This is my personal experience, and I am not a doctor, so you should always speak to your pediatrician for the best tips for you and your baby 😊💖 Ask lots of questions during your appointments. I sure do!

Note: I’m an Amazon Associate now, yay!! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This is at no extra cost to you. Just click on any image and it will take you straight to the product page. Thank you!

---

5 Basics/Set Up/Quick Tips:

I set my baby up for success with these very important tips.

1. I made sure my baby was old enough to sleep through the night ~ your pediatrician will let you know when it’s time. Newborns do not sleep through the night. They need to be fed every 2-3 hours, burped, changed, so I never expect this of my newborn.
2. We worked on naps first. Once I sleep-trained my baby’s naps, the nighttime took care of itself.
3. I made sure my baby was getting enough sleep during his naps, but not too much, and we NEVER SKIPPED NAPS. Nap-skipping sounds good in theory (“they’ll be tired at night”) but it doesn’t work at all. I kept in mind that good naps = good nights.
4. I had my baby in a room that is quiet (with some white noise when he was younger), not too hot or cold, and with not too many distractions (mobile, toys everywhere, etc.). It was also dark. I invested in black-out curtains with awesome results. I made the room a great place to sleep! I also dressed him comfortably and appropriately for the room’s temperature.
5. I allowed my baby to get plenty of interaction, love, hugs, exercise, and entertainment between naps. In short ~ I let my baby be as active as he wanted to be during awake times! 😊

Here is a white-noise machine for babies with GREAT reviews:

Text Link HERE for Jetpack users:

Here is a white-noise machine for babies at a lower price, but also with GREAT reviews:

Text Link HERE for Jetpack users:

And these are the black-out curtains I use and LOVE:

Text Link HERE for Jetpack users:

---

How I Sleep-Trained the Naps:

Following my pediatrician’s instructions, I did not feed my baby to sleep (I fed him 15-20 minutes before his nap) and I did not rock him to sleep. I simply made the room as dark as possible, lay him in the crib, read him a story, and walked away.

I was instructed to keep track of the time with a watch, and if he cried for more than 5 minutes, go back in the room, soothe him without picking him up, then go back out again. Make sure to literally keep track of the time with a watch (or your phone) ~ because when a baby cries, even just 2 minutes can seem like an eternity.

Okay, this is the part where I deviated from the pediatrician’s instructions a bit 😁 I noticed that when I went in to soothe Baby Bear, he would cry harder once he saw me. He would go from fussing to full-on crying again once I walked in the room. So I said, alright… I’ll let him cry/fuss just a little over 5 minutes…

The crying died down to a fuss, then the fuss to acceptance, then he played with his baby-safe teddy bear a bit and… fell asleep.

We did this for every nap, but not for when he woke up at night. We ONLY sleep trained during daytime naps, as instructed. We still picked him up, fed him, and rocked him at night. Once he got a hang of the daytime naps (rather quickly, might I add) a few days later it just happened ~ Baby Bear slept through the entire night!!! 🥳

And I got the first 8 straight hours of sleep in MONTHS 😍

---

It took me some time to change my mindset on my baby’s crying ~ because ever since Baby Bear was born, I was right there for him as soon as he cried. And that’s great for newborns! Newborns cry because they need something. But as my baby got older, I realized that he cried at naps because he wanted something, and that “something” was me rocking him to sleep for hours at a time 😅 That wasn’t going to work for either of us! So, although it was hard at first, I allowed him to cry for the sake of him learning to independently fall asleep.

And it has paid off for both of us, because now he knows how to soothe himself back to sleep and gets plenty of rest AND I also get my rest by sleeping through the night 😇 I highly recommend you speak to your pediatrician about sleep-training, and especially if your baby has sleep apnea, asthma, or there are any other special circumstances.

I wish you and your little precious one the best in your sleeping journey! Enjoy your weekend!

Take care and God bless,

✿ Lovely Panda Mom ✿

Thumbnail image by Kankanravee Kanyawath from Pixabay