How to make baby sleep

Getting to sleep

Sleep patterns

In the first few weeks your baby's sleeping pattern is not likely to fit in with your need for sleep. Try to follow your baby's needs. You'll gradually get to know when sleep is needed. Don't catch up on housework while your baby sleeps. Snatch sleep and rest whenever you can.

Some babies sleep much more than others. Some sleep for long periods, some in short. Some quickly learn to sleep right through the night, some don't for a long time. Your baby will have his or her own pattern of waking and sleeping, and it is unlikely to be the same as other babies you know.

A baby who wants to sleep is not likely to be disturbed by household noise, so there's no need to keep the house silent while your baby sleeps. Indeed it will help you in the long run if your baby gets used to sleeping through a certain level of noise.

Parents often want their children to learn to sleep at night for the longest period (while they are sleeping). It helps to encourage night-time sleeping right from the start by teaching your baby the night time is different from the daytime. Suggestions to help distinguish night from day, during the night:
keep the lights down low;
keep your voice as low as possible and don't talk much;
put your baby down as soon as you have fed or changed him/her;
nappy changing wakes him/her up so don't change your baby if it's not necessary.

If your baby always falls asleep in your arms, at your breast, in your partners arms, or with someone by the cot, he or she is less likely to settle alone. This might not matter to you and may be unavoidable in the early weeks, particularly with a breastfed baby. If you want your baby to get used to going off to sleep alone it is wise to start putting the baby down before he/she falls asleep right from the beginning whenever possible. However you may need to wait until the baby is awake and alert for longer, more frequent periods. Remember though, the longer you leave it, the more difficult it will become.

When you have created a pattern you may wish to move things around a bit. For example you may wake your baby for a feed just before you go to bed in the hope that he/she will sleep for a longer period.