How can I help my child to sleep alone?

You can help your child to fall asleep alone in creating an enabling environment so that sleep comes to him naturally. If you wait for the right time, usually between 3 and 6 months, and pay attention to the sleeping environment, must be able to fall asleep alone.

It's like learning to crawl. If you always take your child in your arms, it will never have the opportunity to discover how to move alone. To sleep, it's the same thing! If you fall asleep still giving him the breast or bottle or rocking, it will never get to sleep alone.



How to help fall asleep?

We must prepare the ground, setting up of two elements:

• Regular bedtime hours to start the internal clock of your baby. So naturally he will feel tired at regular times.
• A bedtime ritual for him to understand that it is time to sleep. This involves quiet activities as a bain hot, and, once he is in bed, a story, a song, a hug and a kiss.

When the ritual is complete, place your baby in bed drowsy but not yet asleep. Most babies will sleep without challenge. For others, it will take more time, especially for older children who have hitherto been accustomed to sleep with a feeding or arms.


If you wish, you can make a single stroke, leaving him with a "Good Night" and waiting behind the door, to watch from time to time.
Or you can go step by step: you sit next to his bed at the beginning and over the night, you leave a little (one night, you stay in the middle of the room, the next day you stay close to the door, etc.).

For more tips, read our article on sleep disturbances.

If your baby has a habit of falling asleep during breastfeeding or a bottle in your arms, you will have as you wake up gently before putting it in his bed. Or, if you see it begin to fall prey to sleep during feeding, shorten the meal and start the bedtime ritual before going to bed.

Some believe that we should not wake a sleeping baby, but keep back from it all. Wake your sleeping baby may seem like a complete idiot (especially if you fall asleep and also you still have a million things to do before you go to bed), but if you are considering something in the long term, it is worth sorry for your baby finally falls asleep alone.

What to do if your baby can not do?
Take a step back and try to understand why. It may be too young and has not the ability to soothe himself (as a child of three months spent hours lying on the living room floor and yet is not able to do four legs). In this case, wait a few days, weeks or even months before trying again.


Perhaps it is too tired, and too upset to manage sleep alone. Try to go to bed earlier. Finally, analyze the situation, you give him the opportunity to really fall asleep alone or ruez you to his room to comfort him at the slightest noise?

Keep your goal in mind
If all this sounds difficult, keep in mind the long-term benefit. If he manages to fall asleep on his own, he will be able to sit for longer periods of time and go back to sleep if he wakes at night. This will allow to have all the necessary rest to grow and flourish.

In addition, falling asleep alone is an essential skill that will not only benefit your child at bedtime. He will learn to calm down in other situations, when you are at work, for example, when you leave the room momentarily or when it is in a bad mood.