6 sleep consultant-approved techniques to help your baby sleep through the night

While extended nighttime sleeps come with time, there are things you can do to help your baby along in their progress to sleeping through the night.

And you don’t have to completely overhaul their preexisting bedtime routine or start instituting strict timings. Small, gentle changes can make a huge difference.

MadeForMums spoke to leading baby sleep consultants and therapists for genuinely useful advice on how to get your baby to sleep through the night. Here are the six tips they shared to help you reclaim your nights.

Stick to a consistent bedtime routine

Maintaining consistency with a bedtime routine can help signal to your baby that it’s time for a longer sleep.

Theresa Ross, a sleep therapist and clinical nurse specialist in paediatric sleep services at Evelina London Children's Hospital, suggests a bath, massage, and cuddles can be a great precursor to bedtime.

“Turn off the TV 10 minutes before bath time, and spend some quiet time talking, singing, or reading to your baby,” she says.

Then, take a calm, relaxing bath for five to 10 minutes, and go straight from the bathroom to the bedroom to reduce stimulation for your baby.

“A gentle massage for about five minutes can be soothing and great for bonding. Keep the lights low and place your baby in the cot while they are drowsy but still awake. This encourages self-soothing,” she adds.

Establish clear differences between day and night

Babies can’t tell the difference between day and night, because their body clocks (or circadian rhythms) haven’t fully developed yet. So, they need some help to know when it’s time to sleep or wake up.

Creating clear cues for bedtime and awake time can really help with this.

“Simple, recognisable steps, words and actions help a baby to see the difference. Along with darkness and quiet (or white noise) for night, and lightness and brighter sounds for day,” explains Andrea Grace, a nurse who has been a sleep specialist for over 25 years.

She recommends having a solid bedtime routine in the evening and a reverse routine in the morning.

“For example, before bedtime, close the curtains and turn off the lights before settling them in their cot. In the morning, open the curtains and switch on the lights before getting them up. These small, repeated signifiers help your baby’s body clock develop and make sleep feel more predictable and secure,” she says.

“What helps most is consistency,” adds Andrea. “Babies are incredibly quick learners — they recognise patterns and pick up on sleep associations and rituals very easily.”

Help your baby to self-settle

“Putting a baby down awake and letting them fall asleep on their own (even if you are with them initially) is called self-settling,” says Chris McFadden, a baby sleep consultant.

“If a baby can self-settle, they are more likely to sleep longer stretches, as they will be more capable of putting themselves back to sleep when they wake between sleep cycles.”

This means not letting your baby fall asleep while feeding.

“Give your baby their milk in the light rather than in the dark to stop them falling asleep or getting too drowsy on it. You need for them to have their full build-up of sleep pressure when they go into their cot,” Andrea says.

Then, place them into the cot fully awake.

“If they’re not upset but just grumbling a bit or doing some mild/tired crying — leave them alone. Don't step in, even if it goes on for a long time. They’re ready to sleep now and they might surprise you by doing it without you!” advises Andrea.

Adjust feed times

Readjusting a baby’s feeding times can help them sleep longer at night.

“Try waking your baby after they've slept for a couple of hours during the day, give them a feed, then encourage them to be awake. Feed them more often during the early evening so they stock up and will hopefully sleep longer at night,” Chireal Shallow, a former sleep therapist at the Naturally Nurturing Children’s Sleep Clinic, says.

If your baby still wakes up for a night feed after they are old enough to not need to, “it’s likely they've learned to be hungry during the night, because you feed them,” Tracey Marshall, a former sleep therapist at Millpond Sleep Clinic, says.

“You need to try and re-adjust the balance, so they get more food during the day and less at night, eventually cutting out night feeds altogether. Gradually give them less milk when they wake at night and more milk and solids during the day,” she says.

If you’ve tried this, and your baby is still waking for night feeds, Chris McFadden advises two feeds before bed.

“One tip I have is to help them take as much pre-bed milk as possible. Feed them before AND after their bath (or before the bedtime routine starts and then before your baby goes into their cot),” he says.

“It means they get a boost of energy before their bath, which can make it more enjoyable. It can also take the pressure off the feed right before going into their cot — if they are tired, they may fall asleep on the feed and not take as much milk as they need, so doing it over two sittings can be beneficial,” adds Chris.

Adjust nap times

Naps need to be timed so that your baby is tired enough to fall asleep at bedtime — but not too tired.

“Try not to let your baby become overtired. When babies stay awake too long, their bodies start producing higher levels of cortisol — a stress hormone that makes it harder for them to fall asleep, even though they’re exhausted. Being overtired can also lead to more disrupted sleep during the night and even early waking in the morning,” Andrea says.

“The key is to find the right balance: your baby needs enough sleep pressure to be ready for sleep, but not to the point of being so exhausted that they crash out or become too wired to settle.”

Optimise your baby’s sleeping environment

Having a designated space for sleeping can “build security, consistency, and better sleep habits in the long run,” Andrea says, because if they wake up in the night, they know where they are.

“Even the best routine won’t help if something is making them uncomfortable. Discomfort can come from their environment — for example, if the room is too light, too warm, too noisy, or if they’ve lost their dummy or their lullaby has switched off,” she says.

So, it’s important to make that space as nice an environment as possible.

“The recommended room temperature for a baby is 16-20°C. This might be a bit cooler than you’re used to, but it is a safe and comfortable temperature for a baby to sleep in,” explains Andrea.

Keep the room dark, too — this helps with the production of melatonin, the hormone that helps us fall asleep.

“If you’d like to use a nightlight for night feeds or nappy changes, choose one with a red or orange glow,” Andrea says.

Baby’s room should be quiet, or you can use white noise (below 50 decibels) to block out background noise. You want to create a “consistent sound environment,” says Andrea, so keep white noise playing through the whole night if you use it, so your baby doesn’t feel like something is missing if they wake up.