Tight swaddle for the first 12 weeks, and plenty of pacifiers. My kids were (and still are) great sleepers.

I’ll share that friends with kids who don’t or haven’t slept well all had some common practices:

1. No strict schedule. Baby out at dinner at night. Not planning around naps. No specific bedtime.

2. Baby in room with parents for months. No separate nursery and crib.

3. Heavy use of baby monitor. Going into baby’s room for everything.

4. Using the boob as a pacifier.

5. Not using babysitters and instead taking baby everywhere including places with lots of noise and people

I agree with the others that it definitely comes down to temperament, but I do think there are some things you can do.

1) Prioritize sleep. A tired baby becomes an overtired baby. We always tried to be home for nap time etc.

2) From an early-ish age (maybe 8 weeks?) give them a few minutes to fuss to themselves before sleeping. This is not CIO. A fuss cry is very different than a real "I need you" cry. If my kids ever did a real cry, I'd always get them.

3) Don't rush to them for every little noise. If it's just babbling or a little fussing, let it go a few minutes before responding.

I’ve always worked from home and nursed a lot during the day. If my kids wanted to stay on the breast all day, I let them. We also only used the bassinet in our room for night sleep which (I think) turned out to be a good association for them.

Anonymous wrote:I've never used CIO or co-slept, and I have 4 children. They started STTN between 8-12 weeks. I've always nursed them to sleep, waited 20 mins, and then moved them to their crib. Never had any sleep issues. We always have a fan turned on in the room. That's all we've ever done. *shrugs* They're definitely easy, happy babies/children, though. My niece had silent reflux and nothing my sister or BIL could do would help her. It was sleepless nights for the first 4 months of her life.

This. My first had reflux and it was tough. My second was happy go lucky as they get.

I say WAS because now, at 16 months, she does everything she can to get me to sleep next to her crib in her room (including screaming in the middle of the night on occasion). Not really sure what I'll be doing. Probably some kind of pick-up-put-down routine.

I've never used CIO or co-slept, and I have 4 children. They started STTN between 8-12 weeks. I've always nursed them to sleep, waited 20 mins, and then moved them to their crib. Never had any sleep issues. We always have a fan turned on in the room. That's all we've ever done. *shrugs* They're definitely easy, happy babies/children, though. My niece had silent reflux and nothing my sister or BIL could do would help her. It was sleepless nights for the first 4 months of her life.

I just stayed patient and dealt with the wakeups. Eventually they started sleeping through. No against CIO in theory but it wasn’t for me.

Cosleep and nursed for hunger and comfort.

Anonymous wrote:Started super early. They aren’t traumatized or scream or cry nonstop when they’re little. I always fed them put them down.

Um, someone forgot to tell that to my DD1.

Mine does not really like being held and settled into 12 hour nights around 5 months (with some exceptions) once we both got the hang of proper food intake during the day to sustain a full night’s sleep.

CIO with children 1 & 3. Child 2 had colic and I think mostly we coslept. Any further details of what was done are lost in the traumatic haze. Child 4, got *really* hungry every two hours. She was put her down in the crib and mom collapsed in the chair right beside. As 4's sleep lengthened, mom gradually moved back in with dad.

I either just got stupidly lucky or it was the Snoo, but she was doing 8 hours by 8 weeks and 12 hours by 12 weeks w/o sleep training. Other than the Snoo I think it also helped that she ate *a ton* during the day. Every two hours and in amounts that had me constantly asking the doctor if I was overfeeding. I think this contributed to dropping night feeds early.

To be clear, I never let the Snoo “soothe” her - she just slept through the night without waking. Obviously I would have fed her if she was waking up.

Another one that coslept and breastfed.

I walked with them. After they ate and had a diaper change, I walked them asleep again.

Started super early. They aren’t traumatized or scream or cry nonstop when they’re little. I always fed them put them down.