Question: How Do I Get Baby to Sleep Through the Night?

How do you get your baby to sleep through the night? It's one of the first, most urgent questions every new parent asks. When you join a new moms group, visit your in-laws or even stroll through the supermarket, you'll invariably be asked, "Is your baby sleeping through the night yet?" All the questions make you think there's some secret trick that will eliminate the bags under your eyes.

Is there? Unfortunately, the answer may not be what you want to hear.

Answer:

The main thing that gets a baby to sleep through the night is nature. As she grows, her little belly will hold more milk or formula, so she can sleep for longer stretches of time. There's not much even the most sleep-deprived new mom can do to change this process. Your best bet is to develop a routine with your partner or child care provider so that you can get a few extra hours of sleep, whether that's putting yourself to bed at 9 p.m. or taking turns with the middle of the night feeding.

However, there are a few things you can do to improve the chances of baby sleeping longer -- if not entirely through the night. Out of the many tips and resources for getting babies to sleep through the night, I found these to be the most effective.

• Swaddle your baby very tightly.
• Play white noise or run a loud fan in the baby's room.
• Give baby a pacifier to suck -- although this can turn into a crutch after a few months of age.

• Top off your baby by nursing or feeding just before you go to bed.

In the end, babies sleep through the night primarily based on their weight and development, not so much on what you are doing to influence the process. You can avoid becoming a hindrance, though. Keep yourself from checking on the baby every time you hear a snort or cry. Give her a chance to soothe herself back to sleep.

And realize that even after your baby starts sleeping through the night for five or six hours at a stretch, the situation will likely change as soon as she gets her first cold or begins to teethe. Or, you'll take a family vacation that disrupts the new sleep pattern and leads to more nighttime waking. Part of being a parent of young children is sleep deprivation, so the sooner you get used to it, the better!

When your baby grows into a toddler and begins sleeping for eight or even 11 hours at a stretch, you will have time to catch up on sleep. Enjoy it while it lasts, because if you thought parenting a baby was hard, try sleeping while your 21-year old is out on the town with friends and your car.