Our 5-month-old wakes up four to six times a night. Sometimes he’s not even hungry  — he just wants us to comfort him. How can we get him to sleep through the night?

Angela

Dear Angela,

While many babies this age are able to sleep for five-hour stretches, or even all night, others are prone to waking periodically. To help your little one stay in dreamland:

Play recordings of lullabies or other soothing sounds (such as waterfalls or crashing waves) or place a ticking clock or metronome in the nursery. (Infants are often comforted by this because they’ve just spent months listening to the regular beat of their mom’s heart while in the womb.) That way, your baby can soothe himself back to sleep more easily when he awakens during the night. If he has a tendency to rise with the dawn’s early light, put blackout curtains in his bedroom.

Nurse or bottle-feed right before bed so that he’s less likely to wake up for a feeding. If he does wake up during the night because he’s hungry or because he needs his diaper changed, keep stimulation to a minimum by not turning on the light or playing with him.

If you plan to try the cry-it-out approach or another strategy to get your child to sleep through the night, wait until the connection between you and your baby is stronger and you’re proficient at reading his cries. While all babies eventually need to learn to fall asleep on their own, forcing your child to soothe himself to sleep before he’s ready can undermine his trust in you as a source of comfort and may keep you from figuring out which style works best for you and your family. Worst of all, it may hinder the discovery of other possible causes of your baby’s discomfort, such as an ear infection, stuffy nose, gastroesophageal reflux, or other medical condition.

If you have any question, please send it to education@newtimes.co.rw