Getting a good night's sleep

Sleeping Through the Night

When can you expect your baby to start sleeping through the night? It depends, since sleeping through the night means different things at different ages:

• For a newborn (especially a breastfeeding newborn), three hours is about as long as you can expect him to sleep, since newborns need to refuel often.
• For a two- or three-month-old, sleeping for five- or six-hour stretches is what you can expect. While there may be babies who start skipping that two a.m. feeding by the third month, most three-month-olds still need a feeding (or two) during the night, especially if they’re nursing.
• By four months, you can expect your baby to sleep seven or even eight hours at a stretch. That’s because most four-month-old babies have reached that magic weight of 11 pounds, which means, metabolically speaking, they don’t really need a nighttime feeding (though they may well demand one!).
• If your baby is still waking to eat into his fifth or sixth month, you can be pretty sure he’s not really hungry. He’s just used to his midnight snack and the sweet dose of Mommy that comes with it.

You don’t have to wait until your baby hits his half-birthday mark to start encouraging longer nighttime snoozes. In fact, at around three months old you should be able to (slowly) cut down those middle-of-the-night feedings with the ultimate goal of (drumroll, please!) — sleeping through the night. You can take the first (baby) steps toward that holy grail by following these dos and don’ts:

DO wake your baby up before you go down. Just before you’re ready to turn in for the night, try topping him off with a late-night nibble. Even if he’s too sleepy to eat much, a few sips might be enough to give all of you an extra hour or two of sleep. But if this tactic prompts your baby to start waking more often — and it might — ditch it. In that case, do your best to give your baby a heaping helping during his last feeding before bed. If he nods off before he’s taken in a decent amount of milk, try rousing him (burping may do the trick) and offering him another shot at the breast or bottle. He’ll be more likely to fill up before he turns in and you’ll have a better chance of your baby sleeping through the night.

DO stretch out the feedings. While newborns need to eat every two to three hours or so, by the time babies are three or four months old, you can start stretching the times between feedings. At nighttime, introduce this concept gradually by adding a half hour or so between feedings every other night. With any luck, you’ll stretch out the feedings to the point that your baby is sleeping through the night.

DO shorten nighttime feedings. Another way to wean your baby from a nighttime feeding is to gradually put a little less in his bottle or spend a couple of minutes less on each breast during his night wakings. Keep decreasing the amount of milk (or the nursing time) over the course of a week or so until your baby’s ready to give up this meal.

DO start establishing a bedtime routine. Nope, it’s not too early to start telling tales and singing songs before bed. A bedtime routine sends your baby the signal that it’s time to drift off to dreamland for a solid night’s sleep. Some tried-and-true sleepy-time strategies to prime your baby to sleep through the night include a bath (warm water is soothing — and sleep-inducing), a story, and cuddles.

DON’T rush to feed him at night. When your little one wakes crying, wait before offering the breast or bottle. He might even doze off again or entertain himself for a while. If he starts protesting loudly, try soothing him with a quiet song or gentle caress first. The sooner you teach him that night wakings won’t result in feedings, the more likely he’ll be to sleep through the night. (Eventually, you’ll be able to nip those night wakings.)

DON’T skimp on calories during the day. Your baby will be less hungry at night (and better able to sleep through the night) if his tummy gets filled during the day. Try nursing a bit longer (or adding an ounce or two more to his bottle) during those daytime feedings.

DON’T put cereal in his bottle or be tempted to start solids too early. Not only won’t it help him sleep through the night, it could also be detrimental to his health. Introducing solids too early may trigger food allergies, plus there is a danger that your infant could gag or inhale the thickened mixture into his lungs, which could cause pulmonary trouble. What’s more, adding cereal to the bottle can lead to overfeeding. Babies instinctively know how much milk they need based on volume (not calories), so if you up the calories in your baby’s bottle, you’ll be forcing him to ingest larger amounts of calories than he normally would.

DON’T do diapers in the middle of the night. Unless your baby is an absolute mess, skip middle-of-the-night changes. Diapering him will wake him right up (the last thing you want when you’re trying to get your baby to sleep through the night). If you really need to tackle a dirty diaper at night, do the deed with the lights dimmed, and with as little talking and interaction as possible. That way, your baby won’t get the message that it’s time to wake up and party.

DON’T keep him as close anymore. If your baby is sharing your bed or your room, this might be a good time to consider an amicable parting. The very nearness of you (and the sweet, baby-enticing aroma of your body and boobs) might be why he’s waking so often. Of course, if you’re still committed to co-sleeping, skipping this piece of advice is totally fine.

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