How to get Baby to Sleep [Red Light Use]

Exhausted after a long night of no sleep? Had to get up 3-4 times to fed your baby? I’ve been there! That’s how I came up with this neat way to get your baby on a sleep routine!

It was a very long summer night, my son had just turned 3 months old. I had been switching back and forth from co-sleeping to putting him in his crib. My son developed jaundice when he was born so this made him very sleepy.

It was near impossible for me to get him to breastfeed. I tried so many things from stimulating him awake, to nipple shields, and the finger feeding method. It didn’t help that I had a C-Section and so my nipples were a little flat as well.

Because of the overwhelming stress the breastfeeding was causing me, I decided to give my son a bottle. I was busy away pumping, and my son was just screaming because he was hungry! I couldn’t get him to latch and in my dire attempt to just get him to eat, I gave him a bottle with breast milk. He gulped it down within seconds.

So, I decided that this was going to work out best for us. I ended up just pumping and then bottle feeding. Yes, this was tedious! But, I had nothing better to do, so I thought why not make the sacrifice to pump 24 7. They have this awesome hands free freemie pump that I was able to attach to my medela and it worked out so great!! Highly recommend this product!!!

My Baby’s Sleep Routine-Get Baby to Sleep

Because I was up at night pumping, it was easy for me to put him in his crib early on. He was able to get very used to sleeping in his crib and we would co-sleep occasionally because I wanted extra snuggle time!

Sleep is so important. It does so many great things for your body. Not only is it important for you, but for your little one as well. So, getting my son on a sleep routine was super important for the both of us.

He would go to sleep for the night at all different times, he would start to wake up in the middle of the night too. Where I would change him, feed him and put him back down.

My husband did a little research on the effects of lights and brain activity. He is the type of person who loves to learn new things! So, he learned that blue lights help stimulate your brain and keep you awake. While a red light is more calming for your brain and helps you sleep.

The Red Light

We thought huh..thats interesting…I wonder what that would do to our son? Why not try it and see?!

That’s what we did! We bought a red light and put in inside our lamp, which was next to his crib. This was the best thing ever! After a few days, my son knew that when that light was turned on, it was bedtime. This really helped him regulate nighttime vs daytime.

We would consistently turn on the red light at the same time every night. For us, this was 8PM. Then we would change him, feed him, make sure he burped good, and laid him down in his crib.

He would move about and fuss a little bit, but would then soothe himself to sleep after about 5 minutes. At first, he would still wake up every now and then to eat. But, by the time he was 4 months, he was sleeping 10-12 hours straight!

He is 2 now, and still sleeps great! We always turn his red light on when it’s time for bed. The light is also nice because you don’t have to turn on a light to see. The red light provided us with enough light to do everything we needed, like make sure he was breathing, change his diaper, or feed him.

Try it and see!

It was so easy to get him on a sleep routine with this red light. It taught him the difference between nighttime and daytime. He knew when he was supposed to sleep and when he was to wake. When the natural light of day filled the room, it overpowers the red light.

So, he made his own routine when it was time to get up. This has always been around 7 and 8 AM. If he was having teething problems and waking up, a simple feeding would put him back to sleep. Sometimes we used all natural teething drops as well. But, I feel the light was super helpful in teaching him that it was still nighttime.

I recommend trying this light from the beginning. But you can really start using it anytime and just be consistent with it. Turn it on every night and shoot for it to be around the same time.

When my daughter was born, she took to breastfeeding right away. Because of this I did more co-sleeping with her. I still used that red light though. It made it super nice, because I was easily able to see her at all times with the light that it provided. I was also able to latch her on easily too.

She is now 5 months and sleeping in her crib with her red light. Her crib is in our bedroom. The light makes it nice, because I can see her from my bed. I am able to watch her sleep and watch for her breathing. She loves to sleep on her belly! So, it’s really nice to be able to always have her in clear view!

This light is so great! You can just screw it in to any lamp you already have, and it comes with a remote!!

Check it out here!

So what are you waiting for? See if the red light works for you and helps improve your sleepless nights!!

Another big hurdle I faced with my baby, other than trying to get baby to sleep, was teething pain. Check out this simple, natural, and delicious remedy I used to soothe my baby’s sore gums. Check it out!