Pick Up Put Down Method: How to Help Your Newborn Sleep

How do you put a newborn to sleep?

Shouldn’t they just close their eyes and…..go to sleep!?

In this video, I’m teaching you the Pick Up Put Down method that you can use from day 1 to help your newborn fall asleep!

As a pediatric sleep consultant, so many of the families I work with are DESPERATE to help their newborns sleep!

Postpartum is hard enough as it is, and sleep is crucial for everyone’s health and recovery during the early days of caring for a newborn.

Your newborn CAN learn to sleep, and I’m here to help!

In this video, I’m demonstrating the Pick Up Put Down method, known as PUPD, in a video format with one of my team member’s newborn!

What is the Pick Up Put Down Method?

Before we actually demonstrate PUPD and show you the video, we have to cover a few questions.

First of all, what is the Pick Up Put Down method and what ages does this work for?

The Pick Up Put Down method is a newborn sleep training strategy to help your little one fall asleep with the help of the caregiver.

I LOOSELY say sleep training because the Pick Up Put Down method is used during the sleep training process, but I don’t typically recommend sleep training newborns.

When we talk about the four methods of sleep training in this blog post, we are talking about

extinction, controlled crying, stay in the room, and the no-cry solution.

We teach the Pick Up Put Down method with newborns because young infants cannot self-soothe and need ALL the help to fall asleep.

With this method, you will help soothe your little one, between the ages of zero and 15 weeks, to go to sleep.

At first, you will implement this at nap time or nighttime for your little one.

In the video, we demonstrate that with baby Wyatt.

After a diaper change and giving him a pacifier, Wyatt is very calm!

We want to make sure your newborn is calm and comfortable.

We gently lay Wyatt down in his crib or bassinet.

With the Pick Up Put Down Method, you are watching to see if your little one becomes fussy. If he stays calm, leave him in the crib.

But, if he begins to get restless or fussy, pick him up and help him calm down.

Using methods like swaddling, rocking, shushing, and patting (Check out Harvey Karp’s 5s for soothing a baby HERE) gives your baby a moment to calm down.

Once they are calm again, then you can gently lay them back down in their crib.

Hopefully, at this point, they are drowsy and ready for sleep.

Is there anything I should do to prepare their sleeping environment?

We carried out this filming in a bright room so that you could see what we were doing, but if at all possible, close the blinds to create a dark, quiet environment for your baby.

>>>>Looking to darken your baby’s nursery? Check out my favorite black out solutions HERE

I also highly recommend using a white noise machine to drown out any sounds outside of their nursery.

Should my newborn use a pacifier?

Every baby is different and every pacifier is different!

I encourage you to test out different pacifiers for your baby and be patient.

At first, Wyatt resists his pacifier, but then we offer it again and he’s ready to take it and latch.

I don’t want you to give up on the pacifier because it truly is a powerful tool for a newborn.

Every pacifier is unique and you should continue to offer one during the newborn days.

It’s important to keep in mind that the Pick Up Put Down method may take some time. It is not going to be instant success, but a process.

If you can only handle this in the morning when your baby is a little bit more sleepy, then just commit to trying PUPD once a day!

The Pick Up Put Down method is truly an ideal way to teach your newborn how to sleeping in their own sleeping space.

And, while using this sleep training method is great, it’s actually only ONE piece of the entire newborn experience!

Ready to make sleep a thing from the start?

If you are currently caring for a fresh newborn, congratulations on their arrival!

If you want to make sleep a thing for your family from the start, then I encourage you to check out our Newborn Course HERE!

This course is going to help you understand how you can make sleep a thing for your family from day ONE!

If you are reading this and your child is 6-10 weeks old, this program is STILL for you!

Our newborn course can be implemented with babies 0-15 weeks of age (0-3 months).

It’s not only affordable, but it’s “do-able,” and that matters so much during the early weeks of postpartum.

Sleep truly can be a thing from the start, and we are here to help you every step of the way!