How to get your baby to sleep through the night

On your child’s health, your pediatrician has the final say. Check growth, night-feed needs and any medical concerns with them before you change how your baby sleeps.

What “sleeping through” actually means

All night long, every baby surfaces briefly between sleep cycles. A baby who “sleeps through” wakes as well, but drifts back off without help. The AAP’s parent site points out that regular sleep cycles do not appear until about 4 months, and that babies held or rocked to sleep may struggle to fall back asleep after waking. So the real question is seldom “why does my baby wake” and nearly always “why does my baby need me to get back to sleep.” Read how infant sleep cycles develop.

What keeps babies waking

• The way they fall asleep at bedtime. Nothing matters more. Whatever gets your baby to sleep at 7 p.m. is exactly what they will want again at 11 p.m., 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.
• A poorly fitting schedule. A bedtime that is too late or too early, or daytime sleep that leaves your baby overtired or under-tired.
• Unplanned night feeds. Some feeds are necessary. Others have turned into the way a baby gets back to sleep. Separating the two comes down to age, growth and pattern, and your pediatrician decides what your baby needs.
• Responses that shift from night to night or from one adult to the next.
• The room itself. Early light, noise, or a sleep space that has not been set up for sleep.

Most babies are dealing with two or three of these together, so fixing them one by one often seems to make no difference.

This is precisely what Actually Sleeping is for. Dr. Sam looks at the whole picture at once, writes a single plan for your baby, and adjusts it with you each day until the nights hold. Your custom plan sets how night feeds are handled according to your baby’s age.

Why one-size advice so often falls short

Most advice is aimed at an age band. Your baby is an individual, not an age band. The bedtime that works for one 7-month-old leaves another overtired. The response that soothes one baby revs another up. When a generic plan stalls, parents tend to change several things together, and the baby ends up with new rules every few nights. A plan built around your baby’s age, feeding, temperament, current way of falling asleep and your family’s schedule sidesteps most of that.

What will not help

• Adding cereal to the bottle. The AAP recommends against it, because it can raise the chance of gagging or of breathing the thickened mixture into the lungs.
• Inclined sleepers, wedges or positioners. The AAP recommends a firm, flat, non-inclined sleep surface.
• Keeping your baby awake later or trimming naps in hopes of a longer night. Overtired babies usually sleep worse, not better.

When a baby who slept through stops

Sleep can slide backwards with illness, a new skill like rolling or standing, a nap transition, or a regression at 4 months, 8 to 10 months or 12 months. Habits that slip in during the disruption tend to linger once it is over.

When the cause is not behavioral

See your pediatrician before starting any sleep plan if you notice loud snoring, pauses in breathing, ongoing mouth breathing, poor weight gain, eczema that itches at night or frequent painful spit-up.

How Actually Sleeping helps your baby get there

Dr. Sam writes your plan personally, and you receive bootcamp-style coaching before night one, 1:1 check-ins every day, and naps coached until they are solid. It is neither cry it out nor wait it out. The result is promised in writing: We guarantee that your baby will sleep 8–12 hours through the night within 14 days of consistent, correct implementation of your sleep plan. If not, you get a full refund. The 14-day clock begins at your baby’s 10-week birthday. On our video reviews page, parents explain what changed for them. Book a free consultation and Dr. Sam will pinpoint what is keeping your baby awake at night.