By the age of about three months, most babies have started to develop more regular sleep/wake cycles and have discontinued most of their night feedings. Sleep coaching can begin between the ages of four to six months of age, when most babies are capable of sleeping through the night. It is a general rule of thumb that most babies are capable of being able to sleep through the night without a feeding by the time they are four months old and fourteen pounds. Some babies begin to sleep through the night when they reach thirteen pounds. Please remember to age adjust for premature babies (i.e., Count the age from the approximate due date not from when they were born.)
One of the major problems of most sleep coaching approaches is that not enough attention is given to the importance of sleep and establishing a healthy sleep routine. Prevention of sleep problems if possible is optimal. Just because you cannot start formally sleep coaching your baby before the age of four months does not mean that you cannot start laying the path for healthy sleep habits. If you start early you may be able to minimize the amount of sleep coaching later on. For example, beginning around the age of six weeks, you can strengthen your baby’s own biological rhythms by establishing a regular bedtime routine. This area will be covered in more depth later on.