How can I get my 9 month old to self soothe?

When a baby is nine-months-old, learning to self soothe will be more difficult because your baby has established strong sleep associations already. However, this is a good time to make adjustments because your baby has not yet developed their strategic brain, and so any adjustments will take effect much more quickly.

First, find the right timing for your baby's sleep.

All babies have sleep associations. When you want to change a sleep association, make it easier on yourself and your baby by ensuring you have the right sleep schedule for your baby's age. Having a personal schedule will make it much easier to teach them to sleep. You can track their current wake windows and find your schedule, or use an app like the Lovebug app to find a personalized schedule for your nine-month old. In most cases, you will want two naps. But sometimes, you will want three naps.

Next, establish a routine.

A routine will help you signal to your baby that it's almost time for sleep. When you repeat the same routine for every time they fall asleep, they will be in their routine and realize that it's almost time for sleep. Their body will start to calm down and they will fall asleep easier, since they know it's coming.

The right routine for a nine-month-old is a multi-sensory routine so that they can have clarity that sleep is coming. Because babies are so observant at this age, using music, light changes and books will help your baby ease into sleep. Practicing the same routine will make the process of falling asleep easier. Download the Lovebug app to see our full recommendations.

Finally, practice makes perfect.

After finding the perfect timing and establishing a routine that your baby associates with falling asleep, the only step left is to practice. Go through your routine when it's the right time for sleep. When you move to lay your baby in their sleep space to fall asleep on their own, give them the space to practice.

Since your baby is over four months, this is when you would use a sleep training technique to encourage them to practice falling asleep on their own. At Lovebug, we teach three methods and you can find them all in our app.