a healthy weight, and do not use Rx or street drugs, or drink when co-sleeping). All four kids are just fine, ages 2-10 now. The three people i've known who did lose a child to SIDS, including my mother, always criticized me sharply for my uncaring willingness to risk my baby's life with my selfish demand to keep them near me through the night. However each of their children slept on their backs in cribs in another room. i'm not saying that's why their children died, but the fact that all four of mine made it and they lost one when following all the "rules" (written by those who don't really know the full answers) should tell you something. We only know in part, not in full, and articles blaming co-sleeping for SIDS deaths are missing what *else* caused the death. My two friends don't criticize me since they lost theirs, but i'd much rather take their ignorant complaints for the rest of my life if it meant that they could have their children to hold again.

my baby is so much cuter than the one posted! I know every mom sais that but really.

My wife and i started a routine about 2 months ago, and now our 5 month old is sleeping from 8-9 hours a night. Bottle, bath and then bed. I am not saying there are nights that he is not a little restless, but 9 times out of 10 he goes right top sleep agter we read to him.

Oh for pete's sake....just put the friggen thing in it's crib and close the door. Eventually the brat will stop crying and go to sleep! Check on him/her once in a while to make sure everything is okay, but really? Going through all that trouble to get the baby to sleep? Eventually it'll tire out and sleep. It's nature!!

In response to Seriously 26, WOW!!

"Oh for pete's sake....just put the friggen thing in it's crib and close the door. Eventually the brat will stop crying and go to sleep!"

All I can say is that I hope you never have children. It is horrible to hear your child cry. And usually when they are babies, if they are crying in the middle of the night they need something. As a mother of 2, I was very lucky that my children began sleeping though the night at 6 weeks and 3 months, respectively. There were, however, those nights that they would wake up. A quick diaper change, some nursing and back to bed did the trick eveytime. If you do everything in dim light, they will still know it is bedtime. Every baby will have a little mistep every now and then in sleeping, that is natural. Having them cry it out, however, seems really cruel!!

I would not recommend that anyone sleep with a fan in the room. The noise may be helpful but sleeping with a fan can cause respiratory and eye infections.

Counting calories works for adults and it works for babies too. If you put enough baby cereal in the baby's bottle it will sleep through the entire night. The only problem with this is that it may not want to eat in the morning and won't get enough calories throughout the day. Something about increasing the carb ratio too much throws them off. Maybe some codliver oil in the morning can jumpstart their appetitie again. If it does then this may be the easiest solution. Not sure how this would affect growth. Probably not a good idea to let a baby be catabolic for too long. Liquid diets just don't last that long. Even as an adult, I find four hours is my limit on a liquid diet, regardless of how much I eat/drink and no matter what the protein, fat, and carb ratios are.

You need to do what is best for you and your baby, so with that said I would think that not being able to leave the house for a while so that your child feels secure and safe is worth it. Have your friends come to your house or rent movies and watch them at home. You can always find ways to get around things too, like for example if you set up a bed time for 7pm, you and whomever can catch a dinner and movie once the baby is asleep etc.

i worked many years in a day care center; the best babies were those whose mothers let them "cry it out" if they weren't hungry, wet, or otherwise in need; did it harm their psyche? i think not--they were observed to be well adjusted as they grew up

With our youngest, the warm bed method worked wonderful. We would put a heating pad on LOW for a few minutes before putting him down, then remove and make sure the spot wasn't too warm, then laid him down. It worked like a charm, and he slept great from the time he was a newborn, only waking up to eat & then falling right back to sleep after he nursed.

I agree with Jennifer. If you follow these guidelines you will surely realize the mess you've made when you're so tired from lack of sleep you feel like a zombie. As a mother of 4 I STRONGLY recommend the Ferber method mentioned in the "sleep training" section. I was a sleep deprived mother who found it while sitting on the floor of Barnes & Noble desperately looking for some book that would show me the way to that place I once knew as sleep, while my firstborn methodically pulled every book off the shelf. It was a Godsend. We have 4 so we needed to have a plan. With the 3 that followed we started the Ferber method from the "go" and life is good :)

I would not recommend that anyone sleep with a fan in the room. The noise may be helpful but sleeping with a fan can cause respiratory and eye infections.