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About a month ago, my parents came over for dinner and they stayed through Rosy’s bedtime routine. I took her into the living room to say goodnight to everyone, put her down, and was back in the living room in 2 minutes.
My dad was shocked. He said, “She’s already down?!”
I told him yep, that she was down and would be asleep within a few minutes.
No rocking, singing, swinging, nursing, or any other acrobatics. Just a quick snuggle and she is ready to doze off.
This seemingly so simple thing makes my mama life so much easier.
All of the time I spend with Rosy can be intentional. Not spent trying to put her to sleep by spinning in circles, humming, and patting her hand.
When it’s time for her to go to sleep, she is down to business. She gets her rest and then wakes up ready to go!
Now, that all being said, babies are not robots. Every once in a while, Rosy will fight a nap despite our optimal conditions. Usually there is teething or over-tiredness to blame, and you can find me doing all of the theatrics I’ve mentioned above just to help her get a few moments of sleep!
However, ninety-nine percent of the time, she goes to sleep with no problem and it’s an enjoyable process for everyone!
I wrote everything down that we did concerning putting Rosy to sleep, and there were some things that really stood out.
We did these seven things consistently in order to get Rosy to fall asleep independently.
1. Lay down your baby drowsy but awake.
I know, this one is something you have probably heard from everyone, but I cannot stress how important it is!
Think about it. Before you fall asleep you spend at least a little bit of time falling asleep. If someone had always rocked you until you fell asleep and then suddenly didn’t, you would be pretty mad too!
Your baby always needs to be sleepy, and not wired up when it’s time to go to sleep. You are in charge of that!
2. Maintain a significant amount of wake time after a feeding before sleep.
This one plays into the Eat, Wake, Sleep cycles that I’ve talked about before in all of our schedules. (If you’re interested in those, check them out here!) We always kept Rosy awake at least a few minutes after she nursed before she went down for a nap. When she was a newborn sometimes that was just 10 extra minutes, when she was 6 months old it was at least 45 minutes.
This way, she isn’t sleeping because she is drowsy from nursing. She is sleeping because she is tired and ready for rest.
3. Swaddle
When Rosy took a nap or went to bed during her first three months (she started rolling over at 3 months old) she was ALWAYS swaddled. At night time we used the Halo Swaddle Sleepsack, and during the day she was swaddled in a muslin blanket.
Not only was this safe, but it kept her from waking herself up with her little arms moving due to infant startle reflex. Swaddling was a signal to Rosy that it was time to sleep and it helped so much!
4. Dark room
When Rosy started napping in her room after she was 3 months old, I always made sure her room was DARK. This helped her to say asleep longer and also was a cue to her that it’s time to go to sleep.
Room darkening cellular blinds ended up being what worked the best for us. There are tons of other options, like blackout curtains.
5. Sound machine
I cannot stress this one enough!! We use a sound machine every time Rosy sleeps. This is the one we use and I can’t recommend it enough!
Not only is white noise a cue for sleep, but it also lets me clean, talk, and do whatever else I need to do while she is sleeping without risk of waking her up!
6. Be consistent
This one is pretty obvious. Don’t change things up. Keep everything as consistent as possible, from timing to where your baby naps.
7. Follow a schedule
We followed a Babywise inspired schedule when it came to feeding and sleeping. This is incredibly helpful on making sure Rosy is well rested and getting regular sleep.
So, those are 7 tips to follow to help your baby fall asleep on their own.
We never (hardly ever) held or rocked Rosy to sleep. That way, she didn’t associate those things with sleep, and we weren’t stuck rocking a baby back to sleep for 30 minutes every time it was time for her to fall asleep.
So, that’s it!
Follow these 7 tips and your baby will be going to sleep on their own in no time!