eldirector
Grandmaster
Congrats from me as well!
We (my wife and I) just went through all this. Our little girl is 19 months old. For the first, I dunno, 6 months, I just held her until she fell asleep, and then transferred her gently to the crib. 2-3 hours later, change her, feed her, and repeat!
We have one of the noise makers similar to what others have described. Set to a gentle "white noise" to help block out some of the other household noises. That really helped when she was itty-bitty. Not needed as much now. She can sleep through a thunderstorm!
At about a year, I started putting her to bed while still awake. At 18 months, she has a great routine. Bath at 7:30, quiet time until a little after 8:00, read a book, take a little bit of a bottle (I think that is more comforting than because she is thirsty. She turns it down sometimes), and off to bed. She'll even ask for "bed" if she is super tired. Usually, she goes to her crib awake, lies down and plays with her stuffed animals quietly, and falls asleep. Ten to 12 hours of sleep a night is normal for her.
My only advice for helping a new baby sleep on their own:
- full tummy
- clean diaper
- warm PJs
- white noise (esp. if the house is noisy)
- ceiling fan on low (a little air movement so it isn't stuffy)
- and a ROUTINE. Same. one. every. night.
And yes, Daddy is on bedtime duty at our house!
We (my wife and I) just went through all this. Our little girl is 19 months old. For the first, I dunno, 6 months, I just held her until she fell asleep, and then transferred her gently to the crib. 2-3 hours later, change her, feed her, and repeat!
We have one of the noise makers similar to what others have described. Set to a gentle "white noise" to help block out some of the other household noises. That really helped when she was itty-bitty. Not needed as much now. She can sleep through a thunderstorm!
At about a year, I started putting her to bed while still awake. At 18 months, she has a great routine. Bath at 7:30, quiet time until a little after 8:00, read a book, take a little bit of a bottle (I think that is more comforting than because she is thirsty. She turns it down sometimes), and off to bed. She'll even ask for "bed" if she is super tired. Usually, she goes to her crib awake, lies down and plays with her stuffed animals quietly, and falls asleep. Ten to 12 hours of sleep a night is normal for her.
My only advice for helping a new baby sleep on their own:
- full tummy
- clean diaper
- warm PJs
- white noise (esp. if the house is noisy)
- ceiling fan on low (a little air movement so it isn't stuffy)
- and a ROUTINE. Same. one. every. night.
And yes, Daddy is on bedtime duty at our house!
