How I Helped My Baby Learn to Sleep

Many mothers are interested in any article with baby and sleep in the title! For good reason too, this can be such a challenging process for many mothers. Then when sleep deprivation sets in…scary.

I believe this is a really informative read written by Alice Callahan, PhD, I hope it helps you on your sleep journey!

How I Helped My Baby Learn to Sleep

In my first post, I wrote about how science has influenced my beliefs about infant sleep. When my second baby, M, was born, I knew that I wanted to give him manageable opportunities to practice falling asleep independently from an early age. As with most of my parenting experiences, this was easier said than done, but it ultimately worked well for us.

First Days: Curiosity and Observation

From the first day home, we started from a place of curiosity and observation. We watched how M showed us that he was tired and how he worked on getting his hands to his mouth to soothe himself. He fought to get out of the swaddle from a few weeks of age, so we switched to cozy sleep sacks, leaving his hands free for self-soothing. He did sometimes startle himself in his sleep, but he also learned to soothe himself by sucking on his hands from an early age.

During the first month of his life, M mostly drifted off to sleep while feeding or just after. There was no need to interrupt those sweet moments or the biology that makes sleep after warm milk almost inevitable.

In this video, M fell asleep in my arms. I loved watching expressions flicker across his face as he transitioned to sleep.

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