10 Baby Sleep Tips for New Moms

If you and your baby are struggling to get sleep you need to keep reading. Learn how to survive the 4 month sleep regression and help your baby sleep through the night with these effective baby sleep tips.

Many new moms experience sleep deprivation after bringing their newborn home from the hospital. Lack of sleep can cause many health issues including postpartum anxiety. When you don’t get enough sleep you may become cranky, sensitive, and anxious. When I wasn’t getting enough sleep I felt mom guilt because I was too tired and anxious to be the mom that I thought my daughter deserved.

These baby sleep tips are for babies over 3 months old. Newborns aren’t expected to sleep through the night because they need to eat more frequently.

Our Sleep Journey

I went into labor around 1 am, gave birth around 4 pm the same day. After I gave birth, the nurses would come into the room to do tests on my baby and me all night, so I didn’t get any sleep. 

When I got home my baby would sleep all day and stay up crying most of the night. My husband and I had to take turns watching her at night. Most of the time she would only fall asleep on my chest, and I would have to hold her or she would cry. I was very sleep-deprived for the first couple of months. 

Once we realized how to get her to stop crying and were able to comfort her we got more sleep. However, she was still waking up to nurse every 2 hours, and cluster feeding, so I still wasn’t getting enough rest.

I felt like a zombie!

via GIPHY

Our daughter didn’t sleep in her own room at night until she was 14 months. Once she slept in her own room she finally slept through the night consistency from about 8pm to 7am.

The AAP Recommends for infants to sleep in their parent’s bedroom for at least the first six months, ideally for the first year of life, based on the latest evidence.

Here are 10 gentle sleep training tips that will help you get through the 4 month sleep regression.

Tip 1: NUTRITION

Make sure your baby gets enough breastmilk or formula during the day. Your baby will sleep better at night if he is eating enough during the day.

Tip 2: NAPS

It is important that your baby gets enough naps during the day, so they can sleep better at night. (Keeping your baby awake all day will NOT help them sleep longer at night.) I read many times that babies are only supposed to take 2 – 3 naps during the day. I thought I had to keep my daughter awake after her third nap, which only made her over stimulated. She would wake up every two hours at night.

Nap Routine:

Routines are SO important and beneficial for you and your baby!

This is what our 4 month old schedule looked like:

• When my baby woke up in the morning, I changed her diaper and clothing, feed her, burp her, and played with her.
• When she showed signs that she was tired, (yawning, stretching, wiping eyes, whining) usually about 2 hours after she woke up, I would take her in her room with the lights off and turn the white noise on.
• I use to rock her and sing to her in our rocking chair until she passed out, which usually took about 5-10 minutes. If she seemed wide awake and fought sleep for longer than 15 minutes I took her back in the living room to play until she seemed tired again.
• When she was asleep I slowly set her down in her crib.
• If she woke up when I set her down I quietly sang to her with my hand on her chest until she was asleep. If that doesn’t work I’d pick her up, and hold her in my arms or rock her, and sing to her. Once she was asleep for a couple of minutes I slowly set her down again.
• I left the white noise on, so I could, clean, get work done, or talk without waking her up.
• I would watch her on the baby monitor, and when she wakes up, I repeat eat, play, sleep process again.
• She took 2-4 naps a day. She slept better at night when she got 4 naps. Her last nap was usually around 5 or 6 pm and lasted about 30 minutes.
• At 4 months old, we had her nap in her Dock A Tot that we had put in her crib. At 6 months old, we removed the Dock A Tot and now she naps in her crib.

Tip 3: TEMPERATURE

We set our home temperature between 68-72 degrees depending on how warm or cold it is outside and in your home. You want your baby to be at a comfortable temperature. She may wake up if it’s too warm or cold.

Tip 4: BABY BATH

About an hour or 2 before bedtime, you should give your baby a nice warm bath. A warm bath can make your baby calm and relaxed. It’s also a great way to start your bedtime routine, so your baby knows it’s almost time to go to bed. 

Tip 5: BABY PAJAMAS

Dress your baby in a swaddle blanket or pajamas. My baby wasn’t able to be swaddled, because she broke out the first day. I dressed her in a onesie and the Love to Dream Swaddle Up because she loved having her arms up while she slept. After she was 2 months old, I started dressing her in Sleep N Play pajamas with the zipper.

Love to Dream Swaddle Up

Sleep N Play

Swaddle

Tip 6: WHITE NOISE

While putting our baby to sleep, we turn on the white noise machine. When she hears the white noise she knows it’s bedtime. If we make noise, it doesn’t wake her up, because the white noise filters out other sounds. The one we use can me controlled through your phone, plays lullaby’s and other soothing noises, and can be used as a night light.

Tip 7: LAST SUPPER

30 minutes before putting our baby to sleep I nurse her one more time, so she is nice and full. When she was an infant, like many breastfeeding mothers, I nursed her to sleep because it was easier. Once I stopped nursing her at night she slept longer without waking up.

Tip 8: PUTTING BABY DOWN

When my daughter was an infant I would nurse her then hold her head up to my shoulder and slightly tap her back to burp her. At this point, her eyes were closed. My husband or I would slowly set her down in her bassinet. My husband would put his hand on her tummy for a minute until she stopped wiggling and was sound asleep. 

If she woke up as soon as we put her in her bed, we would pick her up and hold her for a minute. If she continued to cry, we would gently rock her while humming or singing to her until she fell back asleep. 

If you get too tired and fear falling alseep with your baby in the bed or in your arms ask your signifiant other help put your baby to sleep, because your sleep is very important too!

Tip 9: ROUTINE, ROUTINE, ROUTINE

Babies love routines! We put our baby to sleep at around 8 pm and dreamfed her at 10 pm. This routine helped my husband and I so much. She started sleeping through the night once we established a routine.

Tip 10: DREAM FEED

When your baby wakes to eat in the middle of the night keep the lights dim or use a night light, and don’t talk to her or look her in the eyes. The idea is to keep your baby asleep. If her diaper is wet, try to change it slowly and quietly with dim lighting or a night light. As soon as your baby is done eating, slowly set her in her bed while shhhhing until she is asleep, then slowly and quietly go back to bed. We leave the white noise machine on low volume all night

Night light

I love this night light for night time breastfeeding and diaper changes. It has touch, rechargeable, dimmable, portable, LED, timer, indoor & outdoor usage, and SOS mode signals your or your kids’ location in case of emergency.

Remember “This to shall pass“. 

As babies get older they will usually sleep better, especially once you establish a sleep routine and start feeding them solids. You are not alone, and it does get easier. Just be patient and consistent, and your work will pay off.

If your baby is not sleeping enough it could be due to teething, a growth spurt, sleep regression (the 4 month sleep regression was brutal), or illness. It took many sleepless nights and lots of crying before we finally established a routine that worked for our family.

That first night your baby sleeps through the night you will probably wake up freaking out, like all of us moms have. When you realize that everything is ok, you will probably cry happy tears before going back to sleep.

If these baby sleep tips helped your baby sleep through the night, or if you have any questions or tips, please leave them down in the comment section.