Baby sleeping technique that work for the baby

In my previous article, are you trying to make your baby schedule to sleep through the night? I spoke about how routine is important and can be achieved. In this article, I want to focus on how along with sleep routine, how baby sleeping technique that worked with my baby can be used. We started this technique way early since she was 4 months old and it works to date.

Not rocking my baby to sleep was not a conscious decision that I made, but something that was forced on me. Who forced me to give that up? No one but my weak back. The back ache was killing me with each passing day. For nearly 3 months, either of us family members were rocking her to sleep. Since she was newborn for the first 3 months, which are deemed to be the toughest, we had to take turns to rock her throughout the night.

With my aching back and constant feeding session throughout the night, I had to think of something to change this routine. Two things were bought into immediate effect, sleeping technique and feeding her lying down. Feeding her lying down eased my back pain since I was not sitting for long stretch of time and with the frequency at which she woke up in the first three months, feeding her while lying down was bliss.

Now, let us come back to the sleeping technique. I did not read about this technique anywhere, but was told of it by my sister. Here is how you go about it:

•   Start calming the home environment starting 8 pm after her last bottle/breastfeed session.
•   Dim all the lights in the house.
•   Lie down on the bed next to the baby. Since I assume you are co-sleeping and I am a propagator of co-sleeping. If you don’t, you can make your baby sleep once and then follow your regular feeding sessions.
•   Pretend or try to fall asleep without caressing or hugging your baby. Give her a good night kiss and a hug, but that is about it. No more touching.
•   Initially, my daughter just stared at me and my husband and eventually fell asleep. Sometimes, she used to toss right and left and then fall asleep.

I know it is hard to resist caressing her cheeks or cuddling, but trust me when I say that these habits can go a long way as they grow older. As they grow older, they will get heavier and you do not want to weaken your already weak back with that weight. You can cuddle her as much as you want throughout the day, but for the night, control the temptation. This method has worked for me be it at home or elsewhere. People have really appreciated how well she sleeps without rocking or cuddling to sleep and always ask me how to do it. I would recommend you to try this as soon as their vision is developed, preferably after 4 months.

What was the baby sleeping technique you used with your baby? Share your experiences with us.