Tips For Parents to Get A Baby to Sleep Through the Night
New parents everywhere are bound by a concern common to them all. How do you get baby to sleep and get her to stay asleep, so you can get some good shut-eye yourself?
Unfortunately you can’t anticipate when this is going to happen as you often can with other milestones in your baby’s life. You have a rough idea when you should expect her first smile, when solid foods should be introduced and when baby will be able to sit up unassisted. The one thing nobody can tell you with any accuracy is when you expect your child to give you that first good night’s sleep.
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.
When your baby wakes during the night, it’s time to reverse the routine. Minimal lighting, noise and other stimuli are necessary to teach baby that it’s quiet time during the night. When he wakes for a feed, try not talking very much or being too animated and playful. He will soon realize daytime is for being awake and play; night is for sleeping and quiet.
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.
Outside of routine, many babies have challenges when it comes to calming themselves to fall asleep and there are different thoughts how to best help baby accomplish this.
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.
If you think that it would be a little tough to let such a young baby cry itself out, there are other techniques that may be better for you. For example, many parents prefer to pay closer attention to clues that indicate baby is ready to fall asleep, meaning bedtime may vary from night to night. Other parents may begin by lying down with baby and touching and talking to baby to provide comfort. Over time, the parent starts to provide less comforting interaction and moves further away, weaning the baby from the need to have the parent nearby to fall asleep.
Any way you approach it, babies are precious to their parents and so is sleep. With a few tips and a little patience, baby will eventually settle into a pattern that allows all of you to get a good night’s rest.
Get more tips for baby sleep from Insomnia-Gone.com, your source for a better night’s sleep for every member of the family.
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