How we made our baby sleep through the night at 4 months: infant sleep advice that worked for us

Our baby didn't sleep through the night as a newborn, and nobody's baby really does. For us it happened at around four months, and it wasn't a trick or a gadget. It came from switching to the 4-hour E.A.S.Y. routine from Tracy Hogg's The Baby Whisperer¹². That meant bigger feeds during the day, capped naps and a dream feed before we went to bed. And our baby learned to fall asleep without being fed to sleep. Here's the exact schedule we followed, and why it works.

What are the best baby sleep tips? Start with realistic expectations

The best baby sleep tips start with knowing what "sleeping through the night" actually means at this age. In Hogg's terms, a 4-month-old sleeping through means sleeping from a dream feed at around 10–11 pm until 6–7 am. It does not mean 12 hours without a feed.²

Age matters more than anything else here. Newborns need to eat around the clock, and frequent waking in the first weeks is normal. Around three to four months, two things change. Your baby's stomach can hold bigger feeds, and their body clock (their day/night rhythm) starts to mature. That's what makes a long night stretch physically possible. A good routine doesn't create that window; it helps you make the most of it.

Every baby is different. Growth spurts, illness and the well-known 4-month sleep regression can all bring night waking back for a while, even on a good routine.

Newborn sleep strategies: the 3-hour E.A.S.Y. routine (0–4 months)

E.A.S.Y. stands for Eat, Activity, Sleep, You (time for you). It's a repeating cycle, not a clock-based schedule¹:

• Eat: a full feed when your baby wakes.
• Activity: awake time after the feed. For a newborn this might just be a nappy change and a cuddle.
• Sleep: down for a nap, ideally drowsy but awake.
• You: whatever rest you can grab while your baby sleeps.

For newborns, Hogg uses a 3-hour routine, counted from the start of one feed to the start of the next¹. Our newborn sleep strategies were mostly about this rhythm: full feeds rather than snacks, activity between eating and sleeping, and making days bright and social and nights dark and quiet.

This is the groundwork. The longer nights come later, but the habits that make them possible start here.

The 4-month switch: our baby sleep schedule

Hogg's shorthand is "4/4": at 4 months, move to a 4-hour E.A.S.Y.² Your baby can now take more at each feed, so you get fewer, bigger feeds and longer awake periods. This is roughly the day we followed:

Our 4-hour E.A.S.Y. day at 4 months

Four E.A.S.Y. cycles about 4 hours apart, then a dream feed

• E · Eat
• A · Activity
• S · Sleep
• Y · You time

1. Morning 7:00

   1. 7:00EatWake up and feed
   2. 7:30ActivityPlay, nappy, cuddles
   3. 9:00SleepNap · 1.5–2 hours

2. Midday 11:00

   1. 11:00EatFeed
   2. 11:30ActivityAwake time
   3. 13:00SleepNap · 1.5–2 hours

3. Afternoon 15:00

   1. 15:00EatFeed
   2. 15:30ActivityAwake time
   3. 17:00CatnapAbout 40 minutes

4. Evening 19:00

   1. 19:00EatFeed, then bath and wind‑down
   2. 19:30–20:00BedtimeDown drowsy but awake
   3. 22:00–23:00Dream feedBaby stays sleepy

The times are a guide, not a rule. What matters is the shape of the day. Aim for four feeds about 4 hours apart, two good naps and a short late-afternoon catnap. Then add a dream feed before you go to bed.

Why this schedule gets babies sleeping through the night

The schedule doesn't make a baby sleep. It sets things up so that by four months your baby has no reason to wake at night, and knows how to get back to sleep if they stir. This is the infant sleep advice we found most useful, because it explains why each part of the routine matters.

Why the 4-hour E.A.S.Y. routine gets babies sleeping through

Five things the schedule does at around 4 months

1. 1Calories move into the day
2. 2The evening tank-up
3. 3Naps capped at 2 hours
4. 4Activity breaks the feed-to-sleep link
5. 5Predictability sets the body clock

1. Calories move into the day. Four big, full feeds mean your baby gets most of their daily milk while it's light. A lot of night waking at this age is simple hunger. If the day feeds cover their needs, there's less reason to wake.

2. The evening "tank-up" covers the longest gap. The bedtime feed, plus the dream feed at 10–11 pm, puts a lot of milk in just before the long stretch. You give the dream feed on your schedule, before your baby wakes hungry at 1–2 am. That moves the first waking to the morning.

3. Day naps are capped so night sleep stays intact. A baby only needs so much sleep in 24 hours. Hogg is firm that day naps shouldn't run past about 2 hours. She'd gently wake the baby to keep the routine.²

4. The E-A-S order breaks the feed-to-sleep link. This is the heart of the method. Because activity comes between eating and sleeping, your baby doesn't learn that sucking is how you fall asleep. Every baby surfaces briefly between sleep cycles during the night. A baby who always fell asleep feeding wakes up and needs a feed to get back down. A baby who went down drowsy but awake can link those cycles on their own.

5. Predictability sets the body clock. Keep the same wake-up time, feed and nap times and bedtime routine every day. This helps your baby learn that days are for eating and playing, and nights are for sleeping. The fixed 7 am start anchors the whole day.

Baby bedtime routine: our wind-down

Our baby bedtime routine was short enough to do every night, even when we were exhausted:

1. Feed at around 7 pm, in a calm room.
2. Bath, or just a warm wash on busy nights.
3. Nappy and pyjamas (and a sleep sack).
4. Dim lights and a song or a short book.
5. Into the bassinet or cot, drowsy but awake, on their back.

Hogg calls this "starting as you mean to go on"¹: whatever you do to get your baby to sleep at bedtime is what they'll expect at 3 am. So we kept the routine calm and the same every night. We avoided anything we wouldn't want to repeat at 3 am.

Tips to get baby to sleep in bassinet

The most useful tips to get baby to sleep in bassinet spaces are about timing, calm and safety:

• Watch for the first yawn. Hogg's rule is to start the wind-down at the first or second yawn. By the third yawn and eye-rubbing, your baby is overtired and harder to settle.¹
• Put them down drowsy but awake. That's the moment they practise falling asleep where they'll wake up.
• Settle in the bassinet where you can. For younger babies Hogg uses "shush-pat": a steady shush near the ear and a gentle, rhythmic pat on the back or chest. A calm hand on the chest is often enough.¹
• Don't pile on stimulation. Bouncing, singing, patting and passing the baby around all at once usually makes a fussy baby worse.

Keep the bassinet safe:

• Always put your baby on their back to sleep, on a firm, flat mattress.³ Keep the bassinet bare apart from a fitted sheet: no pillows, bumpers, toys or loose blankets.⁴
• Room-share (not bed-share) for at least the first six months.³
• Don't use weighted sleep sacks, swaddles or blankets.³⁴
• Stop swaddling once your baby shows signs of rolling.³
• Check your bassinet's weight and development limits. Many babies outgrow a bassinet around four months; when they do, move to a cot in your room.

Night wakings: hunger or habit?

Even on a good routine, your baby will sometimes wake. Hogg's first question is always: is it hunger or habit?²

• If your baby takes a full feed at night, they're genuinely hungry. The fix is more food during the day, not cutting out the night feed.
• If they take a few sucks and drift off, it's more likely habit. Settle them back to sleep without a feed.
• Expect the 4-month growth spurt. Sudden night waking at this age is often a growth spurt. Add to the day feeds rather than bringing back regular night feeds.
• For waking at the same time every night (often 4–5 am), try "wake to sleep." Gently half-rouse your baby about an hour before their usual waking time, then let them drift back off. It resets that sleep cycle.²

Never ignore real hunger, illness or distress to protect a schedule. If something seems off, check on your baby and talk to your health visitor or doctor.

Sleep training methods: what we used (and didn't)

There are plenty of sleep training methods, and most are aimed at babies from about four to six months. The main ones differ in how much you stay with your baby:

• Pick up/put down (PU/PD): pick your baby up to calm them, and put them down again as soon as they're calm. Repeat as often as needed. This is Hogg's method from about four months.²
• Gradual withdrawal: sit beside the cot at first, then move further away over several nights.
• Graduated check-ins: leave the room and return to reassure your baby at set intervals.

We used pick up/put down. Hogg is against both cry-it-out and rocking or feeding to sleep, which she calls "accidental parenting".¹ PU/PD sits in the middle. Our baby was never left alone to cry, but we also weren't building habits we'd have to undo later. It took patience for the first few nights. Whatever method you choose, pick one you can stick with calmly, and run it past your health visitor or doctor first.

Baby sleep schedule tips we'd pass on

These are the baby sleep schedule tips we'd give any parent starting out:

• Fix the morning wake-up. A consistent 7 am start does more for the day than any other single change.
• Cap day naps at about 2 hours. Wake your baby gently if needed.
• Keep a simple log of feeds and sleep. A few days of notes make it obvious whether night waking is hunger or habit.
• Keep the dream feed until solids are established, around 7 months, then drop it.²
• Change one thing at a time, and give it a few days before you judge it.

From accidental parenting to a routine that works

Sleeping through the night at four months isn't luck, and you can't force it. The 4-hour E.A.S.Y. routine works because it moves calories into the day and tanks your baby up before the long stretch. It also stops day sleep stealing from night sleep, and teaches your baby to fall asleep on their own.

Understanding the routine is the easy part. Sticking to it is harder: at 3 am, on four hours' sleep, trying to remember when the last feed started. And if your baby only falls asleep feeding or being rocked (what Hogg calls "accidental parenting"), it's hard to know where to even begin.

That's why we built Little Duckling, the app we wished we'd had when we were putting our own son on E.A.S.Y.:

• A schedule for your baby's age. Start with the 3-hour routine as a newborn and move to the 4-hour routine at around four months, with feed, nap and bedtime times planned for you.
• Your plan and your real day, side by side. Log feeds and sleeps with a tap and see at a glance how today compares with the plan, when the next nap is due and what time bedtime is.
• A step-by-step path out of accidental parenting. Move from feeding or rocking to sleep to a calm, predictable routine, one change at a time.

You don't need to get it perfect from day one. You just need a plan you can follow when you're tired.