If you are interested in getting your baby to sleep it is important to start with a sleep training bedtime routine and a loose schedule you follow every night! This doesn’t have to be a complicated or long drawn out process! I recommend having 4 parts to your routine every night.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
This post probably contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you choose to buy from my links.
My biggest suggestion is having a rock-solid bedtime routine! I prefer the standard bath, books, boob, bed scenario. We started doing this routine every night starting at 3 months old. It really set the stage for bedtime.
Step 1: Bathtime
We go into her bedroom, turn on her lamp, close the blinds and curtains, lay out her pajamas, and undress her for her bath. We started this around 3 months. I would turn on music in the bathroom and my daughter would play for about 5-10 minutes. I only used soap every 3 days on her because she has eczema and too much soap was drying on her skin. She did fine with just water though.
After her bath, we would go into her room, which was already dimmed, with the curtains drawn and her lamp lit. I would dry her off, comb her hair, and give her a little baby massage with lotion. Then we would put on comfy jammies and her sleep sack and we would move on to the next part of the ritual!
Here are the sleep sacks I used by age:
0-3 months I used plain swaddle blankets like these.
3-6 months I loved these transition sleep sacks. I was slowly able to wean her out of having her arms swaddled. She was able to break out of all other transition swaddles I tried. But this one worked like a charm! I just wish it was a warmer material. Luckily I was transitioning her out of her sleep sack during the summer! I have a friend that raves about the Merlin Sleep Suit! Might be a better choice if you are transitioning from a swaddle in the winter!
6 months and on: I used this sleep sack and this sleep sack interchangeable. I liked them both equally, however, the microfleece one is extra snuggly!
Note: As my daughter got accustomed to this routine I started moving bath time to every other night. I wanted to have the flexibility to not have to give her a bath if we were especially pressed for time.
Step 2: Books
Next up we would sit in the rocker and read a few books. Of course, a baby’s attention span at this age is short so your reading time will be short! But as an elementary school teacher, I know the importance of setting up good reading habits early on! I want reading to be a part of my daughters daily routine so I wanted to start working on this skill at an early age. Plus reading to a baby provides so many learning opportunities! It’s great developmentally even for little babies!
As a teacher here are a few of my favorite book sets for babies to get your little reader started off on the right foot!
The Little Blue Box of Bright and Early Book Boards– Dr. Suess
The Big Box of Bright and Early Board Books–Dr. Suess
The Little Red Box of Bright and Early Board Books– PD Eastman
Boynton’s Greatest Hits Volume 1–by Sandra Boynton
Boynton’s Greatest Hits Volume 2–by Sandra Boynton
All of those books sets come highly recommended by me for their educational purposes. They have great concepts to teach your child including rhyming, colors, and opposites! They are also loved by my daughter because they are silly, colorful and so much fun! Help your young child discover a love of reading from the beginning!
After a few minutes of reading (which I know will get longer over time), we stand up and put the books away and walk over to turn on the music.
Step 3: Music
I play classical music in her room anytime she is going to sleep. This is a good cue to her that it is sleep time! It also has the added bonus of drowning out other noises she might hear while falling asleep. Spotify has a great playlist called Lullaby Baby. I love this playlist because it is acoustic versions of hit songs! I really enjoy turning it on because now it relaxes me too!
Step 4: Boob/ Bottle
With the music playing, we head back over to the rocker and turn off her little lamp. (Need some tips on setting up your nursing station? Read my post here!) I then nurse her and give some final snuggles. By this point, she is completely relaxed. I put her in her crib and she is often asleep before I even make it to the door! If she isn’t asleep she babbles a little in her crib before she finally puts herself to sleep.
Note: If your baby isn’t rolling over yet I highly encourage you to invest in a DockaTot! I think the DockaTot was one of the biggest reasons my daughter was such a good sleeper in the early days and this really came in handy when sleep training! We stopped using it around 4 months. So worth it!
- I involve her in the entire bedtime process! We turn off lights together, lay out clothes, the works! I think that going through the motions with her really helps to remind her that we are getting ready for sleep time!
- Find 4 easy sleep associations you will use, maybe you will do bath, books, music, and boob/ bottle or maybe you have some other routine you use. Having multiple EASY sleep associations makes it a piece of cake if you have to remove one of them for some reason.
- As your child gets used to the routine you can start removing one part of it, such as a bath, or books if you are short for time. Your baby will still know its time to sleep because you are using the other sleep cues and sleep associations.
- Do a similar shorter routine for nap time as well!
The Payoff!
Using this basic sleep routine I am able to put my daughter down for naps or bed ANYWHERE! I have put her to sleep at hotels, friends’ houses, and my parent’s house all with very little fuss from my daughter. We are no longer rushing home to get her in bed by 7pm. On special occasions we know we can get her to fall asleep in a pack and play and move her later that night. (We don’t do this often, but we know its an option!) We can also use the sleep cues and get her to fall asleep on long car trips! It has always been important to me that we raise a flexible child and this is just one of the ways we are making that happen!
Still on the fence about sleep training? Read my post Sleep Training Survival Tips to get some more ideas! You won’t regret it!
Hello Meghan M,
What can we do for our daughter who cosleeps with us because it’s so cold in the winter time at night?
When can we transition her to her crib? She is turning 3 months soon
I also co-slept with my daughter! We transitioned at around 4 months when she started keeping me awake at night because she started moving around more. We had used the DockATot for co-sleeping and all I did was put the DockATot into the crib for the first week. She transitioned really easily. I would start with making sure your daughter naps in her crib during the day. You could also start her in her crib for the first part of the night and then move her into your bed after a middle of the night feeding. Or vice versa so that she is spending half the night in her crib and then slowly ease away from that. As far as when that is up to you! I had planned on keeping my daughter in our bed until 6 months but once it started disrupting my sleep I changed my tune. It’s up to you. Follow your mama instinct! For now start following a routine every night so that you signal to your daughter that its bedtime! Good luck!
Thank you for sharing your tips. I started implementing them this past Tuesday with my almost 6 month old son. The first nite, he cried for 7 min and then fell asleep. Two minutes the second nite and then maybe a minute the third nite. He seems to have understood how to initially put himself to sleep which I m super excited about. Problem is that he is waking in the middle of the nite- I let him cry and try and put himself back to sleep but even after 10 min, he s still crying. I have patted him a bit but it doesn t help. We have a 6 year old in the next room, so I need to be careful that she s not waking up either (otherwise I have two woken kids). I don t give him a bottle when he wakes in the middle of the nite bc based on the last couple of weeks, its clear he s not hungry. Nor does he take a pacifier. The only thing that has been working is picking him up and bringing him to my bed. He promptly falls straight alseep and sleeps straight till around 7 am. Obviously, I don t want to do that everynight. Any advice on how to get him to fall back to sleep in the middle of the nite?
Hi! First of all nice work on getting him down for sleep at bedtime! That’s a huge battle in and of itself! Great job Mama! Now, as far as the middle of the night wake up, unfortunately, it is still totally normal for a baby to wake up once a night until 9/10 months. Usually, it’s because they are hungry but sometimes it’s just for comfort. What I would suggest is instead of waiting for him to put himself back to sleep I would try immediately going in, picking him up, and cuddling him for a few minutes. During this time turn the music back on if it has already turned off. (My daughter’s playlist only plays for around an hour). After doing the short snuggle, put him back in his bed, walk out, and shut the door. If this doesn’t work after a few nights I think I would try a few nights of giving him the bottle even though he doesn’t seem hungry. It could be that you will be getting up with him in the middle of the night for a while still. Not ideal, I know, but don’t worry Mama this stage of life is so short!
Can you send me the link to your transition sleep sacks? The one above is the same as your 0-3 month swaddle blankets. Thanks!
Sorry about that! This is the swaddle transition that we used! https://amzn.to/2ZdTZr0
Hello there, great tips on sleep training sounds really ideal. My daughter is just 6 weeks. Is this routine applicable to her at this age or is she too young to be able to understand this type of training/routine? She sleeps a lot during the day and stays up at night wanting to constantly feed. Is this normal at this age? I am a first time mum please advice. Thank you in advance.
At 6 weeks she is still really tiny! It’s normal for her to eat during the night. I recommend that you have her nap in a bright room during the day so that she can start learning the difference between day and night. I also recommend that you make the middle of the night feedings as uneventful as possible. Keep the lights dim and the noises to a minimum. As far as a bedtime routine, it doesn’t hurt to start now!
Hello!
We got the routine down. But most times specifically for nap time I have to rock her to sleep. She will literally cry for over 15 minutes. Any tips on how to teach them to put themselves to sleep? Also she won’t take bottle or pacifier.
A little background on that we started nursing with a nipple shield so when I weaned her off she wouldn’t take any bottles or pacifiers either. I’m guessing because it’s the same texture.
My baby is 5 weeks old, but we will be going back to work soon and I want to get her started on a routine. What time would you suggest we start and have her in bed by?
Thanks!