This scenario can be really common when your baby can self settle at bedtime, but continue to wake regularly during the night.
If you know that:
The environment is spot on;
Naps are working;
Wake windows are right for your child;
They’re eating well in the day ;
Can put themselves to sleep from fully awake in their own sleep space at bedtime ;
And that there's no discomfort or any pain that’s causing them to wake.......
Then there’s ONE big thing that you need to review - YOUR response when they wake in the night!
Are you replacing their dummy for them, patting them back to drowsy, rocking back to sleep, feeding?
It’s of course, not a bad thing if you are doing any of this to get your little one back to sleep but if everything else is in place, it’s likely to be the reason that they are still waking regularly.
Remember – if your baby relies on external support to return to sleep then it’s likely they’ll need help multiple times during the night – even if they know how to self-settle at bedtime.
How can you improve things?
If you are currently feeding, rocking, patting etc your little one all the way back to sleep during the night, then as a very first step, just start to doing a little less.
For example, if you currently feed your baby back to sleep, offer less in the bottle or unlatch a bit sooner and then finish assisting them to sleep with a gentle hold, rock, pat or sing over the cot side.
If you are currently rocking your baby to sleep rock for less, intermittently stop the rocking and follow with patting over the cot side until asleep.
If you are patting your baby to sleep in the cot you can attempt to slow those pats down and place your hand on the mattress next to them while they drift off.
During this first step you will still be assisting your baby all the way to sleep but you are just trying to do a little less.
It's about making those small, incremental changes consistently every single night and they will slowly start to get the idea.
Of course, you can still incorporate night time feeds and help your little one to settle on the other wakes.
Continue to wind back support at a pace that is comfortable until you have your little one falling asleep independently from bedtime through until the morning (including night feeds – if applicable).
Ready to Get More Sleep?
If you’d like a helping hand to guide you through, then I am are here to help.
Book in for a free 30min call if you'd like more support.
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