Wragge: Ways To Get Your Baby To Sleep, So You Can Sleep Too

By Chris Wragge

Children, the light of our lives -- and in some cases, the bloodshot in our eyes. Getting a newborn to sleep through the night is the holy grail of raising children.

According to a British study, new parents average five hours of sleep a night -- three hours below the recommended eight-hour cycle. On average, parents lose around 20 hours of sleep a week, or 1,055 hours a year -- that's around 44 days!

My wife Sarah and I relied on two highly- recommended guides to a good night's sleep -- "Twelve Hours' Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old," and "The Dream Sleeper."

"A lot of new parents, and especially New Yorkers, tend to stress out about sleep a bit too early," Kira Ryan, co-author of "The Dream Sleeper," said. "And so I always tell new parents and expecting parents you really can't make any sleep mistakes the first three to four months."

Armed with the knowledge that routine seemed to be key, we had little Christian on a regimen from day one. He gets to freelance during the day -- meaning, if he's hungry, Sarah nurses him, if he's tired he gets to nap. But from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., he is up, alert and entertained.

Christian loves his time in the bath for a for number of reasons -- he knows dinner, his pajamas, a good swaddle and his bed are right around the corner.

Then it's a new diaper, a massage from mom, dinner -- and then he gets rocked to sleep. We dim the lights, put him down by 8 p.m., and then...he is out!

We have been fortunate with Christian -- he's 11 weeks old and averages 11-12 hours of sleep a night. With all the horror stories out there, it makes a parent wonder, just what this baby is capable of.