Often the baby needs to be close to 3-4 months old and a good size to make it to the point where they are sleeping through the night and not need to feed. Of course, there are other factors, like medical conditions and smaller babies that can delay or prevent this process, but for most healthy babies, you can follow these steps and be on your way to sleeping through the night in no time! Delaying this process until the infant is older can make this process take longer, but you can still train your infant to sleep through the night at any age. There are things parents can do to help that process along:
- First, develop a routine and schedule that gets them used to falling asleep at the desired times. Having dinner, taking a bath, reading a story, singing a lullaby, getting pajamas on — every family has a different routine, but going through those motions at consistent times will help a baby learn when to expect to sleep.
- Second, help your child learn to fall asleep on their own to start the night or if they wake up during the night.
Learning to fall asleep on their own, or to self-soothe, is a skill that babies must learn, and you can help teach them by putting them into their crib or bassinet drowsy but awake.
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