Luna's Sleep Journey: How I Got My Newborn To Sleep Through The Night at Six Weeks

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Okay, it was really 6.5 weeks but that doesn’t make for the best title - hah! Baby girl is almost 4 months old and has been sleeping through the night for the last 10 weeks. Yes, I thank the sleep gods DAILY! Since I’ve had a lot of requests to share details on what tools we used to get our babe to sleep through the night, I will try to share as much as I can below. I also included an FAQ of some of the top Qs that have come in over the past few months.

Before diving in I think it’s important to note that all babies are different and there’s no one/right way to parent. And I will be honest and say that our daughter is overall a very chill babe and we have been really lucky with our breastfeeding journey; two things I believe contributed to her being able to sleep through the night so early. My goal in writing this out is to share my experience in hopes that it can help you and also, selfishly, so I can look back on this one day if baby number two ever presents itself.

note: I am NOT a doctor. Please please please chat with your pediatrician about extending your babe’s nighttime sleep, moving babe into nursery, etc.

The two biggest factors in our daughters sleep success were following the Moms On Call Schedule (MOC) and using the SNOO.

Little Luna Girl

Mom + Daughter - Everyday Pursuits

Facts: 

• We started using the SNOO the first night home from the hospital 

• We started implementing MOC at two weeks including bathing her every night (we only use soap 1x a week)

• Babe first slept through the night at 6 1/2 weeks

• From 6 1/2 weeks to eight weeks she slept nine hours a night 

• Starting at 8 weeks she started sleeping 11+hours at night

• We have never implemented a dream feed

When it comes to schedules my personal thought is newborns don’t know what they want. They just came from a warm, cozy place with a 24/7 food buffet and the option to sleep whenever they wanted. This new world is a real slap in the face for them and very hard to navigate. As a parent it is my job to help my little nugget thrive in their new environment and EVERY human lives by a routine, even if it’s as basic as eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Additionally, having some sort of schedule puts a little more control in mom and dad‘s hands + is VERY good for their mental health. As a breastfeeding mama it’s really helpful to know when I am expected to feed (vs. letting baby snack whenever she wants). That way if I need to leave the house without babe, I am not freaking about needing to be by her side in case she wants to feed. It’s also helpful for my husband because he can’t do much when I’m feeding or she’s napping, so he will schedule his errands and time away from the house during those times. That way he’s always home during her awake times to give me a little break (when he was on paternity leave at least!)

Moms On Call Schedule (MOC):

Outside of this $19 book we did not invest in any other sleep classes or books. The MOC book has a ton of info about newborns and infants, not just schedules. It’s an easy read and I really appreciate how the schedules are to the point, and broken out by hour for each age group: 2-4 weeks, 4 -8 weeks, 8-16, weeks, 16 - 6 months. The schedules give a sort of “day in the life” of your baby at that age with suggested eat, play, and sleep times. We did not use the MOC swaddle (because we used the SNOO) and we also have never implemented the MOC soothing methods.

As I mentioned above we started implementing at 2 weeks old when the book starts their schedules. We also moved our daughter into her own room at 2 weeks (as I mentioned above, please OK this with doc). Her heading into the nursery at 2 weeks wasn’t necessarily because MOC recommended it - I happened to be sleeping on the couch her first 2 weeks home because I could NOT sleep in the same room as her. Every noise she made woke me up, so after the first night home I decided couch was better for me. At 2 weeks my husband suggested we just move her into her own room and I could come back to our bed - GENIUS! I will say I think not being in the same room helped EVERYONE’S overall sleep.

With the OK from our ped to let her sleep longer than 3 hrs at night, MOC, and the SNOO we started getting 4.5 hr stretches at 2 weeks, 5.5 hrs at 3 weeks, 6.5 hrs at 4 weeks, 7 hrs at 5 weeks, 9 hrs at 6.5 weeks, and 11+ hrs at 8 weeks.

Of course there were nights when things didn’t go as planned (we still get a 4am wake up here and there during growth spurts) and days when things were a shit show, but I can honestly say starting MOC at 2 weeks was the best thing we did for ourselves and our sanity. Our daughter is also a very happy baby and I do think a lot of that is due to getting really good nighttime sleep.

Snapshot of SNOO Sleep Insights

SNOO Sleep insights from following Moms on Call Schedule

The SNOO:

Is the SNOO worth the hype? For our family it’s worth its weight in gold! My husband exclaims at least once a week “man, I love the SNOO!” We had zero help when babe was born. Due to Covid we were not comfortable having anyone hold our daughter or be in our house until recently at 3.5 months. 3.5 months without a break is kind of nuts but I know having our nighttime sleep helped a ton!

I mentioned above that we put our daughter in the SNOO from night one. For the first few weeks we double swaddled her using a stretchy swaddle blanket (like this one) because she was so tiny she barely fit in the SNOO swaddle. GF had no problems with the SNOO from the get go. I don’t know if that was pure luck or the fact that we never really gave her another option. Since day one we’ve had the motion limiter on. Anything above level 2 just feels too much for us right now and we have learned that our daughter doesn’t really need to go above that to be soothed. If it doesn’t work then she usually needs something - ie: the boob.

At 8 weeks is when we started implementing most naps in the SNOO for no other reason except that I needed a break - hah. Prior to that she was doing a lot of naps on me, dad, in the stroller bassinet, or in the Sollywrap.

At about 12 weeks she started getting strong enough to break through the SNOO swaddle so we ordered this Anna + Eve arms only swaddle. It is AMAZING! I just love that it’s not a full second swaddle because our babe runs warm and doesn’t need a bunch of added layers.

Why we love it + ways we use it:

• Piece of mind: the SNOO was designed specifically to keep babies safely on the back all night and for all naps. And the FDA is evaluating SNOO’s potential to prevent SIDS.

• Helps link sleep: at this young babies have a hard time linking sleep cycles which is why they can have short naps or wake at night - the SNOO helps rock them back into the next cycle vs. mom + dad stepping in to do so. Ex: I can sometimes hear my daughter moving around or making little noises in the middle of the night. She’s not crying just waking up from a sleep cycle. Her noises are not loud enough to set off the SNOO so I will manually raise it to level one to help her link into the next sleep cycle. 99.9% of the time it works!

• Soothing: our practice in the beg was if the SNOO didn’t soothe by level two, I went in and fed. We didn’t use a pacifier until about 6 - 8 weeks because she didn’t really like them. Now if the SNOO doesn’t soothe by level two or 2 paci tries, I feed. We get the occasional 4am wake up/ feed when she is going through a grown spurt or leap.  

• All sleep: starting at 8 weeks we have done almost every nap + nighttime sleep in SNOO unless we are out 

Our current plan is to keep our daughter in the SNOO until 5-6 months as recommended by Dr Karp (see blog post here). The hope is to get through the 4 month sleep regression and have her transition to the crib when she’s already rolling so we can put her in a sleep sack vs. a transitional swaddle. Will definitely keep you updated on IG stories (follow me @everydaypursuits) and update this post when we’ve fully transitioned. 

Other Tools:

• Baby wearing: we wore our daughter in the Solly Wrap A LOT in the first 2 months. While I can’t say this contributed to her overall “chill” factor, baby wearing is said to be the best and easiest ways to promote bonding with baby and can even help reduce postpartum depression. A pediatric study found that wearing your infant 3 hours a day reduces infant crying by 43%!

• TCB Highlights: There’s a lot of chat on social media about Taking Cara Babies (TCB) and her methods for sleep. I have not taken any of her classes nor done a deep dive in her methods but from what I gather in chatting with other mamas, the basics are very similar to MOC: set wake windows, limited sleep windows, and set times between feeds. I do believe TCB implements a dream feed which is not the life I want to live - hah! I will say that I do find her IG highlights very useful (and FREE) as it relates to nap strategies.

FAQ

What if your daughter woke up early or slept late and you didn’t start “on time”?

I’ve heard a lot of moms say the MOC schedule was too rigid for them and they felt pressure to keep up with the timeline. Just going to throw it out there and say the schedule is as rigid or as flexible as you make it. The authors very clearly state in each schedule with an * that if the day ends up being crazy there are only TWO things you need to be sure to do and you can typically salvage your night sleep: making the supper feed and limiting the naps to less than X hrs (this # changes depending on what week you’re on.)

My real life suggestion: everything is flexible by 15-30 minutes before the supper feed. Yes, sometimes you have to feed closer than 3 hours a part of make the supper feed. Yes, sometimes babe is extra tired and wants to sleep after the feed instead of play… let them. In my experience you have great days and you have not so amazing ones, but overtime routine helps shape the outcome of the evenings.

My baby doesn’t sleep the entire allotted nap time - do I feed right when they wake up then?

Nope! The key really is feeding every 3 hours (unless you have an instance of trying to make the timing of the supper feed). If you constantly feed at shorter intervals babe is not going to get FULL feeds and will want to continue the “snacking” schedule. That will lead to them wanting to snack in the night. As of 16 weeks, our daughter is a 60 - 70 minute napper. If we can get the entire 1.5 hours out of her, BLESS! When she wakes up early from the nap we consider that “quiet time.” No stimulation and no feeding. Either I’ll leave her un-swaddled in the SNOO just to hang or rock her. This is also when we utilize the pacifier - she is not hungry, just bored.

Of course, if your babe is inconsolable and starving then by all means FEED! I remember after a few weeks with my daughter I could start to see the difference in her “I don’t want to take a nap anymore, let’s hang out cuz I’m bored” vs. “OMG, I’m starving!” whines. She is also easily soothed by a pacifier so whenever that doesn’t do the trick I know something is up!

My baby is 8 weeks and up until now we haven’t had a schedule, should we just jump into the MOC 8 week schedule?

The 8 week schedule drops a feed and therefore you are going from 6 to 5 feeds. Unless your baby is already doing significantly long stretches at night I would highly recommend starting with the 4-8 week schedule for a few weeks before moving on. The reason is that full tummies are the reason for good sleep - and not just a big feed at night - full tummies ALL DAY.

Let me know if you have any other Qs! So happy to help - this newborn sleep journey is A LOT. xx -Ashley

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