Infants sleep a lot. They require between 9 and 12 hours of sleep per day during their first year of life, in addition to regular naps. The only issue is they tend to sleep in spurts, a combination of sleeping at night and napping during the day. At this point, parents will naturally want to sleep more at night and be awake more during the day. For sleepy parents who want to encourage their little ones to spend more of their nighttime sleep consistently asleep, sleep training may be the key.
When to start Sleep Training？
Exhausted parents may be eager to start training, so how do you know when to start sleep training? “Most infants are ready for sleep training by 4 to 6 months of age," says Dr. Lauren Coopersmith, a clinical instructor in the Department of Pediatrics at NYU Langone Medical Center." While some pediatricians adhere to the guideline that infants can be sleep trained when they reach a specific weight, I think it's more appropriate to wait until they are developmentally self-soothing, which is 4 months of age."
If your baby is past the 6-month mark, you might be asking “Is it too late to sleep train my baby?” Many parents wait to begin sleep training hoping that their child will just grow out of being a “bad” sleeper. Fortunately, sleep training has no age limit and can be done with babies at any age - even into toddlerhood!
How to Sleep Train?
There is nothing more heartwarming than watching your baby fall asleep sweetly. However, sometimes getting your baby to sleep and helping him sleep through the night can be a problem, even affecting the whole family. If it's time to go to bed, but your baby still has trouble falling asleep and often wakes up during the night, you can try the following methods to help him establish a good sleep pattern.
Cry-It-Out Sleep Training Method
As the name implies, this is the "make the baby cry" method, which requires you to put your baby in his crib when he is awake and never disturb him until he falls asleep, even if he cries. The idea is to let the baby learns to self-soothe and will eventually stop crying and sleep through the night.
This method seems fairly simple, but it is cruel to treat a newborn this way, but it may be worth trying for the child who is extremely pestering or for the child for whom all other sleep methods have failed to work. It is recommended not to try it when the child is too young, and eventually to try it after the child is 6 months old.
Fading Sleep Training Method
The fading method is a completely different approach to cry-it-out sleep training that involves 'coaching' your baby to sleep by holding or rocking them. However, because you don't want them to become accustomed to relying on you to nod off, it's best to 'fade' this out. This is accomplished gradually by reducing the amount of time you hold them for. You'll need a lot of patience, but the upside is that it's a no-tears approach.
Use a Smart Baby Monitor
After the baby falls asleep, we are most concerned that the baby might cry, kick the blanket, fall out of bed, and other things. With Momwilike smart baby monitor, you can keep a close eye on your child, without the need to physically check in on them. This means less disruption and a better night’s sleep for your newborn. Better still, it doesn't require wearable electronics to track your baby's sleep. The morning sleep analysis included a time-lapse video of the baby's night-time activity that you can look back, which helps you learn your baby’s sleep patterns over time and make improvements.
Keep the Ideal Room Temperature
Babies are especially sensitive to temperature. A room that is too hot or too cold may interfere with their sleep. So if you want your baby to sleep through the night, you need to make sure the room temperature is constant. Experts recommend between 68 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. We recommend carrying a baby room thermometer. Better yet, the Momwilike Smart Baby Monitor is equipped with temperature and humidity sensors that allow you to see the temperature and humidity of the room in real-time.
Soothe Your Baby by Talking
Sometimes babies just need to be soothed by mom or dad, or just hear their parents to fall back to sleep. If you don't want to disturb your little one by going into their room, invest in a smart baby monitor with two-way audio, like the Momwilike Smart Baby Monitor. With a smart monitor like Momwilike, you can even easily soothe your baby through the app while you're going out.
Day and night training
Infants are pretty intelligent and can take cues from an early age. Therefore, it is often recommended that newborn infants be exposed to light during the day and darkness at night. Ultimately, this helps them to distinguish between both.
Take care to make sure their room is dark enough for rest, and use blackout curtains if necessary. If you have a baby monitor, make sure it doesn't have any abrupt lights or noises. For example, there are no harsh red camera lights on the Momlike Smart Baby Monitor, and better yet, even the status light can be turned off completely for a restful night's sleep!