You don't start this until your baby is several months old, nursing PLEASE NOTE: This does NOT ever mean you withhold food from a hungry baby. Rocking or walking to get him to sleep, but we'll break that sleep association in the next phase. That way, he begins to learn to fall asleep without sucking. With walking or rocking him instead of feeding him. Yes, this is another sleep "crutch." But it's an easier sleep association to breakįeed your baby when he first wakes up from sleep, and again a bit later if he is awake and still hungry. Usually, babies find it easiest if you start by rocking them. So your next step is to gradually break the association between sucking and falling asleep. If your baby needs you to feed him or give him something to suck on in order to fall asleep, then he will always call for you to help him fallīack asleep during the night. Begin to break the association between nursing/eating/sucking and sleep. Herself back to sleep at night, not so long from now. Celebrate that moment, because that skill is what will allow her to begin putting She'll simply shut her eyes again and drift back into sleep. She may startle or whimper for a moment, but she won't go into full panic mode. She'll cry and you'll pat her or even pick her up if necessary to calm her. This the first fifty times you try it, of course. You're teaching your baby something priceless - that when she finds herself half-awake in her crib, it's safe to go back to sleep. But just decide that you'll always include this little jostling as part of the process. Sleep that this will take real courage on your part. I know, you've just worked so hard to get her to But once she's sleeping, when you go to put her down in herĬrib or bassinet, jostle her a bit when you put her down. So work WITH Mother Nature, not against her. The panic of crying for a parent who doesn't come. While there aren't yet good studies about the lasting effects on the baby, it can't be good for a baby to regularly experience So human babies go into a panic when they're put down to sleep, and all that adrenalin wakes them up and makes The babies who protested until they were held by their parents were more likely to surviveĪnd pass their genes on to us. After all, babies who were put down inĪ jungle to sleep were probably eaten by wild animals. And they're hard-wired to know that only your arms provide that safe place. They desperately want to sleep, but they needĪ safe place to do that. Most newborns and babies will cry if they are put down alone when they're sleepy. Wake your baby when you put her down to sleep. If you'd like to begin developing good sleep habits early, you'll want to start by helping your baby learn to put himself back to sleep. Them), they are more likely to be able to put themselves back to sleep when they wake slightly at night, rather than calling for your help. And once they know how to fall asleep by themselves (meaning without you giving them a breast, bottle, pacifier or your arms to rock This is not an overnight process - it can take months - but it does You can teach babies to fall asleep without the sleepĪssociations of rocking or sucking, and without leaving them to cry. Happily, that can be done without traumatizing your child. So the key is for the baby to learn to fall back asleep when they wake, without your help. The key to supporting your baby to learn to fall asleep on her own is to remember that all humans wake slightly many times during the night, as But all babies can learn to sleep alone, if you're It simply isn't a "normal" thing for babies to do, biologically speaking. You'll be interested to know that most babies around the world either do not fall asleep without being held, or do not sleep all night long in
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