How to get a newborn baby to sleep

When they’re asleep make sure that no-one disturbs them, as this will only wake your baby up again. Friends & family might want to cradle sleeping beauty, but you’ll have to be cruel to be kind and tell them to wait until little one’s awake.

Slowly stroke their nose to help them start to feel sleepy – it’s comforting and reassuring, which means they’re more likely to fall asleep. You can also use something like a soft feather or tip of a blanket.

The most traditional tried & tested method to help baby to sleep – rock them gently in your arms, crib or moses basket. The movement will help them to relax, leaving them feeling drowsy.

“When we have a baby that’s crying, we have parents check on them every five minutes. The ‘sleep wave’ is very rhythmic, predictable, almost hypnotic, and we want to set a pattern that the baby absolutely knows, recognises and comes to trust.”

It’s been proven that the more a little one feels like they’re back in the womb, the better they will sleep. Swaddling and swaddle bags recreate this feeling perfectly, meaning you can provide little one with the ultimate outside womb to sleep in.

To get them used to sleeping at night time and being awake during the day, whenever they’re due for a sleep, make sure it’s in a dark or dimmed room (even in day time). This will help to establish a more consistent sleep pattern.

Before they sleep & during the night time, you should try to stay as quiet and unemotional as possible. Babies are very receptive to mum, so avoid eye contact, use a quiet voice and don’t be emotional with them – it’s hard but it helps.

It’s hard not to run to little one every time you hear them make a noise through the monitor, but waiting before you go to them is helpful. “You need to just wait because babies didn’t get the memo that when you’re in bed you’re supposed to be quiet, so they’re usually just resettling or trying to figure things out, and we don’t want to interrupt that.”

Some babies wake more through the night than others – if this is the case then wake them up between around 10pm and midnight for an extra late night feed. It will make them sleepy again so that they won’t wake up throughout the early morning hours.

Don’t be afraid to make noises during your baby's sleep. You might think you’ll wake them up, but they’re good at sleeping through background noise & it gets them used to hearing everyday noises like the TV, hoover and washing machine.

Heather and Julie believe that self-soothing is important, otherwise you’ll end up with a 7month old baby that still needs rocking, bouncing or nursing to sleep. By allowing them to send themselves to sleep, they’ll have a more established routine when they’re older.