Helping Baby into a Sleep Routine


When we got home from the hospital with our firstborn daughter I quickly realized I had no clue how to take care of a baby.  Sleep became one of my most precious commodities as my whole life turned into a 24 hour series of naps.

In between feedings & naps I scoured the few how-to books I had to find some magic formula that would work.  My favorite was found in Tracy Hogg’s bestselling book, The Baby Whisperer. Her simple, common sense no-extremes approach resonated with me and gave me light in the surreal fog of the newborn days.  Here are the highlights I used with all 10 of my babies to help them get into a healthy sleep routine.

Babies Give Sleep Signals

When babies get tired they give some telltale cues such as rubbing eyes, yawning and mild fussing.  If the window of opportunity is missed it can be harder to get them to sleep once they become overtired. As soon as you see those it’s time to bundle them up to sleep.

Babies Like To Be Swaddled

All but one of my children have responded very well to being snuggly swaddled in a blanket or swaddler. One was just a ‘spread eagle’ sleeper from birth.  We rolled with it and discovered sleep sacs to help him at least keep the blankets on in cool weather.

Babies Have Sleep Cycles

Every 2-4 hours babies have a ‘sleep window’ built into their God given newborn circadian rhythm.  It follows a predictable pattern called E.A.S.Y.  Eat, Activity, Sleep. Then it’s ‘You’ time to rest etc.

EAT (E): When baby first wakes they eat.  Brand new newborns can nurse up to 30 minutes a breast to really drain it and get the fatty hind milk.  As their stomachs grow, sleep will get longer as they have more fuel for the trip.

ACTIVITY(A): newborns activity will likely be a diaper change (or two! Mine love pooping in fresh diapers.) Then they sleep for one or two 45 minutes sleep cycles.  This time increases as they grow each month until they get into a 3 nap a day routine.

SLEEP (S): NIGHT TIME Tracey recommends going in the direction you intend to go.  We keep the baby in our room in a baby bed for about 6 months. Then we transition them to our guest room until they outgrow their daytime naps and join either the boy or girl room around age 2-3. She also explains cluster feeding and a handy trick called Dream Feeding to help them get into longer night time sleeps. Total game changers.

DAYTIME: For the first 2-3 months I swaddle baby to sleep to keep a bouncy chair on my kitchen island out of toddlers reach. This way I can keep an eye on them, train them to be used to ambient noise and light. When it stops working they go upstairs to their bed.  I also use soothers as unwittingly became a human pacifier with my first.

There is so much more that this book delves into that has helped frazzled, overtired moms get their babies into rhythmic routines without extremes. These are just the highlights that have helped me the most over the years as a mom of many.  I’m much more confident now as I anticipate the imminent arrival of baby number 11 knowing that I can and will get the baby into a healthy sleep routine that works for both of us.

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