Care and feeding

By 3 months or so, most babies are physically capable of making it through the night without a feeding. Some have already begun to sleep for a long stretch of time (six to eight hours) at night. Others won't manage this feat until closer to the 6-month mark or later. You can encourage this goal by building a predictable, positive bedtime routine, which starts with putting your baby to bed at the same time every night.

One of the hardest challenges parents face is whether to let their baby "cry it out" or not at bedtime or after nighttime wake-ups. Doctors and experts disagree on this one. Some, like physician Richard Ferber, the expert behind the sleep method informally called "Ferberizing," contend that letting your child cry for a bit is okay when you're teaching her to fall asleep without your help. Ferber's method (also called "progressive waiting") involves waiting for longer and longer periods each night before going in to pat and comfort your baby.

When you do go in, you check on her but don't pick her up or cuddle her, and eventually she learns to soothe herself to sleep. (This technique presumes that your baby is healthy and old enough to sleep through the night.) Other experts say babies ought to be comforted to sleep. Pediatrician William Sears, for example, advocates that parents co-sleep with their baby in a family bed, holding and cuddling the baby until she's soothed into sleep. Still others, like "Baby Whisperer" Tracy Hogg, take a middle position, saying that parents shouldn't jump up and rush to a baby's crib every time she whimpers or cries in the night; sometimes the baby will drift back to sleep on her own after a few cries.

Of course, what works for one child may not be the right approach for another. Whichever approach you settle on, make sure it's one you feel comfortable with. If your baby still wakes in the middle of the night to eat, keep those feedings low-key by leaving as many lights off as possible and by speaking in hushed tones