If you start early enough (three months) and you first get your baby attached to a transitional object, he'll learn to fall asleep in the cribs fairly easily. This is critical: learning early how to fall asleep in the crib will enable the baby to go back to sleep by himself in the middle of the night later, when he no longer requires a nighttime feeding. If the baby is accustomed to falling asleep in your arms at bedtime, he'll need you in the middle of the night, too.

A "Going to Bed" Routine

Start establishing a very simple, consistent "going-to-bed" routine, such as bath, diapering, nursing or bottle, a kiss, a song and "into the crib." The importance of this routine is that it establishes a predictable set of events which will help your baby "unwind" and get ready to go to sleep.

When you wean your baby, gradually replace the feeding with cuddling, a brief bedtime story or song, or saying good night to the moon and the stuffed animals in the room.