It may seem impossible at the moment and you may hear people saying a breastfed baby can’t sleep through the night. Believe me, I was in your shoes too – Until I did it. My son is 14 months old and I am still exclusively breastfeeding him and he has been sleeping through the night as early as 6 months old. Desperate times call for desperate measures – I really needed a breather and time for myself. And the only time I saw fit was at night after he had gone to bed. I kept doing trial and error of what worked for both of us (yes, you read that right, girlfriend). My son sleeps at 8:30PM and I used to think he should be asleep by 7 or 8 at the latest, but the extra 30 minutes was a big deal for him. He only sleeps for one nap a day and he sometimes takes it at 1PM or 3PM it all depends on his mood (but still always the same bedtime). When he falls asleep at 3PM, ofcourse its harder for him to sleep as early as 7PM and we usually are just having dinner as a family by then. So we moved it to 8:30, it wasn’t too late and it’s a leisurely bedtime routine; I don’t need to rush and we can actually enjoy each other at this time. See what works for you; but this is how I did it.
- Transition to 1/2 Naps a Day. Learn the art of stalling naps. You would know if your baby is under the weather and desperately needs a nap. If he is, like my son when he’s teething, I let him sleep it off (as opposed to dealing with the crying – and I just feel so helpless and so bad for him so I just let him sleep it – the pain – off). One nap is ideal in our situation. I think it’s also a good transition since he’s older now and if he goes to school he can adjust easily to that schedule. It’s also best since they’re more tired and craving sleep. He usually had his lunch then bathes and breastfeeds to sleep for his usual first and only nap of the day. When he doesn’t feel well he sleeps at 9 to 10 AM, has lunch, then naps again at 3 to 4 PM. But he still falls asleep at night as scheduled!
- Let him burn his energy up in the afternoons – let him go outside, run around and play especially at around 4 PM. That’s usually our time since it isn’t as hot out and he can stay out before sunset just in time for dinner and his night time routine.
- Feed him dinner then..
- A Bottle of Pumped Milk. My son can drink anywhere between 4 to 8 ounces
- …On top of breastfeeding. Why so much? They say breastfed babies don’t get to sleep through the night. And this ensures their little tummies are full for the night – it’s also a factor that breastmilk is easily digested. So don’t worry that they’ll be ‘overly full’ – but ofcourse still do this with precaution and observation. And yes, my son breastfeeds to sleep – don’t judge me.
- Bathe him. This is a great way to soothe him and ofcourse makes him feel fresh.
- And again yes, make sure he’s fresh and clean – teeth brushed well, etc.
- Make sure his nappy is clean and dry – I havent had much luck with cloth diapers on this one. But always check before hopping into bed especially since the little babe will be really full and he won’t fall asleep ofcourse if he made a cake in his nappy! Haha!
- Make him feel cozy – cozy and comfortable clothing (not too hot, not too loose), none of those shirts with too many buttons just clean and simple clothing, make sure it’s not an itchy sweater or anything.
- If it’s an off-night (overly tired or fussy), give him a massage with some lotion or oil if you prefer, you could also do this every night if you like as part of the routine.
- White Noise. I use this a lot in the afternoon and night. It prevents him from suddenly waking because of sounds like doors slamming, talking, laughter, car horns, etc. I actually only use Youtube for this, I downloaded a white noise video that he particularly liked and turn off the wifi on the phone so it wouldn’t have any notifications whatsoever (yes, you can download it on the Youtube app itself, you just renew the download every 30 days – awesome right?). We have been wanting a white noise machine but we found it wasn’t that common here in the Philippines and we just work with what we have. #momhacks
- Make sure the room’s temperature is just right – not too cold, not too warm – this also goes with his clothing or layers of clothing. Not too cold even if he has lotion on. My son doesn’t like blankets (better for me since it’s safer) so my trick is after he’s gone to sleep after breastfeeding, I unlatch him and check on his legs if they’re crisp cold or just right. If they’re cold, I ofcourse adjust the temperature. I also sometimes check after 30 minutes if he’s still cold.
- Have Your Own Customized Night Time Routine. This is very personal, I think. It all depends on how you want to go about it and you would have to experiment on it for weeks and observe what works best for you and your baby. You could even have a nap time routine so he knows when it’s nap time even if he sees it’s still sunny – it will also help him get used to transitioning to one nap, it will just click one day.
- On top of that, have a daily schedule so he would get used to your routine changes. Make him get used to his nap time routine and schedule and also his night time routine. Avoid making any changes until the habit is established.
- Dream Feed. My son’s bedtime is at 8:30 PM and usually calls for me at midnight. With his eyes still closed, he breastfeeds for just a little bit about less than 5 minutes and falls back asleep. That’s my call to sleep too most of the time (Yes, we co-sleep, and again please don’t judge me) since when he falls asleep it’s my free time to blog and do stuff I want without a baby pulling on me, haha! But at midnight, I scoot over next to him and sleep.
It’s not easy, but it will click at around a week or so but every kid is different. They say it can take almost a month to stick to a habit so try a 30 day challenge of sticking to a routine. Once your baby gets the hang of it, he will just automatically get sleepy during his scheduled bedtime – atleast that’s what happened with my son.
P.S. His sleep cycle may change especially if you don’t stick to the schedule – even for one day. And you would most probably have to get back to schedule again.
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