My son was always a baby with little sleep and therefore both me and my partner became the typical "parent-zombies" for a few months. Now that he is older he sleeps better, but he will always be an early riser, with a few hours of sleep is more than enough, but I remember when he was a baby and the nightmare it was to teach him to sleep. At first it seemed all very complicated and when night came it was like a challenge, but later I discovered that it is easier than we think.
Babies get what they need, we parents are the ones who go into a state of anxiety when we see that we have a few hours of sleep and that soon we will have to get up early to go to work. But a baby should not adapt to your schedules to rest, you like it more or less, it is you who must adapt to their schedules and their needs. What's more, your baby needs security and tranquility every day to be able to enjoy sleep.
During the first days of a newborn's life you will focus on what is best for the baby and the sleepless nights it seems that it is something that must happen. But when your baby is several weeks old and everything remains the same, when in the third month you continue to sleep badly ... then you will no longer know what it is about not being tired. But you should know that there are babies (mine was not one of them) that they begin to sleep through the night when they reach 4 months, but you have to teach them to do it with all the love and affection.
We must avoid what many parents do unintentionally, and that is that they can include bad sleep habits that will cause the little ones to have bad sleep habits that can continue for many years. If your baby is 6 months old and looks like a night owl, then you need to know that it is never too early (or late) to teach sleep skills.. Do you want to know what worked for me with my little owl? Do not lose detail because the last thing you will do is that your baby cries too much or has a bad time, and you will all have better hours of sleep. You will only need patience and a week (or maybe less).
The importance of routines
If you want your child to know that he should sleep at night, you must make him understand when is the best time to sleep and that will only be achieved by doing a few routines every day. Many babies have mixed days and nights because they take daytime and nighttime naps of the same length and wake up solely to meet their basic needs. But babies can be taught the differences between day and night right out of the box.
Place the crib near a window to wake him up with the rays of the sun that will come in thanks to having the blind raised (but never let the sun shine directly on it). Natural light will help babies organize their circadian rhythms. Naps during the day will have to be with the windows up and with the usual noise in the house. If you wake up from a nap in the daylight you will know that it is time to wake up, if you wake up at night in the dark you will learn that you must go back to sleep.
At night you will need to include quiet rituals before putting him in his crib, it will have to be very specific routines. Give him dinner, put his pajamas on, and after singing a song or telling a story, put him in his crib with the lights off.
Differentiate night and day
In the previous point I comment on some ways that your baby differentiates the night from the day but there are more. In the night shots it is necessary that you feed him without stimuli, with the low lights so that it is relaxing. During the day's meals you can make it more active, tickling his feet, singing songs, etc. This way the baby will begin to notice the difference between the feeds during the day and the feeds at night.
Put him in the crib while he's still awake
It is very important that when you go to put your child to bed in his crib you never do it when he is completely asleep, because then every time he wakes up at night he will want you to do the same and he will want you to sleep completely. If you sleep him you will not be able to learn to sleep alone, but this does not mean that you cannot give him hugs, hugs, love and always sing songs to him.
After the routines of each night, you can hug him, sing to him, tell him a story, be by his side for a while ... but it is very important that you put him in his crib while he is still awake. It is possible that the first times he will cry but you will only have to be by his side and tell him that mom will be by his side all the time, but let him sleep alone. You must bear in mind that you must meet all his needs so that his sense of security does not diminish, you do not sleep him, you are simply by his side when he cries, you calm him down and leave, but do not turn on the light, nor do you take him out of the crib.
Babies learn to hold on
If you ever give in and let him fall asleep on your lap, or take him from the crib when he cries to put him to sleep and calm him down, you should know that babies will remember that their cries produce results and will cry more and more intensely to achieve their purpose is that you put him to sleep. It is important that when your baby protests you extend the response time a little in a couple of minutes until he is able to fall asleep on his own.
cute sleeping baby
You will see how with a lot of affection and love, your baby will want his routines before going to bed but when it is time to leave him in the crib, he will know that now is the time to sleep until the next feeding ... and he will sleep on his own.