Teach your Baby to Sleep Independently Through the Night

Q: Is it ok to let my child sleep in my bed once in a while?

A: it is not advisable you encourage this practice as it will only send conflicting messages the child and possibly reinforces the sticky situation you are trying to correct.

Take, for example, if your baby is playing with a dangerous piece of equipment, you immediately reach out to take it from her. The expected reaction is that your baby cries. The cries will continue until she eventually stops. As a parent, you know the harm that could have been done, but you don't yield and let your child come to harm despite the cries. Or would you? Of course, you won't because you are instilling in your child very important life lessons that will be useful in future. This same principle applies to getting a child to sleep independently

Good sleep behaviors can also be learned just as the bad was learned. All you need to do is gradually replace the bad habits with good ones.

Once your baby shows sign of being tired or wanting to sleep, put her to bed immediately. Place the baby in a very comfortable position

You must have tried endlessly to get your baby to sleep by themselves without recording any success. The problem here is even though your method may be right, but you don't just continue with it long enough for the baby to become used to it. You don't start with a plan and stop after only a few nights; you continue until the baby grows wholly conditioned to it. Another problem could be due to a snag in the way you carry out your plan. If after setting your baby to sleep and you go about other tasks, and your baby starts to cry, what do you do? You may try to ignore the cries for a while, but soon enough you give in. There lies the problem with your approach. Once you set out on a path to trach your baby how to sleep, you follow through to the end. There is no halfway if you want your child to be adequately conditioned.

TYPES OF SLEEP PROBLEMS

Your baby may suffer from either of the two main types of sleep problems or a combination; night waking or settling.

If after your baby is about five months old and still isn't able to fully adapt to this sleep pattern, you have to take action immediately to enable you, and your infant gets much-needed sleep.

Once a baby is about four months old, sleeping without been coddled or gently eased to sleep should be introduced to the child.