Sleep and settle at 9 to 12 months

Progressive Waiting(aka Controlled Crying)is a technique which is used to teach your baby to go to sleep in her own cot without your help, while reassuring her that you are not far away.

• Look for signs of tiredness.
• Prepare her for sleep by making sure that she is fed, clean and warm. Enjoy some quiet time together before bed.
• Tuck your baby into her cot and say 'good-night'.
• Leave her room for up to three minutes to give her a chance to self-settle. If you find this is too long at first, try just one minute, then two minutes and then three minutes.
• If she doesn't settle in this time, return to her room. Try to avoid eye contact and don't talk much, as you want to avoid engaging with her. You can offer comfort by leaning into her cot to resettle her but don’t pick her up as this will confuse her. Try to keep this settling to approx. 30 seconds - while you want to reassure her that you will return when she cries, you are also trying to teach her that she needs to fall asleep without your help.
• Leave her room again for up to 5 minutes.
• If she's still unsettled, return to her room and once again spend 30 seconds reassuring her. Leave her room again for up to 7 minutes.
• Continue repeating these steps until she settles - by not offering help to settle you are teaching her to self-settle.
• Don't leave your baby to cry for any longer than seven minutes before offering comfort, but if she does seem to be quieting, delay returning to her room as she may become unsettled again if she sees you.
• If she's still awake after forty-five minutes during the day sleep, pick her up and feed her and quietly play with her until her next sleep time. Try not to let her fall asleep anywhere other than in her cot, so don't take her out in the car or stroller until she's slept.
• If you are settling her down for the night, keep repeating the steps (without extending the time out of her room beyond seven minutes) until she falls asleep. If she wakes overnight, follow the same settling technique until she resettles.

 

REMEMBER!

Being consistent is what teaches your baby to settle by herself.

 

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This article was written by Ella Walsh for Kidspot. Sources include Karitane.