Tips for Parents to Get Baby to Sleep through the Night
Most new parents have the same common woe. When will baby finally start sleeping more than two hours at a time, so you can get some well-needed sleep yourself?
With all the parenting books, internet sites and other parents you can turn to, sleep in unfortunately the least predictable milestone in your baby’s life. Other milestones are pretty standard, as in teething ages, the ability to start on solid foods and when you can anticipate her first smile. However, nobody seems able to give you a concrete idea of when you might be blessed with more than a couple of hours sleep at a time.
Developing healthy sleep habits is very important and should be started from baby’s birth. After the initial period of getting to know your baby and watching her signals, you will be able to recognize and know when she needs to be put to bed.
At about two weeks you can help your baby distinguish between night and day, and can begin to develop their sleeping schedule. Play or sing with your normal tone of voice during the daytime hours when baby is awake and alert. Don’t worry about noises during nap time; your infant will grow accustomed to the fact that during the day there are noises around him.
It’s time to change things around when your baby wakes up during the night. Dim the lights and reduce noise as much as possible to avoid stimulation. This will help teach baby that night time is a quiet time. When he wakes up to feed, try not to talk very much, and remember not to be playful. The realization will occur soon enough that day time is play time, and nights are for sleeping.
Bedtime routines also play an important part in getting a bit more sleep. Try leaving bath time until right before bed. Warm water is very soothing to your baby, as is the whole bathing process. If you happen to notice that your baby gets too excited during bath time, this defeats the purpose of it being a calming experience. It might be best to move this to a morning ritual instead. Try to establish a new bedtime routine through soothing music or family bed-time stories.
Even when you are trying to establish a routine, when it comes to calming themselves many babies have challenges falling asleep. There are many opinions on the easiest way to help baby overcome these challenges.
One technique that many parents have found helpful is the crying down method that can be used when when baby reaches about 6 weeks old. If you’re sure your baby is not hungry and any other potential issues are taken care of, you might let your baby cry a little until she calms down. At first start with 5-10 minutes, but expect that if your baby has become over-tired or over-excited this could take as long as 20 minutes. If you are having trouble ignoring the crying try and wait 5-10 minutes before returning to baby’s room. Repeat this procedure until the baby can fall asleep on her own without the crying.
Some people struggle with the idea of letting such a small baby crying itself to sleep. If you are one of them, there are other alternatives you may find easier to deal with. An example of this would be when a parent decides to pay closer attention to the actions of the little one and cluing in on the signs that it’s time for bed. This method however could mean varying bedtimes each night. Some other parents may opt to lie close to baby, cooing and gently touching them to provide them with some comfort. Little by little, the parent starts moving further away from the infant, thus providing less interaction. This process gently weans your little one from needing you that close to them in order to fall asleep.
No matter what way you choose to approach it, babies are precious to their parents, but sleep is needed to properly care for them. With some handy tips and a lot of patience a pattern will eventually allow everyone to get a good night’s sleep.
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