The No-cry Sleep Solution (33 page)

• Giving Baby a warm, calm bath

• Massaging

• Reading books

• Singing songs

• Playing soft music

• Taking a walk

• Rocking

• Breastfeeding

• Bottle-feeding

The hour before bed should be peaceful. Your routine should be done in rooms with dim lights. Your last step should end in the quiet, dark bedroom with little talking and your usual go-to-sleep technique. Write down your routine, and make it very specific.

A sample bedtime routine would look like this:

1. 7:00 p.m.—Bath

2. Massage with baby lotion

3. Put on pajamas

4. Read three books

5. Lights out

6. Sing lullaby

7. Breastfeed or bottle-feed

8. Rub back

9. Sleep

Review and Choose Sleep Solutions

101

Use the form on page 162 to write down your own bedtime routine.

Mother-Speak

“We have followed our bedtime routine every night, and I can see that she now expects bed to come after her bath. It’s almost like she looks forward to it.”

Tammy, mother of seven-month-old Brooklyn

Follow your
exact
routine every night. (Once you and your baby are both comfortable with the routine, and Baby’s sleep is consistent, you won’t need your written list. This is just to help you establish your routine.) Try to avoid going out at Baby’s bedtime during this adjustment period. If you have to go out and come home later than your usual bedtime routine starting point, go through the entire routine, even if you have to shorten the steps—for example, reading just one book instead of three.

A Routine Helps Set Baby’s Biological Clock

In addition to the routine itself, if you can put your baby down for naps and bed at about the same time every day, you will achieve sleep success much sooner, because the consistency will help set your baby’s internal clock.

An added bonus of this idea is that a specific routine organizes your life, reducing your stress and tension.

A Flexible Routine Is Best

When I talk about “routine” I certainly don’t mean a rigid routine that is set in stone! Remember that I’m a mother too, and I know that flexibility is very important when it comes to—oops!

I’ll be right back. Coleton just woke from a nap and I need to go