This may be one of the most important motherhood tips and tricks post I have written because sleep = life. In the throws of baby-induced sleep deprivation, it can seem like you will never know what it feels like again to get a full night sleep. Spoiler alert ** YOU WILL! Today I am sharing the best sleep training tips we use, plus the steps we took to get our peanut sleeping 11-12 hours through the night.
Shiloh is now almost 17 months old and joined the “Good Sleepers” club at around 8 months old. This is not me claiming we do things perfectly or that she never has a bad night. What I can say is sleep is no longer a preoccupation for me. I don’t have to spend every free moment searching for sleep training gems or the secret recipe to a good nights sleep anymore because we found what works. I know that if Shiloh has a bad night, there is a reason and a relatively easy fix.
Here are the best sleep training tips we found:
one – create sleep associations.
Our routine is pretty simple. There’s usually a warm bath, a book (or 5), bottle/nursing, putting on the sleep sack, and giving Shiloh her lovey. I heard it explained that in the same way you couldn’t go straight from a gym workout to bed, you can’t expect a baby or toddler to go right to bed after running around.
The first few things of our routine help her wind down, but as soon as she gets in the sleep sack and she snuggles with her lovey, she can barely keep her eyes open. We use those two things for almost every nap as well, and it just helps reinforce the sleep association.
two – make the bedroom a cozy happy place.
We try to make sure Shiloh spends some time in her room so it’s not just for sleep but it feels like a safe and familiar place. We have even set her in the crib with some books so she can have some quiet time in there.
She went through a phase where she would start fussing as soon as we would head to her room for a nap or bedtime. But now, she loves this space & enjoys being in her room and her crib!
three – add a little noise.
We have used this white noise machine ever since Shiloh was born and absolutly love it! You can control it by an app on your phone which is super convenient. It also has different lights and white noises. We only use the TV static and red light because they are both so soothing and I read the most optimal for sleep. Every nap and at bedtime, the white noise is on. A great tip I read is to keep the volume about equal to a shower. Loud but not irritating.
We also have a Google Home mini speaker in her room. I have to give all cred to the hubs for this one – he started playing music when he put her to bed and turns out, it’s the most relaxing thing for her! Honestly, it’s a total game-changer. When she went through a sleep regression and would wake at 3 am, we just tell google to play relaxation radio on her speaker, and in under 90 sec, she would be back asleep. Is it a sleep crutch? Possibly. Or maybe it’s a secret sleep weapon. Just saying.
OK, but how did we actually sleep train her so we could lay her down – awake – and not have a major cry-fest every night?
Basically we gradually increased the length of time we would let her cry. At first I was so against any sleep training method that involved crying. I felt that it somehow would translate to rejection in her mind. But at a certain point of exhaustion for all three of us, we realized we had to at least give it a try. We decided to take one week to give it an honest effort and YOU GUYS!!! IT WORKED!!
Life changing. Literally.
The first night we laid her down very tired but still awake, and as expected she cried. We kept it positive and left the room. After about 3 minutes, went back in to check on her and soothe her for just a few minutes. Then we left and she cried again. Each time we let her cry a smidge longer, but not longer than 15 minutes, and then took turns going in to soothe her. It took almost 2 hours of doing this until she fell asleep…for three nights. I mean three nights exactly the same. Not even a teeny tiny improvement.
Every night I thought, we are so off, this isn’t going to work, it’s pointless, we will never sleep again, she’s too stubborn, we waited too long, ours is the only child on earth that cannot be sleep trained.
Then on the fourth night it was like a switch was flipped. She gave a half-hearted holler that sounded a lot like “alllllright” and by the time we were downstairs with the monitor on, she was asleep.
Just like that everything changed.
Now, months later, we still have a great little sleeper on our hands. This doesn’t mean she never has a sleep regression. Everyone has a rough night once in a while – I know I do! But overwhelmingly, she sleeps around 11/12 hours per night. As a fallback, we can always revisit the basics.
Again, I’m not a sleep trainer, I can only share what worked for us!
Just to recap:
- gradually increase the time baby cries alone, up to 15 minutes.
- use white noise
- try relaxing instrumental music
- make the bedroom a cozy place
- have a consistent bedtime routine
- create sleep associations
- don’t give up 🙂
While these are the main tips that have had the biggest impact, there is so much to learn about your baby’s sleep. Some of the most helpful sleep resources you can find on social media are Taking Cara Babies, Moms On Call, and Baby Sleep Trainer.
How about you? Any favorite tips or resources you have, please share in comments!!
As always, thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read this today. ♡ ♡ ♡
xo – rae
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