We are talking about how to get your baby to sleep through the night.  But before we do, I want to introduce our sponsor of today’s podcast:  PUREBOOST Pureboost is a healthy alternative to energy drinks and way cheaper. It doesn’t have any sugar in it and is packed with a bunch of vitamins and minerals and it tastes really good. They are little packets you simply mix with water.  There are 3 flavor options.  I just get the combo pack because I can’t decide and like a different one each day.  They taste great, it 100mg of natural green tea caffeine and is clean, antioxidant energy. The owners of PureBoost are parents as well and they really support what we are doing.  They are offering Dad University listeners 50% off your first order.  Go to gopureboost.com/daduniversity/ Alright, let’s get back to getting our babies to sleep. Sleeping through the night is one of the primary goals when your child is firstborn.  Everyone is asking:  did he sleep through the night?  How is her sleeping doing?  Are you making it through the night with that little one?  Seriously. There are a couple of popular sleep training methods to mention.  Most experts and pediatricians suggest waiting until about 3-4 months old to start any kind of sleep training for a baby.  So if you have a newborn you might want to wait a bit before you do something like this. Here are a couple of popular methods: 1) Ferber method – This was a technique created by Dr. Richard Ferber in which you allow the baby to cry for a certain amount of time before comforting them.  The time gets longer and longer as you go on but the idea is that the baby learns to self-soothe so that if they do wake up in the night, they can go back to sleep. 2) Cry It Out – Do you know why baby’s cry?  Because it works.  A baby quickly learns that if it cries, someone will provide it attention.  With the cry it out method, you basically are allowing the baby to cry itself to sleep.  The idea is that eventually, the baby learns that crying doesn’t work for getting the attention. The cry it out method is often tougher on the parents than it is for the baby.  I remember trying this with our first child and after 45 minutes straight we couldn’t take it anymore..  He was supposed to fall asleep already according to this method, but he didn’t. #3) The No cry method – This is also sometimes known as the no tears method.  When your baby cries, you pick them up for reassurance and then put them back down.  You do this as much as needed. The main idea here is creating a comfortable sleep routine and sticking with it.  A lot of different approaches may fall under the no cry method but ultimately you are comforting the child. Every child is different and like with most things, you need to see what sleep training method works best for you and your child.  Keep in mind too, none of these sleep training methods work after one day.  It can take a week, two, or even more. Now there are some tips that I found really helpful in getting our baby to sleep through the night and I think they apply no matter which method you use. 1) Stick to a schedule - Put them down to sleep at the same time every night.  For some, this may be hard because of your own schedule but you need to figure out a way to keep the baby on a schedule for sleeping. 2) Put them down earlier – Contrary to logic, putting them down earlier helped them sleep longer...at least for both of my kids.  Ideal bedtime is earlier than you probably think.  Try 6:00-6:30 to put them down. 3) Establish a bedtime routine – In addition to the schedule, establish a routine.  You do the bath then pajamas, then a book, then feeding, then sleep.  Kids thrive on routine and knowing what comes next.  Keep everything in the same order.   Routines worked really well with our children in helping them sleep through the night.  The key is that as a parent, you have to stick to the routine. 4) Remove Distractions – Get all of the mobiles,