Learning to fall asleep independently
At this point in your baby’s development you can focus on teaching your baby the skill of falling asleep independently. Some babies learn this very easily, while others need lots of support from their caregivers and extra practice during this process.
Put baby down for bed drowsy but awake
Some babies learn to go to sleep independently very easily, while others need lots of support from their caregivers and extra practice during this process. However, this doesn’t mean you should start sleep training or sleep learning methods at this age, since your baby is much too young for such practices. Instead, you can work on teaching your baby to fall asleep independently: practice a consistent sleep time routine that ends with putting your baby in their crib or bassinet drowsy but awake. This practice, with your support, teaches your baby that you are there to soothe when necessary, but that the goal is for them to learn it’s ok to be alone in their crib for sleep.
It’s OK to pick Baby up!
If your baby is crying, by all means pick them up and provide comfort and soothing. Once Baby is calm, put them back down in their crib. Continue to go through the above steps for soothing. If your baby still cannot seem to calm and settle with another round of your soothing support, consider offering another feeding, as it may have been 1 hour since their last feeding. The more you consistently stick with this type of bedtime routine the closer your baby will get to learning and mastering the skill of falling asleep independently.