11 Expert Tips To Help Your Baby Sleep Through The Night

Your baby has brought such joy, life, and laughter into your home! But they’ve probably brought sleepless nights and tired days, too. If you’re wondering how to get your baby to sleep through the night, you’re alone!

While sleepless nights seem to be a rite of passage into parenthood, you don’t have to be a zombie from here into eternity.

Things will get better with time, but there are some steps you can take to help your baby sleep longer now!

With patience and a few tricks, your little one might be sleeping through the night faster than you think. Let’s start by talking about when you can realistically expect your little one to sleep through the night.

When Do Babies Start Sleeping Through The Night?

Getting your baby to sleep soundly the whole night through doesn’t just happen with the snap of your fingers. Plus, small babies shouldn’t be expected to sleep through the night since they still need to eat frequently.

Most babies are around six months old before they (and their parents) really start sleeping all night long.

Newborn To Three Months

When your baby is a newborn, they probably won’t sleep more than a couple of hours at a time.

This is partly because their tummies are tiny and they need to eat frequently! Another reason for their unusual sleeping patterns is that they don’t know the difference between daytime and nighttime yet.

They’ll establish day-night rhythms around one or two months. By the time your baby is close to three months old, they’ll start sleeping a bit longer.

Three To Six Months

As your baby grows, they’ll need to eat less often and they’ll start sleeping for longer stretches.

When your little one is between three and six months old, you can probably expect them to sleep around five hours at a time. Some babies this age will even sleep six to eight hours at night.

Consider yourself lucky if that’s your baby!

Six To Nine Months

By this age, a majority of babies are sleeping through the night. And this is when you can realistically expect them to do so, though every baby is different.

If you’re reading this article with bleary eyes, just keep in mind that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel!

Now, we’re going to get straight to the tips we have to help your baby get to sleep and stay asleep. You just might find yourself getting some decent shut-eye one day soon!

How To Get Baby To Sleep (And Help Them Stay Asleep)

1) Watch For Sleep Cues

There is such a thing as being overtired! Once your baby is exhausted, you might end up having a harder time getting them to sleep.

Watch for your baby’s sleep cues and put them to bed before they get too cranky!

Sleep cues can include yawning (no surprise there), not focusing their eyes, becoming less interactive and engaging, rubbing their eyes, fussing, and slowing down in general.

Every baby is different and their sleep cues will be different, too! Get to know your baby’s habits and what they act like when they’re ready to catch a few zzz’s.

2) Create A Bedtime Routine

Bedtime routines aren’t just for toddlers and little kids. It’s never too early to start a bedtime routine, and your baby will benefit from the consistency!

When you do the same activities every day before putting your infant down for the night, they’ll start to associate the routine with sleepy time.

Create a bedtime routine that fits your family’s personality and needs. It could include a bath, a baby massage, putting on pajamas, reading a book, singing a song, rocking in the rocking chair, and a goodnight kiss.

If a bath is part of the bedtime routine, opt for shampoo and other products that will be relaxing for your little one to help them wind down!

For example, Babo Botanicals’s Calming Shampoo, Bubble Bath & Wash is both moisturizing and relaxing! It contains meadowsweet oil to moisturize your baby’s delicate skin as well as lavender to relax, soothe, and facilitate more restful sleep!

3) Put Your Baby To Sleep At The Same Time Each Night

Sticking to a bedtime routine is important, but so is putting your baby to bed around the same time every day.

Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule helps anyone — even adults — sleep well all through the night! Try to stick to the same schedule every day for both naps and bedtime.

4) Keep Nighttime Activities Calm

For little ones, nighttime is for sleeping and daytime is for playing! What a life, right?

Help your baby understand daytime and nighttime rhythms by reserving fun and games for the daytime hours and keeping things calm at nighttime.

When it’s close to bedtime, turn down the lights and avoid active or loud activities. You may also want to add our lavender-scented Calming Baby Lotion to your nighttime routine.

5) Put Your Baby In Bed Drowsy

One of the keys to getting your baby to sleep through the night is teaching them how to self-soothe so they can put themselves back to sleep if they wake up during the night.

Part of teaching your little one to fall asleep by themselves is laying them down in bed before they’ve actually fallen asleep. Rock or snuggle until they’re drowsy, but then put them in their crib to fall asleep by themselves.

With this method, they learn how to fall asleep and, even more importantly, put themselves back to sleep when they wake up in the middle of the night.

6) Don’t Give Your Baby A Sleep Aid

Putting your baby in bed to drift off teaches them not to rely on being in your arms to fall asleep.

In the same way, you’ll want to avoid your baby becoming dependent on any one thing — a bottle, for example — to go to sleep. Otherwise, they may have trouble falling asleep without it.

7) Comfort Your Little One Without Picking Them Up

Another way to help your baby self-soothe is to find ways to comfort them when they wake without picking them up.

Go into their nursery and give them reassuring pats to try to calm them down but, if possible, avoid holding them in your arms so they learn to put themselves back to sleep in their crib.

8) Keep The Lights Low

When your little one cries out in the middle of the night and you tiptoe into the nursery, keep things as calm as possible to increase the chances that your little one will fall back asleep quickly and easily!

Leave the lights off or turn on a small lamp instead of the overhead light. Also, don’t be too noisy and keep your voice low and calm.

Just as you’re not super excited about being up the middle of the night, don’t get your baby too excited either!

9) Use A White Noise Machine

Putting a white noise machine near your baby’s crib can be a huge help when it comes to drowning out the noises of everyday life.

Your baby is bound to sleep more soundly if they don’t hear the dog barking and the party next door!

10) Hang Blackout Curtains

Blackout curtains can also be beneficial for getting your baby to sleep at the right hours. Since most babies go to sleep early, the sun might still be shining when you put your little one to bed.

If that’s the case, blackout curtains will make the room seem like nighttime and can help your little one snooze the night away.

11) Consider Sleep Training

Sleep training can be a bit controversial, but it’s something many parents successfully turn to in order to help their little ones learn to fall asleep and stay asleep.

There are several different methods of sleep training. Check them out and see if one might work for you and your family.

Keep Calm And Sleep On

Sometimes, parenthood means long days and sleepless nights. But, little by little, your baby will learn how to sleep through the night! Until then, stay calm and put the tips we listed above into practice.

Create a calming bedtime routine with products that will relax your little one. Go with Babo Botanicals’s Calming Baby Lotion and Calming Shampoo, Bubble Bath & Wash and let the soothing scent of lavender work its magic.

With a little time, a lot of patience, and the tips we’ve mentioned here, you and your baby will be sleeping all night long before you know it!