How to train baby to sleep overnight?

I thought maybe I should post something on this since most of my friends are giving birth this year.

Most of my friends and relatives are rather surprised to know that I manage to train my bb to sleep through the night after he turned one month.

I think this credit should go to my SIL, Eunice for recommending me a book on "Baby Wise" by Garry Ezzo & Robert Bucknam.  It was indeed a very useful book.  At least it works for my case.

As you all know during the first month, most of the time is my confinement lady who took care of my baby.  And she has been complaining that how difficult is to look after a small baby during their first few months having to wake up every single night to feed him.  Well, now I would have to say it's really depend on how you are going to train your baby to suit your time and not the other way round. 

After my confinement lady has left, hubby & I going to take over role of our "night shift".  For the first few days, baby keeps waking up in the middle of the night, making us look like zombie the next day.  I told myself I really need to train him well if not our nights will be burnt by him.

So I started to follow the Sample Schedule that is written in the book (See My Edited Version Below)

After he turned one month, his feeding time is around 3 hours interval.  So I will make sure I get to feed him around 12am then put him to sleep.  On the first three nights, bb keep wake up at 3am & 6am for milk.  By 4th & 5th night, I started to pat him to sleep even if he woke up at 3am instead of feeding him to let him know that the timing is for sleeping.  And in less than a week, bb already can sleep throughout the night for 6 hours straight! 

Bit by bit, I started to push his last feed earlier by one hour and amazingly he can still sleep till 6am meaning that he has 7 hours of sleep.

And by the time he turn 2 months, his highest sleeping records is 10 hours! Although, it only happened when he has played a lot in the day but still having bb to sleep through the night is such a wonderful thing for us especially for the working dad!

Here's some useful tips that I've extracted from the book.

Newborn:

- Sleep 16 to 20 hours per day including the periods of sleep between each feeding

- Estimated 6 to 8 naps (depending on the no. of daily feedings)
- Plan the last 1 to 1-1/2 hour of your 2-1/2 hour cycle for nap time

Two months:

- Baby drops his or her nighttime feeding & sleeps 7 to 8 hours continuously

- Naps during the day should be at least 1-1/2 hour long

Three months:

- Baby should drop his or her late-evening feeding leaving 4 to 6 feeding periods during the day

- Nighttime sleep will average 10 to 12 hours

- Nap 3 times a day between 1-1/2 to 2 hours in length, resulting longer wake time

Six to Sixteen Months:

- Baby drop his evening nap at around 6 months old, leaving 2 nap times (1 in morning & 1 in noon)

- Nap for 1-1/2 to 2 hours long

Sixteen Months & Older:

- Drop morning nap

- Baby should be sleeping 10 to 12 hours at night

- Nap 2 to 3 hours in the noon

Must always remember the 3 Basic Rule:

Rule 1: Mom, NOT Baby, decides when the nap starts

Rule 2: Mom, NOT Baby, decides when the nap ends

Rule 3: If your baby wakes up crying or cranky, it's most often because he or she has insufficient sleep, dirty diaper, a noisy environment or sickness coming on.

It's not easy but if there's a will, there's a way! :)