As most parents know, good quality baby sleep is an essential basis for a child's future health and development. The pleasure in seeing a baby sleep is hardly measurable but having to see (and hear) your baby when they just won't or can't go to sleep can be unbearable for a parent.

To help in solving a sleep problem and to teach your baby to sleep through the night, getting into a regular, fuss-free, routine is so important.

If you haven't already, you should seriously consider establishing some sort of bedtime routine for your baby. Routines help to establish baby's sleep pattern and once it is established your baby will be happier, more content, and more likely to sleep through the night.

Here are several things you can do to establish a bedtime baby sleep routine:

Most of us have some kind of winding down routine before we go to sleep and this should not be any different for baby. Perhaps the routine could begin with a bath, followed by a slow dimming of the lights (so they realize it is getting near to sleep time), then a change of diaper, putting them in the crib and finishing with a bedtime story or lullaby.

You don't need to follow the above schedule exactly, you may wish to have a different routine entirely, or do it in a different order, but the important thing is that you create a baby sleep routine that you can follow night after night after night until it becomes a habit for you and your child.

Whenever you begin this routine, your baby will know that sleep is expected to follow. Babies and infants crave any sort of consistency, they enjoy the predictability of a sleep ritual so a regular bedtime routine like this can help settle your baby more quickly and also increase the chances getting baby to sleep through the night!

Providing a routine and the same sleep environment each time is critical to provide the ideal setting for restful baby sleep.

You should begin a bedtime routine in the early weeks of your baby's life if at all possible, but if your baby is already older than this, just get a routine established as soon as you can.

In conjunction with this nighttime baby sleep routine, you should also create a daily naptime routine too when it is feasible to do so. This will add even more consistency throughout the baby's day that they will thrive on.