Please share your tips and tricks with the exhausted mamas. 
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
Sahar, we had our laddoo sleeping through the night 7 nights out of 10 by the time she was 3.5 months. The secret is routine, routine, routine. Go through the routine at the same time every night and put her down. For the first 3 months, if she wakes up crying, go to her and comfort her. After 3 months, however, you have to start letting her cry it out. Let her cry for 5 minutes, then comfort her, if she starts again, let her cry for 10 minutes, then comfort her, keep adding 5 minutes. This is the Ferber method.
Worked for us. Now, at 17 months, and she's been doing this since she was 15 months, she KNOWS it's her bedtime at 7:30 PM and she climbs up the stairs, points to her crib and says "neenee" and 9/10 nights sleeps for 12 hours straight. Just form a routine and STICK to it.
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
^ So you wouldn't feed her in the middle of the night?
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
Like Aahmed, we started super early as well -- pretty much within the first week. It's all about routine. She's been sleeping through the night since about 3.5-4 months of age. Even to this day, she sleeps pretty much 12 hours straight.
I'm sure you must've tried most of the things already but here are a few things that worked for us:
- Put her to bed at the same time everyday.
- Just before you start the bedtime routine, turn off (or dim) all light in the house, so she knows it's time to sleep.
- Do your routine: bath, feed, massage, etc. (whatever you normally do) and do it everyday.
- A lot of babies can't sleep with any lights because they become curious to see what's happening or where the light is coming from, and end up staying awake. So don't keep a night light on in her room (that is if she's comfortable sleeping in the dark.) With Izzah, we had to have it pitch dark -- at one point, we had to cover the windows with heavy drapes.
- Feed her before bedtime (or before bath), and avoid feeding her at night.
- You can try the cry it out routine, but it depends on how she takes it. It didn't really work for us at first, as she'd grow hysterical and end up throwing up. It took her time to get used to her own crying. So you can see what works for you, but yes at some point, you will have to let her cry.
- The trick is to try and get her in the crib while she's still awake -- drowsy/sleepy, but awake. You can rock her for a bit to calm her down, and then put her in the crib.
I don't know what your sleeping arrangement is, but she'll have the most sound sleep once she's in her own room. We had Izzah in our room (in her bassinet) for the first 5 or 6 months. She didn't give us too much trouble then either, but her sleep got much better once she was in her own room.
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
So your doctors didn't tell you initially to feed the babies every 2-4 hours? Initially we were instructed to wake her when she was sleeping. So now I guess that's her routine, and if she wakes up hungry, I assumed I was suppose to feed her...
Hm...
(Yes, right now she's in a bassinet in our room. Luckily if she does wake up it's just to feed and then usually she goes back to sleep, but her feedings can take some time so it's still exhausting. We do the bath before feeding like you said, Seabee.)
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
Sahar, my 11 month old is still not sleeping through the night but we are working on it. Every baby is different. By the time she was 3, 4 months old, i was feeding her before i went to bed at 10:30, she would wake up once at 4 to eat and go right back to s leep and wake up at 7ish. Due to some accidental parenting we digressed quite a bit. We now have a routine and it works pretty well in terms of her staying asleep BUT she still wakes up routinely. My daughter is old enough to handle no night time feedings so i feel comfortable in not feeding her. But she is still waking up crying so i dont know what to tell you.
I would like to share the baby whisperer books with you though. I wish i had known about it sooner. Google it or borrow the book from the library. She gives routine examples for babies according to their ages and i find it helps me a great deal to know when Kanzah is hungry versus tired. you might want to look into that for guidance too.
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
Oh yeah, the Baby Whisperer book helped me a lot. I read it before Izzah was born, so I was mentally prepared for what routine I should put her on.
Sahar, I'm not sure how old your little one is, but yes of course... you're supposed to feed every 2-4 hours initially. But they say between 4-6 months you can start weaning them off the night time feeds.
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
lol I like the term "accidental parenting" -- intriguingly vague :D
Oh yeah, the Baby Whisperer book helped me a lot. I read it before Izzah was born, so I was mentally prepared for what routine I should put her on.
Sahar, I'm not sure how old your little one is, but yes of course... you're supposed to feed every 2-4 hours initially. But they say between 4-6 months you can start weaning them off the night time feeds.
She'll be 8 weeks tomorrow. She's only slept through the night twice. Otherwise she wakes up usually once, maybe twice to feed.
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
I think it's too early for her to be sleeping through the night. Most babies who do sleep through the night start between 3-4 months of age.
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
That's what I was thinking, but I wonder if there are things you start earlier that help them.
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
I guess what the others have said, set up a routine so she knows when it's nini time.
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
i dont think its possible for a baby to be sleepign through the night before 3.5 to 4 months of age.. unless ure baby is lazy and a poor feeder ..
my son started sleeping through the night at 4 months... now he sleeps 14 hours (wakes up for a feed after 12 hours, plays for 20 mins and is back to sleep)
hang in there.. its really really tough in teh beginning... but like uve just read, it gets better by the 3rd month mark. the best u can do right now is sleep when she does... i know its a cliche but honestly.. its the only thing you can do ..
i tried everything in trying for a routine with my son.. nothing helped.. if he was hungry, he WOULD get up dead in the middle of the night... no amount of putting him back nor patting him would shut him up or make him go to sleep until he didnt get fed..
but it doesnt hurt to follow a routine, more for ure own sake than hers... everyone has given great advice so i wont repeat... but its just a matter of time.. hang in there until then :) (be happy she goes back to sleep after being fed, my son was a bit too active for age and wanted to play with me at friggin 3 am!!)
oh and i know MOST ppl believe that bathing a baby before bed time relaxes it and makes it sleep better but it CAN go the other way around... we had all been bathed before bed and slept thru the night so i did that with my son...
turned out that bathing would make him even more awake adn alert!! imagine my confusion after having given him a full feed, bathed him, and put him down for the night only to find him awake and playing!!
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
oh and my son didnt stop his night time feeds until he started on solids (i count 6 am feed as nighttime), so taht was 6 months.. he woudl og to bed at 9 and wake up at 6, sleep and then wake up again at 11.
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
I love nini time.
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
^ yeah, night time baths are a big no-no for us too. They make him more alert … but for some reason, baths during the day make him sleepy. Go figure. 
So now he has a bath in the mornings.
Sahar, do you sing to her??? Cause that can help too. Sing anything … make up a song.
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
lol I turn everything into a song :D
She gets very sleepy after baths, sometimes not having a full feeding.
She'll be 8 weeks tomorrow. She's only slept through the night twice. Otherwise she wakes up usually once, maybe twice to feed.
sidenote here, but masha'Allah! already almost two months! :)
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
Oh, it's way too early for her to be sleeping through the night. :) I started trying to 'train' her from day one. It happens when it happens. Plus, your little one is so young, so it'll be a while.
Re: How do you train your infant to sleep through the night?
Seabee and aahmed.. good on u guys!
and everyone else too!
all kids are different. Seriously... ive always been very adamant about routine and munchkin is very very very much a routine person cus of that. But, having said that, she's 3 now and we still have nigths where she wakes up once for a sip of doodoo... sometimes its maybe cus she just wants me there... other times, something is bothering her and needs some comfort..
It doesnt freak me out. I dont mind being there
BUT.... she has been sleeping on her own and probably as aahmed said, 7/10 nights through the night... with munchkin though, i would just put her in her cot at a certain time and she would nod off on her own..
now she's 3, she likes me to lay with her till she nods off.
I dont mind