How To Get My Baby To Sleep Through The Night

By Zoe Chu, Founder of SG Supernanny

This is probably the number 1 question that most sleep deprived parents would be asking or what most new parents would be asking after coping with only 4-5 hours sleep everyday for the first few months of baby’s life.

First of all, if your baby is still a newborn, the answer is your baby is still too young to sleep through the night. Newborns are expected to wake up during the night for feeds because their tummies are simply too small to go without feeds for a long stretch. Once your baby is at least 4 months old, then yes your baby can slowly show signs they can sleep for longer stretches at night maybe even 6-7 hours without feed. Music to your ears I am sure. Especially if you have been so tired and sleep deprived.

Once your baby has started solids usually after 6 months old or so, your baby should be able to sleep through the night 11-12 hours without waking up for feeds.

Generally experts agreed that once your baby is over 3 months of age and weighing over 6kg, then he or she can be expected to sleep through the night. But this is generally a sweeping statement because every baby is different.

 

So how do you get your baby to sleep through the night?

Well technically babies like us adults don’t actually sleep through the night. We actually go through sleep cycles between light sleep and deep sleep stages and we would wake up in between our sleep cycles before we connect to the next sleep cycles again. Generally we would not remember much about it as we would just toss and turn and then go back to sleep again.

Same thing happens with our babies. They would wake up in between their sleep cycles all throughout the night but the key is if your baby is able to self soothe, then he or she can fall back to sleep without needing anyone’s help.  So to paint you the picture, if at bedtime you have nursed your baby to sleep, then when your baby wakes up in between sleep cycles, I can guarantee you your baby would wake up crying in the middle of the night, not necessarily because she’s hungry but because she realized she’s no longer being nursed to sleep and she would like the same thing to be repeated back to her so she can continue her sleep.

Your baby wouldn’t be waking up crying in the middle of the night because she’s scared or lonely, but she’s waking up because she’s still tired and frustrated that her sleep props are no longer there to help her connect to the next sleep cycle.

So the key to getting your baby to sleep through the night is to teach your baby the art of self settling so that she can just fall asleep independently and resettle on her own when she wakes up in the middle of the night. My Sleep Baby Sleep program will teach you my simple and proven 5 steps system to get your baby to learn how to sleep independently and be a good sleeper sleeping 11-12 hours through the night.


Do you want better sleep for you and your little one? Find out the 5 simple steps to a better night’s sleep for you and your baby on Sleep Baby Sleep! (eBook) by Zoe Chu.

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About the Author

Zoe Chu is the founder of SG Supernanny, a baby and adult sleep expert, author and speaker who has a mission to empower tired and sleep deprived families and also hardworking and stressed out professionals to get back their precious quality sleep. She has helped transformed the lives of thousands of families all around the world through her sleep program. Her work has been featured in newspaper, magazines, online news media in Singapore.

Zoe is also happily married and a mother of four including a set of twins. All four of her children have been sleeping through the night since they were 3 months old.  She believes beauty sleep is real and she wants to empower more women to tap into that fountain of youth through good quality sleep.