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I'm not sure what you've tried and failed, so take my suggestions however you'd like, but these are the couple things I *think* helped us foster a good sleeper.

I know most people say you can't spoil a newborn, but I do think what you do in the early days impacts at least somewhat the later days. I tried to stick with the motto, "Begin as you plan to continue." So beginning even in the newborn days...
- I usually put DS down to sleep (mamroo, rock n play, crib, whatever you prefer). I held him while he was sleeping sometimes of course, but I'd definitely say it was the exception, not the rule.
- I used the 5s's pretty religiously, especially the swaddle and the sound machine. One of my most valued baby items was the travel sound machine. I think those items really helped signal that it was time to sleep.
- I sleep trained as soon as the ped gave the ok, but I think because of the items above, it was a pretty quick and painless process.

ETA. Oh and I think sometimes people are way to quick to say, "I tried that but baby didn't like it," especially with the swaddle. Give everything a serious chance before quitting, sometimes you just need to get over the hump, so to say.

After conversations with friends I recently realized how important a feature on our baby monitor was to how we handled sleep - it basically has a snooze button. When I press it, it will silence the monitor for 2 minutes and then turn back on later. I use it all the time when they're just fussing but I'm pretty sure they'll go back to sleep soon. But I realize that without it any crying hurts me and I want to go in and help. My friends' monitors didn't have this so they had to either listen to the crying or trust that they would stay awake in the MOTN to turn it back on. Or they could take care of the crying but then not teach self-soothing. Anyway - now it's a feature I recommend to new parents cause I definitely used it a lot without knowing it wasn't a standard thing.

If I could name one most helpful thing for me it was to make night wake-ups as boring as possible:

- Strong evening bedtime routine
- Use the hall light instead of light in the bedroom for diaper changes
- Minimize engaging through eye contact
- Avoid talking or singing to the baby

I don't know if it was a coincidence but DS got the hang of night vs. day relatively quickly and was asleep between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. by 10 weeks.

I certainly dont have all the answers, but I have had 1 great sleeper and 1 decent sleeper. For me (us), a friend gave me advice pre-baby that I consider to be the biggest part of our positive sleep experiences...teach them to fall asleep on their own from the beginning. I very very rarely rocked my babies to sleep at night (and for long naps)...thats not to say they didnt fall asleep while nursing many many times, and they certainly slept on me many times, but I tried to keep the moments before "real sleep" (i.e. night time or their long quality naps) a non rocking situation.

We had a very clear bedtime routine. Lights always dim, sound machine on, diaper change (bath depending on the night), lotion rub down, jammies, bottle/nurse (if still feeding before bed) then laid down sleepy but not sleeping. My girls have both been very good at falling asleep on their own - which helps in the MOTN when they wake too.

We did have to go through a small period of CIO with #2...she has a stubborn streak though, so I attribute that to her needing to "get her way".

You probably already know this, but tiredness cues (what constituted being overtired) and the maximum awake times chart were helpful. FWIW my son was a terrible sleeper.

@SweetiePie: Agree with every thing you said!

DS is 3 months and our 3rd baby, and while I feel like he is partly a magical unicorn sleeper it also has been a lot of work on my part while on leave to help him get to where we are (which is sleeping straight through from 6:45pm - 6:00am most nights!) I think the biggest things that have helped compared to my last 2 are -

- putting him down to sleep (swaddled with white noise) from day 1, and having him sleep flat on his back rather than on an incline
- watching his wake times and wake cues and putting him down when he was still awake so he could learn to fall asleep on his own
- keeping the monitor at the lowest volume so I don't wake to every little peep he makes, his room is right across the hall so if he is really awake and crying I easily hear him
- not associating feeding with sleeping - this I did not do on purpose it just somehow has happened, but he does NOT need a bottle as part of his bedtime routine at all, which I think is why he can sleep straight through since when he wakes up he is not expecting milk

My kids have really different temperaments and sleep habits. My first has always been a tough sleeper. Still is and she turns five this month. My second has just always been more easy going and still is, and that makes her a better sleeper. And the things that works with one don’t work with the other. So prepare yourself but remember they are two different people!

Lot of good stuff here! I’ll just add that for my 3mo, the advice to put baby down “drowsy but awake” was impossible until I tried the Merlin Magic Sleepsuit! It was a total game changer. It took some time for me and the baby to get used to it, but after day two or three using it, it has been a lifesaver.

After we got used to it, she went from 3 MOTN wake-ups to just one, and I can often put her in that thing awake, put her down in the flat crib and (with some calming techniques) she can fall asleep. It’s awesome.

@JennyPenny: What kind of monitor do you have? I want that snooze button!

I don't know if our monitor has the temporary mute...but I discovered the "sleep" setting with multiple sensitivities, and saw I can have the monitor off until baby either fusses quietly or full out cries, and that has SO improved things!

And for us, the super swaddle. DS is breaking the regular velcro swaddles and getting his hands out, but if we strap his hands down with a receiving blanket and THEN swaddle him, he sleeps like a dream. (Like the miracle blanket...without having to buy yet another swaddle)

http://images.agoramedia.com/ugcphotoservice/100/2017/3/14/73170597/74238f23-b8a4-4cb8-be21-d18c5f2d21c1.jpg