My daughter sleeps through the night since 6 weeks old and so can yours

Disclaimer: I’m a recent stay-at-home, exclusively breastfeeding mama with a 2.5 month old daughter, who has been sleeping like a champ through the night since 6 weeks old. After much encouragement from friends who’ve asked me about my “secret”, I decided to write this post to help any new mother out there who’d like to help their child sleep better. It goes without saying every child is different and what works for mine might not work for yours. Always trust your instinct as you know your baby best. Your baby cues are your most accurate guide.

1. The 1 oz per 1 hour rule: did you know that from 6 weeks to 6 months old or even until a year old, your baby needs roughly the same amount of milk every day? That is, about 24–25 oz per day, or 1–1.25 oz per hour. This knowledge will help you tremendously in planning her eating/sleeping schedule regardless of age. Which leads to my next point…
2. Put your baby on a schedule, YOUR schedule, rather than feeding on his demand: babies are very good at telling us when/if they are hungry or sleepy, the problem is they have exactly zero regard for their poor mamas’ eating/sleeping schedule. Take my daughter for example: for the first 3 weeks of her life, she has her days and nights mixed up and would only eat at night while sleep soundly during the day (don’t they all, mamas?) Of course you can’t starve your hungry baby so you end up getting zero sleep at night or like me can’t even nap during the day. So, follow airline instructions (put your mask first THEN help your child), you have to take care of yourself and put her on YOUR schedule, not the other way around!
3. Cluster feed during the day: but how to put baby on a schedule? Super simple: feed a lot during the day and skip night feedings. So let’s say she needs 24 oz a day (see point 1), and you want her to sleep 8 hours straight at night. That leaves you 16 hours to get to 24 oz. If your baby eats 3 oz each feeding (give or take), you have to feed 8 times. That is every 2–2.5 hour you would need to feed her. Which leads to my next point…
4. “Never wake a sleeping baby…” NOT TRUE! My mother in law (as well as her sisters and cousins and friends) is extremely surprised that I wake my baby up all the time cause back in the days they would never do that. But hear me out here: if you never let your baby take a long nap during the day, she will get so exhausted at night and want to sleep to make it up! Simple as that. Plus she needs to eat enough milk so as to feel full by the time you put her down for night sleep so she can go the whole night without eating.
5. Watch your baby’s cues: at this point, you might ask yourself: “how do I know how much milk my baby gets each time and if she has had enough by the time I put get down for night sleep?” Totally legit concern — I was worried about that too! Unfortunately there’s no one right answer for this except: you have to watch your baby for the right answer. If baby’s lips are adequately wet, she seems satisfied and content each time you finish feeding her, and wakes up after a long sleep or naps without screaming bloody murder, that means she has enough to eat. My baby’s hunger cues are: pouty lips, moving tongue, restless head. I know she’s full if she has wet lips, turns away from nipple and has a slight sleepy dust to her face.
6. Trials and error: since my previous point is easier said than done and frankly quite vague, I wanna offer a way for you to figure out how much your baby eats. Each baby, depending on their age, weight and even gender, can take in a slightly different amount of milk each time. Generally bigger babies have larger stomachs and can eat more each time, thus overall can go longer without eating. Good news is, for breastfeeding mothers at least, your body produces exactly how much milk your baby needs. If you want to know how much your baby eats, try to pump your milk at 3 different feedings or more. The average of those would most likely be how much baby can eat. For my daughter it ranges 3–3.5 oz each time. So I try to always feed her 7–8 times during the day so she can sleep 8 hours at night!
7. Nighttime routine: oldie but goody. This one is number one recommendation among mamas and books, and I have to completely agree. Babies get off on predictability: once they know what to expect they are much more likely to oblige. For my daughter it’s exactly 4 things: swaddle, white noise, light out, one last nursing session- in that order. The swaddle is to make sure she is snug, warm and doesn’t accidentally wake herself up at night. The white noise cancels out house sounds and reminds her of the 9 months in the womb. The darkness prevents her from getting distracted and also helps produces this natural sleep hormone called melatonin, which also works for adults. And the last night feed together with the sucking motion relaxes her, making her feel fulfilled, warm and sleepy instantly. Find out what routine works for your child and do that EVERYDAY so that your baby knows what to expect.
8. Overlap yours and your baby’s sleeping schedule: last but not least, this is an important tip that works extremely well for us but might not work for you. Some even say it’s quite controversial. So use it with caution. Since ours is a family of night owls, our daughter sleeps very late. She sleeps (and I’m serious) from midnight until 8–9am, because that’s when we sleep. I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. Okay let’s say you put your kid down at 6 or 7pm like a lot of books and experts recommend. In the case of my daughter, she can only go 8–9 hours without eating. So that means she will wake up at 2–4am wanting to eat. By that time we will only have slept for a few hours and have to feed her again. Not so much sleeping through the night for you is it? Here’s the secret: maximize the overlap between your sleep and her sleep! So for me that means: as long as my daughter can only go 8 hours without eating, I will put her down to sleep at midnight just like us. When she can go 12 hours without eating, I will put her down to sleep at 7 or 8pm!

So there you have it, all the tips & tricks I use to “sleep train” my little monkey to sleep through the night since she was as little as 6 weeks old. Hope it can help at least one of you out there!