General tips from other parents:
- Do whatever you need to do that gives the most people the most amount of sleep – no matter how unorthodox it might seem (ie co-sleeping, playing musical beds etc). Mother of Amy 6, Sophie 3.
- Sleep when the baby sleeps no matter what time of day or night it is!!! Mother of Ryan 20 months
- Try to stick to routines. Save our Sleep book helpful in terms of dreamfeeds, which helped our son sleep! Mother of Chase 20 months.
- Sleep, Feed, Play….do not get into a habit of feeding your baby to sleep. I started to do this and man it just causes problems all round. Get onto the tired signs straight away, try and get her to self settle in her cot. Do not be tempted to rock her to sleep, will cause problems later. Mother of Mia 2 months
- Sleep when your baby is sleeping! Always! Mother of Vitoria 23 months.
- Buy a portacot forget the housework and get some sleep. Mother of Callum 23 months.
- Hmmm, I’m not very good at getting her to sleep. The sling has been invaluable for day sleeps. And wrapping works well for us. Mum of Lily 8 months
- Get baby into a good routine a warm bath, baby massage warm bottle bring up wind, wrap baby. Mum of Kaleyah 3 Rylan 2 Breana 5 months
- Go to sleep school it helped me with both. Mum of Tylah 3 1/2 Kyan 10 Months
- Still haven’t figured that one out yet so any advice is welcome. Mum of Mia 17 months
- Nice warm bath with massage. Mum of Michael 9month Riley due 26th April
- Make sure they have a full belly and a comfortable place to sleep. Mum of Kirra 2
- I found a dummy, swaddling, a familiar toy and a calming cd worked a treat with both mine. Mum of Corban- 3 1/2, Layla- 1
- Go with the baby’s cues. My baby hated being wrapped so has been in a sleeping bag almost from birth and slept through from around 8 weeks. Mum of Dylan 13months
- Help your baby learn to go off to sleep on their own from as young as possible. Firm but nurturing if that makes sense. Attend to their needs but put them back to bed to settle. After 4 months of self settling Roman STILL has a teeny lil winge sometimes when i walk out but stops within a min. Dont be afraid to let them make noise but never leave them alone when distressed. Wow i could go on n on lol. Mum of Bodhi – 3 Roman – 8 months
- Swaddle well, keep on swaddling right up to 12+ months, and make sure the room is DARK. Don’t pussyfoot around – make sure your baby gets used to the normal environmental noises of your home and gets used to sleeping in / with them. Mum of Tyler (17 mths) and Maya (newborn)
- Read their sleep cues and put them to bed when they need. Prioritise your baby’s sleep.
- Try to avoid feeding to sleep regularly as baby depends on it and cant resettle. Instead try to teach them to self settle
- In the day my kids slept in the lounge, Tv on, noise, racket. In the night is was in another room, feeds were quiet, noise was minimal. Mum of Mia 26 months Caius 9 months
- Wrapping – miracle blanket!! Mum of Zach 1.
- Swaddle and routine works so well. Mum of Aaron 3 peter 6mnth
- White noise on the radio.
- Teach baby to self-settle. Mum of Stephanie 4 Belinda 1
- Hammock, vacuum cleaner on under it. Mum of Mr L – 17 Miss R – 7 Mr E – 3
- Putting baby to bed awake (after 12 weeks old) wrapping & swaddling, white noise to mask sounds of older siblings. Mum of 7, 2.5 & 9 months
- Don’t really have one as im having troubles settling my toddler! Mum of nikiah 18 months
- Co-sleep! Mum of Fraser 1
- Wake your baby up every three hours for a feed between 8am and 11pm, and then leave you baby to sleep from 11pm till 8am. Obviously in the early days feed your baby if they wake up overnight, but as they get older and start to drop the overnight feeds, don’t feed them overnight. Mum of Milla (4yrs) Isobel (2 yrs)
- Let them cry. Crying in short bursts doesnt hurt them and saves your sanity as well. Mum of Erika 4 years Liam 3 Years Claire 2 years Riley 11mths and currently pregnant with number 5 🙂
- Be consistent with what works. Mum of Lara 1.
- Quiet room with dim light or no light and soft background noise. Oh and mummys boob helps too! Mum of Mia Annabelle aged 1
- I let her settle herself – never rocked or cuddled or fed to sleep. she has slept through the night since 8 weeks old (usually 9-12 hrs each night) and if she does wake on the odd occasion during night – i dont rush in straight away and she will general settle herself back to sleep on her own.
- I cant help with that one Luka is still a shocking sleeper. Mum of Luka 18 months
- Wrap your baby up tight, we use the kiddoptamus swaddle. Mum of Maddison – 2years Lacie – 6 months
- Quiet voices and no stimulation. Mum of Jake 21months
- Be consistant which ever way you decide to go. You can’t let them cry one night then rock them the next. Do the same for all sleeps day and night. Try and get hubby to be on the same track as you,(sometimes thats just as bigger problem as the baby getting to sleep). Mum of Jack – 4 Noah – 2 Chloe – 5mths
- Try & get them in a routine as soon as possible and try to stick with it. Also try to put baby to bed awake so they can try and learn how to self settle. I would cuddle my babies till they were nearly asleep & then put them to bed when that were still awake. If I put them to bed when they were asleep they would wake up screaming unsure of where they were. Mum of Mia 36months James 14 months
- My bub had reflux and would only sleep in his pram, bouncer or on mummy & daddy. We eventually figured out to raise his cot mattress a bit would help him get a good nights sleep but the best thing we did for him when he was approx 4 months old was sleep him on his side! We rolled up a blanket and tucked it near his tummy so he couldn’t roll over and that’s when he started sleeping through! Also a radio helped him stay asleep when he went through a bit of seperation anxiety.. It seemed to calm him if he thought he could hear voices! Mum of Mason, 12 months
- Have perfect sleepers so guess imk just lucky!
- Breastfeed baby to sleep peacefully 🙂 Mum of mitch 4 yrs Lochie 2 years
- Put them to bed while they are still awake so they know where they are when they wake. I also have two roled up towels uder the sheet to stop him rolling and an air mesh cover surrounding the cot so he doesn’t get his feet caught if he does move around. Mum of 4months 6yrs 7yrs
- Swing – from birth. At 6mths when wrapping is no longer an option the swing is good 4-6mths – baby liked having cloth draped over him for security. Mother of Tuscany 4, Morrissey 3, Valen 6 months.
- Same routine to put to bed for during the day, FEED, PLAY, SLEEP. Look for tired signs, change baby, wrap, lullaby music on, bit of water, dummy, kiss and put to bed. If whingeing, roll onto her side and pat her until almost asleep. If uncontrollable crying, calm her and then put in cot and pat. Same routine for each night Feed, bath, feed, bed. Chelsea all ages pretty much. Training her to sleep by herself and she knew what was happening next. Mother of Blake 3, Chelsea 1.
- Having a baby mobile – from about 2 mths some soft noises/music in the background – newborn to current age Dummy, playing with her so she is tired. Mother of Kayla 4.5months.
- Less than 6 mths rubbing of back, once over 6 mths always put baby in cot to sleep awake so that baby could settle themselves, with cot mobile going. When less than 3 months I found putting baby into port-a-cot with the vibration button on also helped. Mother of Jorja 21 months.
- Teach her how to sleep. Every day the same routine! Put her in her cot, say the same words every day, good night. Was with 8 months old. Mother of Vitoria 23 months.
- As a newborn, swaddling. 6 months plus: keeping to a routine, her dummy and cuddly toy she slept with. Mother of Rose 3y.
- Controlled crying from newborn onwards. Mother of Melayna 5 y.o.
- Controlled crying. Mother of Jake 15 months.
- From very beginning, routine with bath, massage, feed, change, dim lights, story (soothing voice), brief back rub whilst in cot, then walk out. If fussing, go back in 15 min later for a bit more back rub, then back out for another 15min or so in the hopes that she would learn to settle herself. Sometimes used a dummy if lots of fussing. Mother of Annick 3y.
- Birth to 19 months: breastfeeding, car, bus, pram 19 months +: tiredness, singing, music, tv, car, long boring walks in the stroller. Mother of Callum 23 months.
Do you have any general sleep tips or any websites to recommend to other parents?
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(Disclaimer: All information provided should be used in conjunction with safety guidelines such as those from SIDS and Kidsafe. The hints and tips listed are from website users, not that of the website owner, and a doctor should be consulted before relying on the information found here. Please refer to Sids and Kids for more information on safe sleeping. Take this information into consideration in conjunction with the following practical advice from parents.)
