Parents often have so many questions about helping babies sleep that they didn\u2019t fit in one post! Here are additional questions I hear the most with answers from me, my fellow pediatricians, and pediatric health educators.<\/p>\n
When and how do I get our baby on a schedule? <\/b><\/p>\n
Wait until your baby is at least 3 to 4 months old. Younger babies\u2019 sleep patterns are variable and you can do more harm than good by trying to follow a rigid schedule.<\/p>\n
Babies younger than 3 months tend to sleep for shorter periods of time and they usually wake up because they need to eat.<\/p>\n
Our baby used to be a great sleeper, but that\u2019s changed. What happened? <\/b><\/p>\n
It\u2019s normal for babies\u2019 sleep patterns to change as they grow and develop. Learning new milestones (rolling over, sitting, pulling to stand, walking) can disturb sleep for a while. Illness, travel, and a parent returning to work can impact a baby\u2019s ability to sleep.<\/p>\n
All of these are temporary changes \u2013 your baby will usually settle down into a routine soon.<\/p>\n
Why does our baby nap during the day, but won\u2019t sleep longer stretches at night? <\/b><\/p>\n
Try adjusting your afternoon and evening routines. Some parents find it helpful to:<\/p>\n
We have twins, and neither one sleeps! Help! <\/b><\/p>\n
Getting twins to sleep \u2013 especially during certain developmental stages \u2013 can be challenging!
\nMost methods to help babies sleep are the same for twins, but can be more complex for parents to put into place. Here are some tips:<\/p>\n
Should we sleep train our baby?<\/b><\/p>\n
There are several \u201csleep training methods\u201d to help babies learn to fall asleep on their own. All are safe when done correctly and consistently.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t start trying until your baby is over 4 months old. After this point, sleep training won\u2019t hurt your baby physically or emotionally. Most parents who sleep train their children are glad they did.<\/p>\n
We tried sleep training and it made things worse. What now? <\/b><\/p>\n
If you tried sleep training a while ago, your baby may be readier now if they\u2019re bigger, more mature, or in their own crib or room.<\/p>\n
Learning to sleep is a process. You didn\u2019t \u201cfail\u201d sleep training. You learned more about what worked, what didn\u2019t, and what you might want to try next.<\/p>\n
Maybe you or your partner\u2019s needs or schedules have changed, and now you\u2019re ready to try something new.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, remember that this period of struggling with a baby who won\u2019t sleep is brief. It will soon pass, they\u2019ll learn to sleep \u2013 on their own, the whole night through \u2013 and you\u2019ll soon be a bit less exhausted.<\/p>\n
Find more resources for parents: Parents often have so many questions about helping babies sleep that they didn\u2019t fit in one post! Here are additional questions I hear the most with answers from me, my fellow pediatricians, and pediatric health educators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[667],"tags":[348,355,356,347,350,435,349,441],"class_list":["post-2043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newborn-care","tag-baby-sleep","tag-co-sleeping","tag-how-to-get-baby-to-sleep","tag-infant-sleep","tag-safe-infant-sleep","tag-sids","tag-sleep-training","tag-sudden-infant-death-syndrome","ages-baby"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1691580346:8"],"_edit_last":["11"],"slide_template":[""],"video_format_choose":["youtube"],"_custom_body_class":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["90"],"qode_animate-page-title":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-text":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-image":["no"],"qode_show-sidebar":["default"],"qode_hide-featured-image":["no"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["60"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_ages":["288"],"_thumbnail_id":["2047"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.760000000000002;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.379999999999995;}"],"wpfp_favorites":["21"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1714039330"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2043"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4251,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043\/revisions\/4251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMy Doctor Online<\/a>
\nPediatric Sleep Council<\/a>
\nAmerican Academy of Pediatrics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"