Newborns don't sleep through the night, and a "sleep regression" isn't a malfunction to fix — both are normal, even though most advice doesn't say so plainly. The sections below separate NHS-backed guidance from habit and marketing, starting with the one setup choice that actually affects safety.
Step 1. The Safe Sleep Setup Isn't Optional, and It's Shorter Than It Sounds
UK guidance (NHS and The Lullaby Trust) comes down to a handful of rules: baby on their back to sleep, on a firm, flat, waterproof mattress, in a cot or Moses basket with nothing loose in it — no pillows, no duvets, no cot bumpers, no soft toys — until at least 12 months. The room should be smoke-free, and the mattress needs to be in good condition (firm, no sagging, no visible damage).
None of this is about the brand or price of the cot — a £70 cot with a correctly fitted, firm mattress meets the guidance exactly as well as a £400 one. Where the money actually changes the outcome is the mattress itself: it has to fit the cot with no gaps a limb could slip into, and it has to still be firm, not softened by years of use or damp storage — a second-hand mattress from an older sibling isn't automatically fine to reuse.
Step 2. A Sleeping Bag Solves the Loose-Blanket Problem — If the Tog Is Right
Since loose blankets are exactly what the safe sleep guidance says to avoid, a baby sleeping bag (sometimes called a grobag or sleep sack) — like the Avery Row range — is the practical stand-in: it keeps a baby warm without anything loose to ride up over their face. The number that actually matters on the label is the tog rating, not the brand.
Tog is a warmth rating, not a size — 0.5 and 1.0 tog bags are for summer or a warm room (above roughly 24°C), 2.5 tog covers most of the year in a UK home kept around 16–20°C, and anything higher is for an unusually cold room, not a default choice. Check the room's actual temperature rather than the season on the calendar, since a well-insulated modern flat and a draughty older house can need different togs in the same month. Fit matters too: a bag should be snug enough at the neck and armholes that a baby can't slide down inside it, but not so long that fabric bunches up as extra insulation.
Step 3. Room-Sharing for Six Months Is a Guideline, Not a Preference
NHS and Lullaby Trust guidance both recommend a baby sleeps in the same room as a parent, in their own separate sleep space, for at least the first six months — this is one of the most consistently evidenced reductions in SIDS risk, not a soft suggestion. It doesn't mean bed-sharing; it means baby's own cot, crib, or Moses basket within the same room.
This is what a bedside crib — like the Puggle Dreamy — is actually solving — a crib that fixes to the side of an adult bed keeps a baby within arm's reach for night feeds without them sharing the mattress, which is the practical version of "same room, separate surface" for the first six months. After that window, most families move a baby to their own room when it suits their household, not on a fixed date — the six-month figure is a minimum, not a deadline to hit exactly.
Step 4. A Bedtime Routine Works by Repetition, Not by the Specific Activities
There's no evidence that a bath-then-story-then-bed routine is inherently better than any other consistent sequence — what the research on infant sleep associations actually shows is that predictability is what does the work. A baby who experiences the same calm, low-light sequence most nights starts associating those cues with sleep over a period of weeks, not the first few attempts.
Consistency matters more than content — swapping the order of bath and feed occasionally won't undo progress, but expecting a routine introduced this week to change sleep by next week usually leads to it being abandoned before it's had time to work. Dimming lights and lowering noise in the hour before bed is one of the few individual elements with reasonably consistent evidence behind it, since it supports melatonin production; the specific activities around it are more about giving a baby (and a parent) a predictable shape to the evening than any inherent property of a bath or a book.
Step 5. Night Wakings and "Regressions" Are Normal, Not a Problem to Solve
Newborns wake every two to four hours because their stomachs are small and they need to feed that often — this isn't a sleep problem, it's digestion. Waking gradually spaces out over the first year as feeding needs change, not on a fixed schedule, and formula-fed and breastfed babies don't reliably differ in how often they wake.
"Sleep regressions" around four months and again around eight to ten months are usually tied to real developmental changes — the four-month one in particular reflects a baby's sleep cycles maturing to look more like an adult's, which is a permanent shift, not a phase that resolves by itself. What's actually worth flagging to a health visitor is a baby who seems in pain when waking, isn't gaining weight, or wakes in obvious distress rather than just wanting comfort or a feed — ordinary frequent waking, even when it's exhausting, isn't on its own a sign something's wrong.
Step 6. Sleep Training Is Optional, and Timing Affects Which Approaches Make Sense
There's no point in a baby's life where sleep training is required — plenty of families never do anything formally described as sleep training and their children sleep through eventually anyway. If you do want a more structured approach, most guidance suggests waiting until at least four to six months, partly because that's after the four-month sleep-cycle shift settles, and partly because younger babies still need the night feeds a sleep-training method would otherwise interrupt.
"Sleep training" covers a wide range of approaches, from fully gradual methods (staying in the room, slowly reducing contact over weeks) to more structured ones with set check-in intervals — they're not one thing with one level of intensity, and a method that works for one baby's temperament can be the wrong fit for another. None of them require special products beyond what's already in Steps 1–3 (a safe sleep space, appropriate sleepwear, consistent routine) — the method itself is about what a parent does, not what they buy.
Quick Picks by Budget
Budget: Aden + Anais Halo Sleepsack Swaddle — £14.95, 1.5 tog cotton.
Mid-range: Avery Row Baby Sleeping Bag — £45, 2.5 tog cotton for most of the UK year.
Room-sharing setup: Puggle Dreamy Bedside Crib — £89.95, with a musical night light for night feeds.
FAQ
When can I stop sharing a room with my baby?
Six months is the minimum recommended by NHS and Lullaby Trust guidance for SIDS-risk reduction, not a deadline. Many families continue room-sharing well past that point, and some move a baby to their own room sooner within professional guidance that allows flexibility after six months, based on what suits the household rather than a fixed rule.
Is a comforter or soft toy safe in the cot?
Current guidance says no loose soft toys, pillows, or thick bedding in a cot for a baby under 12 months, because of suffocation and overheating risk. Comforters marketed for newborns are typically meant to be kept outside the cot (in the pram, or held during the day) until a baby is old enough that the same items are considered lower-risk in the sleep space — check the specific product's age guidance rather than assuming "for babies" means "safe in the cot from birth."
What temperature should a baby's room actually be?
Around 16–20°C is the standard NHS guidance, with a room thermometer being more reliable than judging by feel, since a room can read as comfortable to an adult while being too warm for a swaddled baby. This is also the number that should drive tog selection (Step 2) rather than the season alone.
Do I have to sleep train my baby?
No — it's one option among several, not a requirement, and plenty of babies settle into longer stretches of sleep on their own timeline without any formal method. If you do want a structured approach, most guidance points to waiting until at least four to six months, and choosing an approach that matches your own comfort level matters at least as much as which specific method you pick.