During the first few months of life, parents’ main concern is to comfort their infants by making sure they are well fed and cared for. Sometimes, babies who have not learned to soothe themselves cry too much and develop sleep problems. They enter into light cycles of sleep several times each night—sometimes waking up—and need to learn to fall back asleep on their own.
After the third month, you can set up a routine with a regular bedtime to help your baby learn to self-soothe. The following activities may help:
- Calm your baby with a bath and a feeding.
- Read your baby a story and put her to bed awake, but sleepy.
- Let your baby fuss a bit before going in to comfort her. Speak softly and soothingly to her, but don’t pick her up or engage her in playful activity.
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