Why is it important for my baby to self-soothe at bedtime?

Why is it important for my baby to self-soothe at bedtime?

It’s important for your baby to learn to self-soothe at bedtime so that they know how to put themselves back to sleep when they wake naturally during the night. Your baby waking during the night is completely normal, but it might be bothersome for you as a parent. So, thinking about how to get her back to sleep during without you there to help her is important. At bedtime, it might be natural for you to want to feed or rock your little one to sleep. However, each time your baby wakes during the night she will need you to do whatever you did at bedtime to get her back to sleep.

For you, this might be as if you woke during the night and your pillows were on the floor – your favorite two pillows that you need to fall asleep at night. You didn’t wake when the pillows fell on the floor. Instead, you woke up naturally and then realized your favorite pillows were on the floor and needed to pick them up before you could return to sleep. The same thing happens with your baby! She wakes up naturally then needs what she had at bedtime when she fell asleep initially in order to return to sleep – so she cries out for you. Helping your little one learn to fall asleep on her own, or self-soothe, at bedtime will help her sleep throughout the night.