Young infants don't have regular sleep patterns. They sleep up to 16 hours a day, but often at one- to two-hour intervals. Between the ages of two and six months, your baby should fall into a more predictable routine of nighttime sleep, but she needs a lot of help from you to establish the right conditions and set the pattern.
Inconsistency
Babies need structure to establish good sleeping habits. Your baby won't know when to sleep unless you establish a consistent bedtime ritual that signals it's time for him to sleep. If you vary the routine too much---for example, rocking your child one night and reading a story another night---he will not develop a pattern that relaxes him into the sleep cycle. If you skip the nighttime ritual because it's late or you're too tired, your baby will have trouble falling asleep, warns Baby Center. Like adults, babies need to unwind before they can fall asleep.
Overstimulation
Your baby may have difficulty falling asleep if there are distracting sounds from other activities in your home or outside noises that carry into her room. Similarly, any visual stimulation, such as a light or a mobile above the crib, provides interest that will keep your baby engaged and prevent her from relaxing into a sleepy state. Baby Center recommends that you make your baby's room very dark to minimize visual stimulation and use sound masking from a steady noise source, such as a fan or a recording of steady sounds, such as rainfall.
Waking Up
Humans of all ages wake up several times a night, but adults generally put themselves back to sleep so quickly that they don't remember awakening. Your baby, however, may not yet have mastered this skill. To fall back to sleep, your baby needs to reestablish the conditions at the time he fell asleep, according to KeepKidsHealthy.com. If you have created conditions that he cannot reenact, such as the motion of rocking, he will have difficulty getting back to sleep. After the bedtime rituals, put your baby in his crib while he is still awake, but relaxed. This allows him to re-create the same conditions when he awakens during the night.
Developmental Changes
If your baby used to sleep through the night and suddenly starts to develop difficulty falling or staying asleep between the ages of 6 to 12 months, there are two likely explanations. First, babies who reach developmental milestones, such as sitting up or crawling, are so excited about the new achievement that they want to practice, according to Baby Center. Your baby may fight the urge to sleep as she continues to practice a new skill. Second, pediatrician Dr. Greene points out that this is the age when separation anxiety kicks in. At this age, your baby understands the concept of leaving, but has not yet grasped the concept that you will return. This stage typically lasts two to four months.
Exhaustion
Ironically, putting your baby to bed too late can make it more difficult for him to fall asleep and stay asleep, according to Baby Center. This is because he's suffering from exhaustion. Babies usually need about 11 hours of nighttime sleep, plus naps during the day. If your baby is having trouble falling asleep or wakes up during the night, try putting him to bed 30 minutes earlier.
Lack of Transitional Object
To help your child fall asleep and develop the skill to resume sleeping after waking during the night, KeepKidsHealthy.com recommends that you incorporate a "transitional object," such as a toy or small blanket, into her bedtime routine. Give her the object to hold while you are performing nighttime rituals such as changing her diaper, giving her a last feeding or reading a story. She will learn to associate the object with the act of falling asleep. Put the object in the crib with her so that if she awakens during the night, she can take hold of the object and use it to soothe herself back to sleep.
