At the end of the day, most people look forward to a long, peaceful sleep before they greet the next morning. If you are the parent of a baby, however, those long, peaceful nights may be a thing of the past. It isn’t uncommon for parents of young children to float through their days in a fog of weariness. Your baby may take several naps during the day to catch up on his rest, but what about you? Is there anything you can do to encourage your child to sleep all night? The answer is yes! It will take consistency and patience, but you can train your child to sleep all night, providing you with that much needed rest, also.

Newborns

Obviously, a newborn baby typically will not sleep through the night, and it is unrealistic of parents to expect their child to do so. Newborns do sleep anywhere from sixteen to twenty hours a day, but only in spurts. Their small tummies need to be fed often, and they may wake up and need to eat every two to three hours. This is normal and should be expected.

It is important that you help your newborn understand the difference between night and day, however. Many newborns have their days and nights confused when they are first born, sleeping most of the day and staying awake during the night. You can help your infant straighten out her sleep patterns, though. If your infant prefers to sleep during the day, try to keep her in the areas of your home that see the most activity. You may need to interrupt long periods of your child’s sleep by waking her up to feed and play with her. At night, however, try to keep any interaction between you and your child to a minimum. When you go into the nursery to change and feed her, keep the lights dimmed, quickly change and feed her, then try to get her back to sleep.