Getting more uninterupted sleep

My 4month old is a self soother.  Which means he wakes through his sleeps but after a grizzle or two, he goes back to sleep on his own.  I know this sounds like a dream baby but when you have the mummy ear (and the monitor beside your bed)

The last few nights he has only woken me once when he needed feeding.  The secret????  I took the monitor out of my room!  I now put it in the lounge room about 2feet away from my bedroom door , closed the door to ajar and I turned it down abit.  I still hear him cry out when he needs a feed or has wind but I dont hear all of his noises throughout the night.  It's been brilliant. 

I was scared at first that I wouldn't hear him but I did!  Afterall, it has only been the last few yrs that we have had this technology, brought in, I feel, by the fear of SIDS but mothers have coped for centuries without them. 

You never know, your baby might learn to self soothe if your not running in there all through the night every time he/she makes a noise.

What did I do to get a self soother?  I believe it is because

• weather it is day or night I dont go into my baby unless he is crying.  I can put him to bed wide awake and sometimes, yes, I crack and I go in to replace his dummy but for the most part I let him lay there talking to himself or having a playful squeal and usually within 10 mins he is asleep or crying for his dummy which I go in and replace. 

• make sure you are putting them down for a sleep when they are tired.  I am lucky, my son goes red around the eyes and it's the only time when he is awake that he will take his dummy, so he is really easy to pick when he's tired.

• when you go in to resettle them if they are crying, dont talk to them.  I make "shhhhhh" noises and gently stroke his forehead but I wont speak one word.

• dont ever play with your baby in his cot.  Make sure he know's this is a place for sleeping, my baby knows it's sleep time when I am wrapping him on the change table. 

• get rid of the mobile!  It is a stimulator and will keep them awake!  This goes for anything else in the cot.   Take out the stuffed toys and remove the blankets hanging over the sides, not only will he want to play with them, but if he gets them he could harm himself.  If you make the cot safe you need not worry about SIDS.  Im sure there is SIDS safety advice on this website somewhere, read it.

• sometimes throughout the day, he wakes up after only an hour.  I have worked out that when he wakes up crying, he needs to go back to sleep (this is what works with my baby, might be different with yours) so I dont talk to him, I go over to him, rewrap if neccessary, and "shhhhhh" him and walk back out. When he wakes up singing and gooing, I know he has had enough sleep so I go in and talk to him before I get him up.  I just say things like "hello there"  and I ask if he had a good sleep and give him lots of big smiles.  He knows the difference now and resettling him is getting much easier.

I hope you all give this ago, I know when Im lacking sleep I would try anything to get more, so give my suggestions a go.