Get Baby To Sleep Through The Night | Parenting |Your Home For God

Dream Come True: Baby Sleeps Through The Night

If your baby would sleep through the night, what would that be worth to you? For most parents, it would be a dream come true! (pun intended!) My first baby slept through the night at four days old and I want to share how that happened in case you may be able to gain something from it that will help you!

I know that was not because of my skill or wisdom, but that of others. And God was very gracious. Read on to hear how it was accomplished, and then read the next post to hear what we did when he began waking up in the night at 1-1/2 years old!

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If your baby would sleep through the night, what would that be worth to you?

A System for Getting Baby To Sleep Through The Night

How We Got Our Newborn to Sleep Through The Night

I was due to have our first baby December 14th, and our Christmas tradition was to spend Christmas Eve with my family, who lived in the same city as we did, a half hour away, and then to make the 3-hour trip up north on Christmas Day to spend the remaining days of Christmas vacation with my husband’s family.

This Christmas was extra-special, not only because we were having our first baby (my parents’ first grandchild), but because my husband’s sister and her family were home from the mission field and we were so looking forward to seeing them for the first time in 4 years!

How To Get Your Newborn to Sleep Through The Night

They were planning to return halfway around the world to their mission work immediately after Christmas. We desperately wanted to be there for Christmas and introduce them to our new baby!

My husband’s brother and family lived by my husband’s parents and ran the family dairy farm with them, and another sister and brother-in-law lived in a small town nearby, and a fourth sibling and her family were home on furlough, but they, for a year, also missionaries, as well. If you’ve been counting, there were 5 siblings out of six home for Christmas.

Excitement and Handling Helped Wear Our Baby Out

Our son was born December 20th, after I stormed through the grocery store the night before, pushing a heavily-filled grocery cart. We had a ton of snow that year. With snow piles higher than the top of the car and -20 degree temperatures, we made the 3-hour drive up north, nothing deterring us, with a 4-day old baby!

The Magic System for Getting Our Newborn to Sleep

At the Christmas festivities, there were at least 10 people at any given time, ready, willing, and excited to hold the new baby whenever he was awake! (I’ll tell you why Grandpa wasn’t there in a minute:) My husband’s 8 nieces and nephews were all there, aged 11 down to 4, besides 3 of my husband’s sisters, one brother and all of their spouses and Grandma.

If that wasn’t enough excitement that Christmas, my father-in-law had a run-in with a bull on the farm, and ended up in the hospital. He suffered bruised ribs, a black eye, and was black and blue all over and painfully sore! We have pictures of all of us at the hospital visiting him that Christmas, new baby and all!

I Listened to An Older Wiser Woman to Get Baby To Sleep Through The Night

When family arrived at Grandma and Grandpa’s some things you could always count on were everyone talking at once, three meals (plus “lunch” which was a meal before the men went out to milk the cows) and then snacks (a spread that was put out mid-morning and also at around 9 or 10 o’clock at night).

At Christmas, that included the dozens of varieties of Christmas cookies, fudge, divinity, cakes, specialty breads, homemade ice cream and other frozen desserts, many varieties of bars, caramel corn, and other sweet and salty snacks. Oh, and let’s not forget my mother-in-law’s signature sweet rolls.

There was always so much delicious food that you could never eat it all, nor should you, but we tried (people ate non-stop!). Did I mention my mother’s love language was cooking for people? It was a happy place, with laughter, love, and support from all the relatives.

Though Grandpa and Grandma are no longer with us, when a family reunion is planned, still to this day, every member of the family from oldest to youngest makes an attempt to be there.

If your baby would sleep through the night, what would that be worth to you?

My mother-in-law, who died in 2009, lived on the farm and raised 6 children (5 under 7 years of age!) and knew a thing or two about the subject of raising kids!

She was thrilled to have all her “chicks,” or as many as could come at once, under one roof, whenever we came. She was extra excited to meet our baby and have us stay with them.

They had built a house about a mile from the family farm, and all the family were able to sleep at one of the family homes, though you sometimes had interesting sleeping arrangements!

The noise, activity, food, dishes and pans clanking, cooking and clutter were part of the family fun! In the midst of this chaotic merriment, my mother-in-law gave me helpful advice about getting our baby to sleep on the first night we were there.

Disclaimer: I make no guarantees that every baby will sleep through the night, newborn or otherwise, with this “system.” With the help of all the relatives, it worked for us!

The Magic System for Getting Our Newborn to Sleep

The Magic System for Getting Our Newborn to Sleep

This is the system that my mother-in-law advised us to use:

Keep baby awake all evening (yes, this is the hardest part!)
At around 10 PM give baby a bath and change him into what he will wear to bed
Nurse baby
Put baby down to sleep

Accomplishing The System for Baby To Sleep All Night

Keep baby awake all evening. This, of course, was the most difficult assignment! With all the relatives’ help, we got the job done! We handed our baby over to one relative after another with instructions, “Don’t let him fall asleep!”

It may be surprising if he could sleep at all in the midst of all the noise, laughter, clattering pans from cooks in the kitchen preparing the next day’s meal, and shouts from game-players in various corners of the house!

Baby Is Able To Sleep Through The Night As A Newborn

It isn’t true that baby isn’t able to sleep through the night as a newborn. My baby is living proof of that. And, he was healthy and happy.

How To Get Your Newborn to Sleep Through The Night

Not Every Baby Will Sleep Through The Night

May I comfort you, though, by saying that each and every child is different and no matter how “perfectly” (whatever that means) you do things, your baby may not sleep through the night. It may not be anything you’re doing wrong.

“Each and every child is different!” Wendy Gunn

Don’t compare yourself, mama, and beat yourself up, if your baby doesn’t sleep, or for any other reason.

Don’t Feel Pressure To Do This System

There were probably many variables at work that made this system work, including the fact that my baby was a sleeper. When you are a new parent, you often feel so much pressure to get it right, and I want to encourage you that you and your family are unique and each of your children is unique. God made them that way!

Please don’t copy someone else’s family, or worse yet, if this does or doesn’t work, please don’t feel guilty or proud! Just take it as advice from an older woman, try it if you want to, and may the Lord bless you with a baby that sleeps through the night!

If your baby would sleep through the night, what would that be worth to you?

Success at Getting Baby To Sleep Through The Night

I remember we put a baby bath on the table in the kitchen, and my mother-in-law helped me give him a bath. Aunties, uncles, cousins, and a lot of noise still very much present. You can imagine how hungry and excited my baby was from all the stimulus, noise and not being allowed to sleep, by the time the bath was over! Now, I was able to feed my hungry baby, and put him down to sleep.

Newborn Baby Sleeps Through The Night

After nursing my baby in our bedroom, away from all the activity and noise, I put him down to sleep. He slept that night from 11:00PM to 7:00AM the next morning. He slept through the night from that night on.

Naps

Our baby loved to sleep. Even after he grew older, and was a tween and a teen, he could fall asleep in the van as we drove somewhere, at the drop of a hat. As a baby, he took 3-hour naps, and woke up, nursed, played a little and slept again, and then slept through the night. I know this isn’t the norm.

If you are trying to get your baby to sleep through the night, though, feel free to try this system. I’m glad I listened to my mother-in-law, and tried it! And, let me know if you try it and what kind of results you get!

Getting Baby Back to Sleeping Through The Night, When They Begin Waking Up Again

In part three of this Series on “How To Have a Happy Baby That Sleeps,” I’ll share with you what we did when this same baby began waking up in the middle of the night at 1-1/2 years of age. That may be even more helpful to you!

Read and Share all the posts in this Series about having a Happy Baby:

Have a Great Week Making Your Home For God!

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I help overwhelmed moms grow spiritually with joy in who God uniquely created them and their family to be, raise Godly children, without comparing, copying, or coveting, and get their lives in order for the glory of God, through mentorship, Ebooks, courses, and coaching.

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