Many new parents use feeding (or rocking, or driving around the block!) as a means of lulling their babies to sleep. By the end of that last evening feeding or the end of a long cuddle/rock, parents delicately transfer their sleeping babes to their beds and voilá! Not a peep out of the little guy for several hours to come! Sounds great, right? Wrong! The problem here is that babies (and in fact all people) wake up 2-6 times per night. If babies are put to bed asleep, they do not learn how to put themselves to sleep. So, when they have natural awakenings at night, they will again need your help (via feeding, or rocking, or driving around the block or whatever you’ve been doing) to get back to sleep.

With this in mind, it is a good idea to do the last feeding in a bright room (that isn’t necessarily quiet) and then do the calming bedtime routine. By doing things in this order, you will be able to plunk your baby in his bed when he is drowsy but not sleeping.  And, baby will learn the essential skill of putting himself to sleep – a skill he will use every night for the rest of his life!

Are you a person that used to fly by the seat of her pants before having kids? Was “Whatever” your favorite word? Now is the time to change! Babies thrive on routine and according to sleep experts, it is never too early to start:

By about six weeks of age, new babies should start to have a bedtime. Sleep experts recommend that babies go to sleep between 7 and 8:30 PM – even if they wake up just an hour or two later to eat. The idea is to start teaching babies that there is a difference between daytime (when babies take brief naps…often wherever they happen to be when they get tired) and nighttime (when babies should be sleeping for longer stretches, typically in a crib).

By about six weeks, parents should also establish some sort of nighttime routine. This routine signals the beginning of nighttime. You can establish any nighttime routine that you like. Just remember that whatever you decide on will be repeated every night — perhaps for years to come. And, remember that you will also use your routine (perhaps in an abridged form) before every nap (again for years to come). SO, before you concoct an hour-long routine that requires a PhD in some super-complex scientific field to follow, please reconsider. Figure out a routine that is brief and simple. Here’s a great example for little babies – nurse/bottle feed, change into jammies, read stories, put baby in crib and turn on some nice music.

It is never too early to read an excellent book on sleep. In fact, I recommend that expectant parents read some books on infant sleep before their baby is even born. This gives parents a chance to discuss their attitudes about sleep and get on the same page before the going gets tough! There are a ton of books out there about sleep. As a behavioral psychologist and a new mom, my favorite (hands down), is by Dr. Jodi Mindell. It is called Sleeping Through the Night (visit our Favorite Things page to purchase). If you are going to spend your precious new mom moments reading one book on infant and child sleep, give this one a go! Also, check out the Calm Mom’s favorite sleep tips for babies and new moms.