PARENTING : Getting your baby to sleep

What you need to know:

Those sleepless nights only seem like they’ll last forever. Here’s how to encourage your baby to sleep well, including products that can help.

“Is your baby sleeping through the night yet?” It’s an innocent enough question — unless you happen to have a baby who wakes up every time you pick up the TV remote control or settle into bed yourself. If that’s the case, take heart.

Those sleepless nights only seem like they’ll last forever. Here’s how to encourage your baby to sleep well, including products that can help.

Establish a routine

Entire books have been written about babies and sleep, but it all boils down to one strategy: Routine.

“I usually suggest a series of three or four soothing activities that you do every night without fail,” says Jodi A. Mindell, associate director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and author of Sleeping Through the Night: How Infants, Toddlers, and Their Parents Can Get a Good Night’s Sleep.

The activities that make up your particular routine are, to some degree, less important than sticking with it.

For instance, you might settle on a bath, a massage, and story time as your nighttime ritual. Or you might feed your baby, rock him for a few minutes, put him in his crib or bassinet, and then sing him a lullaby before each nap and before you put him down for the night.

“It’s also important to remember that even though babies can’t tell time, they do have an internal clock. Keeping a daily schedule for naps and bedtime will set that clock, which will help your baby fall asleep quickly and easily,” adds Mindell. “Also, if you wait too long to put your baby down, he’ll get overtired, which can make it difficult for him to settle down and fall asleep.”

What helps:

Soothing bedtime stories. The best bedtime stories are rhythmic and include lots of repetition. They’re the ones that you find yourself memorizing and almost chanting to your baby (which, beware, can make you sleepy, too!). Some winners for your going-to-bed library include Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown; Counting Kisses: A Kiss-and-Read Book, by Karen Katz; and Snoozers: Seven Short Short Bedtime Stories for Lively Little Kids, by Sandra Boynton.

Soft bath towels. Wrapping up in a soft towel after a bath can be a comforting part of your baby’s routine. It’s even cozier if you put the towel in the dryer for a few minutes to warm it up.

Glider or rocker. Few pieces of baby gear will get more use than a comfortable glider or rocking chair. It can become an essential part of your nightly routine, whether you and your child just rock, glide, or read your favorite bedtime story in it. A well-made rocker or glider is something you’ll continue to use for years after the baby swing, bouncy seat, and highchair — and your baby’s bedtime routine — have been retired.

Tip: Read bedtime stories in the room your baby sleeps in. That way, the last part of each night’s routine in his sleep environment.

Keep your baby snoozing

Some babies could slumber peacefully through a mid-nap visit from a carpet-cleaning crew. Others wake up as you tiptoe out of the room.

You can’t soundproof your house or put your activities on hold while your baby is asleep. But if you have a light sleeper, you’ll want to minimize the disturbances (such as going into his room to check on him) and find ways to help him keep snoozing despite everyday noises.

What helps:

A baby monitor. A monitor can help you avoid going in to check on your baby unnecessarily. You can choose the most basic model, a simple transmitter that picks up your child’s coos and cries and sends them to a receiver that you can place in any room in your home. Or try a fancier model with features such as a thermometer to let you know the temperature in your baby’s room, or a viewing screen, so you can keep an eye on your baby from anywhere in the house. If you have a large or a two-story home, consider getting one with two receivers. That way you can leave one in your bedroom and the other one in the kitchen or family room.

“White noise” and other soothing sounds. The monotonous noise of a machine such as a fan or a humidifier helps drown out potentially distracting noises, from doorbells and telephones to siblings and barking animals. And some babies find the repetitive sounds comforting. You’ll also find devices that make noises like ocean waves, a heartbeat, or crickets. Some even come disguised as cuddly bears or woolly sheep and make sounds similar to what your baby heard in the womb.