70 | April 2020 | motherandbaby.co.uk
SOOTHE TO SLEEPwithout trying to do anything else,’says
Lucy. ‘If you start doing this routine
when your baby is aged eight to
16 weeks old – and do it consistently
- there’s a good chance that she
will get into a pattern of getting
herself to sleep. If that happens,
you either won’t have to do
sleep-training with her, or
sleep-training will be a lot easier.’
Amazing! So, why doesn’t every
parent do this? ‘It’s not always
possible to do sleep-shaping,’ says
Lucy. ‘When your baby is thislittle,
she’ll need extra comforting if she’s going
through colic, reflux or illness.’Any of these
(common) events can knock sleep-shaping
off course. And if you haven’tbeenable to
get sleep-shaping established bythetimeyour
baby is 16 weeks old, you reach an
‘in-between’ stage, in which your baby
is too old to accept sleep-shaping, but
too young for sleep-training.
‘I call those two months (when
your baby is between 16 weeks
and six months old) a “no-mans
land” for sorting sleep,’ says
Lucy. ‘It’s a time when all you
can really do is keep going with
your established sleep routine.
By now your baby has become
dependent on any help you’re giving
her to get to sleep – whether that’s
rocking or feeding or singing or anything
else and is too little to be weaned off it.
If you’re in that tricky position, hold tight –
justkeep going with whatever you’re doing
untilyou reach the six-month mark.’‘We’ve always
had the same bedtime
routine for Toby. We start
after his bath by dimming the
lights in the lounge, putting him
in his sleeping bag and giving him
some milk. It ’s a familiar pattern,
and the low light, the warmth and
closeness all soothe him.’
Sarah-Jane Hewitt, 37,
from Lancashire, is
mum to Toby, nine
months