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In case you haven't noticed, humans need sleep. Especially the mother humans who are expected to take care of any other humans residing in her household. When your baby doesn't sleep, you don't sleep. This sleep deprivation normally doesn't phase anyone else in the house as it is not their responsibility to get the baby to sleep. They can just roll over and put a pillow over their heads, Mom will take care of it.
So, why won't that child sleep?! Well, humans, especially baby humans, are creatures of habit. Sleep is one of the human behaviors that associates itself with your surroundings at the time. For example, if you are used to sleeping with the television on, you will have a difficult time falling asleep with it off. If you normally sleep with the lights off, it won't be easy to fall asleep with the room fully lit. However you put your baby to sleep is how it will need to be for the entire night for that baby to stay asleep.
People normally awaken several times a night, but fall right back to sleep so easily that you usually do not even remember waking up. If you rock your baby to sleep, when he wakes up in the middle of the night to find himself in a crib, not being rocked, it is difficult for him to fall back to sleep. If you normally nurse your baby to sleep and she wakes up in the middle of the night with no breast to suckle, she will not be able to fall asleep either. This is not to say that it is wrong to get your baby to sleep in these ways, but you had better be prepared to get up in the middle of the night to get the baby back to sleep unless you have a family bed where the baby sleeps with you and in this case, you probably are getting plenty of sleep though probably not much sex!
If you want your baby to sleep through the night in his own crib, you have to teach the baby to fall asleep on his own. This means that you can't put the baby to bed when he is already asleep by some other means, he will only wake up in the night wondering where you, or his bottle, or his pacifier, or whatever it is that got him to sleep is. This is not as easy as it sounds. When your baby is used to being gently loved into sleep, it is heartbreaking to take that away from him, but you need your rest Mom!
You need to put the baby in his crib when he is still awake,if your baby falls asleep at his evening nurse or bottle, wake him up before you put him to bed. (I know you're saying, "Are you out of your MIND?!") This will be done more easily before your baby can pull himself up to standing or kneeling position, it is nearly impossible for a baby to fall asleep when he is standing up in the crib! If the baby is standing you will need to go in periodically and put him back down. Make sure your baby is truly exhausted before you put him to bed or you could be in for a long night of sleep-school! The crying is going to drive you insane, but whatever you do, don't pick that baby up! You can go in every ten minutes or so, lay the baby back down, pat him on the back, tell him you love him. When the crying starts to get to you, tell yourself that the baby is not hurt, he is just insulted at the fact that you are not putting him to sleep in the way he is accustomed to. If the baby doesn't learn how to sleep on his own, you'll be crying instead!
As long as you are consistent and NEVER give in to the baby, he will eventually learn to sleep on his own. This might take a week or two to sink in, but the feeling of freedom you will have once the baby learns is indescribable. I had two children who could not sleep on their own and when I finally got 'tough' with them and they learned to get themselves to sleep, I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Bed time went from an hour ordeal to a 5 minute ritual, story, kiss, good-night!
There are some good books that help give you conviction if the crying is too much for you, they basically lay out a routine for you to stick to, but you can do it on your own, just be consistent and remember that is for the good of everyone.
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