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Setting a nighttime "routine" - i.e. bath, feeding, dimming the lights and quieting the house around 7 or 8. I feel like it helps them to differentiate between daytime/nighttime.

The good things for us were having a routine, setting her down drowsy but awake (she didn't BF so i didn't nurse to sleep--and yeah, sometimes she woke up right away) and trying to set up the habits that i wanted her to have down the road. I was really worried we'd have one serious crutch we'd rely on, and then daycare would be a huge hot mess. So i used a huge variety of tricks and kept trying all sorts of things. "tools in the toolbox" i think was how a parenting book referred to it as. I think she was about that age, maybe a little older when i started implementing "the pause" concept where I'd give her a few minutes to fuss or figure stuff out. Sometimes she fell asleep, sometimes it escalated. But i didn't rush to her at every peep. Easier said than done, though! I think she might've been a little older....a couple of times, she'd start to cry, and I'd make her a bottle, then find her passed out. So i stopped assuming every cry was for food

oh gosh, we had a naturally bad sleeper, and I feel like I did everything "right" and nothing ever worked or worked for long, anyway.

She's 18 months and still usually wakes up most nights--these days, we generally let her just cry but she still wakes up night after night.

@SeptMomma12: So, the question is...does your DH do any consulting?

With E, around 8-ish weeks, we started putting him down drowsy at night. He'd usually entertain himself with the mobile and fall asleep. By 1 AM or so, he'd be ready to eat again and he'd finish out the rest of the night in our bed. But starting out in the bassinet was a real victory.

I was blessed with a good sleeper, but one thing I'm glad we did was she went down drowsy from 4+ months on. And she was a rock star sleeper, it's so hard to not snuggle and let them fall asleep on you but it was the best thing we did. We would lay her down about 30 minuets after her bottle (reflux baby had to be sitting up following feedings, the key was to not over-stimulate her) and she would fuss maybe a minutes or two once we laid her down and then she was out.

I will say the most challenging part for us was getting the grandparents to do this! the moms wanted to rock her to sleep, and didn't understand why it took so long, it was because they were stimulating her/or upsetting her stomach with the movement, once they listened they believed me!

Wish I had listened to my gut and not other people, and started nursing him to sleep sooner. I feel like a mean mommy for trying to rock a hungry baby to sleep for an entire month. Didn't hurt his sleep habits in the long run, so I should have just done it!

Nothing! In my experience, a lot of it is just natural based on the kids personality. I did the same thing with both and have two totally different sleepers. Plus I did and still do what I'm comfortable with. I rock to sleep, cosleep with DS1, made a routine because I needed it as a WAHM. I found I was happier once I stressed less. All kids eventually sleep. Some just take longer.

I wish I paid more attention to DS' personality over the "right" way. DS hated the RNP, swaddling, being held close all the time, etc. He likes space, likes his crib, and only really snuggles when totally upset and sick. He's just not a cuddly baby and we tried all these methods of wearing him and all that because he was colicky but in the end he THRIVED on a schedule, bottle feeding, sleeping in his crib, and while we still roomshare he is a noisy sleeper that moves all night long so he really should have his own room. Once we figured out what works for him he became such a better and happier sleeper.