Of all the ways your baby changes your life, her sleeping patterns--or lack thereof--make the biggest impact. If your baby isn't sleeping properly, it can make her miserable while she's still awake. Encouraging your baby to develop good sleep habits is perhaps your most important job in your baby's first months.
Nighttime Routine
The first step in helping your baby sleep better is to establish a nighttime routine. Many babies don't understand the difference between day and night, and a nighttime routine can help teach her that nighttime is about to begin, which means it's time to go to sleep. You can include music, stories and a bath in your routine, and feel free to add anything else that you would like. The most important part of a nighttime routine is that you stick with it and do it every night so that your baby begins to understand its significance.
Napping
When you first have a baby, naps are unpredictable. Newborns require 16 hours of sleep a day, and there's no rhyme or reason as to when they sleep. Once your baby begins to form loose patterns of sleep, it's up to you to monitor these naps. Don't let her sleep for more than three hours at a time, and don't let her nap too close to bedtime. If you think she's sleeping too much during the day, do whatever you can to keep her awake--too much sleep during the day can lead to sleepless nights.
Self-Soothing
The parenting website Kids Health recommends putting your baby down while she's drowsy but not totally asleep. This helps your baby learn how to self-soothe; in this case, she learns how to help herself fall asleep. You can also help your baby learn to self-soothe by not running into her bedroom the second she starts crying. Let her cry for a few minutes and see if she really needs something or if she's just crying to get your attention. If she falls back asleep, it means she has a good grasp of self-soothing, which can help her to sleep longer at night.
Nighttime Feedings
It's inevitable that your baby will wake up screaming because she's hungry. Once you've established that she needs a feeding, it's your job to create as boring an environment as possible. Keep the lights off, and leave the TV off if you can. The idea is to show your baby that waking up at night isn't very much fun, and you can foster that mindset by not playing with her or engaging her in conversation. This realization, coupled with her growing ability to hold food in her stomach, will help her sleep well into the night.
Realistic Expectations
As you implement different ways to get your baby to sleep, it's important to understand that there is no miracle cure for your baby's sleeping problems. Every baby is different, so try not to get too frustrated if your baby is slow to embrace your techniques. After all, experts consider "sleeping through the night" to be five or six hours of interrupted sleep. If your baby is getting that much, you're doing just fine.
