Top tips from the Baby Whisperer: Sleep Secrets to Getting Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night by Tracy Hogg, £6.99 (Vermilion)
What the routine entails:
It’s based around Tracy’s E.A.S.Y (Eating/Activity/Sleep/You) sleep time routine. Eating (or feeding) is followed by an Activity, then Sleep, which leaves more time for you. For babies from 4 months who won’t settle, she recommends the Pick Up/Put Down technique which encourages your baby not to be dependent on you for sleep, but without him feeling abandoned. If he cries, you can comfort and pick him up, but the moment he stops crying you must place him in his cot again.
Pros:
The E.A.S.Y structured sleep time routine is one you can use for all your baby’s naps.
Cons:
The Pick Up/Put down technique can feel like hard work as you may need to repeat the process scores of times before baby settles. This is tough when you’re tired and the temptation to keep cuddling him when you’ve managed to stop the crying will be huge.
What mum thinks:
Gemma Thompson, 28, from Nottingham, mum to Jessica, 2, and Bria, 10 weeks says:
“I used this routine on both my girls and within just a few weeks of birth, they’ve slept from their dream feed at 11pm through until 5am or 6am. I particularly like the E.A.S.Y schedule – a feed, followed by either a little game or nappy-change, then, when I notice the signs (yawning, rubbing eyes, fidgeting), I know Bria’s tired so it’s on to the sleep part of the routine, and I put her down in her cot. Both girls have grown to realise what the schedule is and that it’s time for sleep after our activity. When I was expecting Bria, we moved Jessica into her own room and she’d start crying whenever I put her down. Then I used the Pick Up/Put Down technique – patting her back or picking her up and comforting her, then immediately placing her back in her bed until she stopped crying. I had to do it about 40 times one night, but within three or four nights she’d settled into the new bed with no problems. She knew
I wasn’t going anywhere but she recognised she had to fall asleep out of
my arms.”
