How I Got My Newborn to Sleep Through the Night at 10 Weeks

I’m not much of a reader, especially when it comes to self help type books.  There was no way I was going to sit down and read a book all about sleeping training when I didn’t even know if I would need to read it.  And if the time came where I did need to read a sleep training book, I probably would have been so sleep deprived that reading wouldn’t even be easy to do!!

So when it came to “sleep training” my son, I didn’t turn to self help books. Instead, I talked with friends, got advice from my mom, read blogs and just used what I thought was common sense.  Most importantly, I think I just followed my intuition.  I can’t say for sure that the things I did with my son were what made him start sleeping through the night at 7 weeks or if he was naturally just a good sleeper, but I would like to think that they at least helped.  By about 10 weeks, he was already sleeping 12 hours at night so I must have been doing something right.

Here are a few of the strategies that I found important to getting my son to sleep through the night so early.

1. Start a routine early and stick to it.  You might think an itty-bitty newborn is too young to understand a routine and stick to a schedule, but you have to start somewhere!  Going to bed has never been a long drawn out process for us because my son knows what to expect.  Bath, PJ’s, (now we brush our teeth), prayers, hugs & kisses, and goodnight. We have never done books and songs at night because we knew that if we started it, that would become the norm and then bedtime would always be a long drawn our process.  Our bedtime is short sweet and to the point and it’s been the same since he was teeny tiny.
2. Don’t wake a sleeping baby.  Obviously in the very beginning when they are trying to get back up to their birth weight, I think it’s a good idea to follow the pediatrician’s orders and wake them every 3 hours at night.  Once they hit their birth weight and the doctor says they are growing like they should, I don’t wake a sleep baby.  They will wake up when they are hungry.   Now during the day I did stick to a 3 hour schedule, but I didn’t want my son to get used to being fed every 3 hours at night so I let him wake me when it was time to eat at night.  Thankfully the middle of the night feeding didn’t last long for us!
3. Get them out of your room ASAP.  This goes along with starting a routine early and sticking to it.  If you want them to eventually sleep in their crib, get them in their crib as soon as possible.  I think this is mostly important to help with my next strategy….
4. Don’t jump out of bed the second they make a peep.  Part of the reason we moved our son out of our room at 2 weeks was because he would make a little peep and I would immediately go to feed him.  I’m pretty sure some of those “peeps” were just him being a loud sleeper and he could have slept much longer if I would have let him just make some noise.
5. Keep the lights out at night.  When I did have to feed at night, I only used the night light in the room.  I didn’t want my son to think we were waking up, so I kept in nice and dark in the room.  The night light was just enough light for me to see what I was doing.
6. Stick to business at night.  My night-time feeding with my son consisted of a diaper change, a feeding, a burp and then straight back to bed.  This might sound cruel, but I didn’t spend anytime talking, oohing or ahh’ing or loving on him in the middle of the night.  I saved all that for the daytime.  I wanted him to know that I meant business at night-time.  I didn’t ever want him to think that time with Mommy in the middle of the night was so fun that he would want to continue to do it!!  My motto for the nighttime feeds was “Get in and get out”.
7. Swaddle ‘em tight. I know not all babies are swaddle babies, but it only makes sense to give it a try.  Babies love being held so I felt like if I swaddled my son at night he would get the feeling of being held without actually being held.  Plus, they can’t wake themselves up by hitting themselves! It might not work for your baby, but I think it’s work a try!
8. Teach good sleeping habits from the beginning. I know in the very beginning you will literally do whatever it takes to get an hour of sleep, but you have to remember that babies don’t have any sleeping skills so they are soaking up what you are teaching them from day one.  If you always have to rock them, or they have to be in a swing or they have to be in your arms, those are all habits you will eventually have to break.  Just start good sleeping habits from the beginning and you won’t have to waste anytime breaking bad habits later on down the road.

However you decide to sleep train your baby, my biggest piece of advice is to just follow your intuition.  You know your baby better than anyone else.  Every baby is different so every baby will have different needs.  Obviously, I’m not a sleep training expert and my advice is really just my personal opinions and experiences.  These are the things that worked for us, but that doesn’t  necessarily mean they will work for you.  Who knows……they might not even work for us with Baby #2 when he comes along in February!!  I’m praying they do though, because I really won’t have time to read a sleep training book when I have a busy toddler and a newborn!!

Does your child have a bedtime habits you’re not sure how to break? Are you ready to make a change in your child’s sleep routine? 

Owner Visa Shanmugam of Sound Sleepers will give you a clear, easy-to-follow plan that will teach your child the skills necessary to happily sleep through the night (and take long, restful naps during the day).

Visa has been personally trained by Dana Obleman, the creator of The Sleep Sense™ Program, whose methods have been used worldwide by more than 30,000 families to solve their children’s sleep problems. She offers one-on-one sessions and group seminars for parents, and is available to lead workshops at drop-in groups or for public appearances.

Contact Visa Shanmugam today for a FREE 15-minute telephone consultation!
Call (214-785-1943) or send an e-mail to [email protected]

**Sound Sleepers has sponsored a portion of Dallas Moms Blog’s “Mamas, Rest Easy” Sleep Series; however, they have not sponsored the content. Katy has not used the services of Sound Sleepers.  All opinions and writing in this post are 100% original to the contributor.