Parents can spend tons of time trying to optimize their baby’s nighttime sleep, and rightly so. It’s important for your baby, and it’s important for you! I have always been protective of my sleep because when I don’t get enough, the wheels start to come off.

For ages, mothers have slept with their babies and had no one to tell them not to. It is the natural way to soothe your baby and keep them warm, and it is sometimes the only way a mama can get sound sleep as well. The “information age” is what changed things. Professionals first came out with very hands-off methods of parenting newborns around the 70s, and it seems we as a society have been trying to find a healthy balance ever since.

The idea of safe sleep has become almost controversial in the mommy community. As a first time mom, it seemed to be some people’s job to scare me out of co-sleeping with my daughter. The result was paranoia no matter what I did. My daughter was only a little over 5 lb when we brought her home, which didn’t help with our fears.

I purchased the most expensive, versatile bedside bassinet. I loved it and was so excited to use it, but she hated it. My husband I took turns cuddling her at night because it was the only way for all of us to get rest. We were terrified of harming her, and when we did sleep in the same bed, we were nose to nose. If she flinched, I flinched.

Some of the mothers in the support group I’m a part of said that monitors could add to paranoia and OCD, especially after the trauma of having a baby in the NICU. That was not the case for me. I had two monitors that I trusted, and they gave me peace of mind so I could rest easier. If anything was off with my baby – heart rate, breathing pattern, oxygen level- I had tested the monitors, so I knew they would go off and wake me up. I also loved having one with an app on my phone. If I woke up on my own and was worried about her, I could check the app and go right back to sleep.

Another thing that has helped tremendously is our sleep sacks. Sleep sacks, unlike sleep suits, are rated as “safe” by professionals, as long as they are not weighted. I personally have a hard time believing a little bit of weight poses any risk, so I use what is most comfortable for my kid. Sleep sacks are sleeveless, which my daughter loves. Since she was born, she has insisted on moving her arms freely during sleep, and I don’t blame her.

Sleep sacks have different TOGs, depending on what they are made of. TOG stands for Thermal Overall Grade, or the warmth of a textile or fabric, and you can use the chart below to help dress your baby based on the temperature of their bedroom. Paying attention to the TOG is most important when you have a newborn who hasn’t quite gotten the hang of regulating their own body temperature. We keep our house at 72 degrees, so at night our daughter wears a 1.0 TOG sleep sack by itself.

There are different styles with snaps and zippers in different places, but it’s just up to your preference as a parent. I recommend sleep sacks that are easily machine washable, and it is a good idea to have at least two so you can rotate a clean one and a dirty one.

Another thing I suggest to keep your baby sleeping is white noise. You can use an app, a sound machine, or a plain ole fan. It’s soothing to your baby because it sounds like the “woosh” of inside the womb, and it can also enable you to do a few things around the house without having to be completely silent for fear of waking them up.

No matter what methods you employ to get your little one to sleep, nothing is foolproof. There will likely still be some nights that you have troubles, but in my mind, anything that helps is worth the investment, especially when it comes to your family getting rest! Good luck in every phase of your sleep training journey.