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?

This is unfortunately one of those things you can’t anticipate as you can with other milestones in your baby’s life. You have read or heard from others when to expect her first smile, how to introduce her to solid foods and at what age she should roll over or sit up on her own. Ask when you can expect baby to give you that first night of more than two hours sleep at a time, and everybody’s answers will likely be all over the map.

It is very important to start from day one in developing healthy sleep habits. Once everyone is getting to know the different signals, it will be that much easier to recognize those tell-tale signs that she needs to be put in 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.

If your baby wakes at night, it’s necessary to reverse the routine. Dimming the lights, reducing noise and other sources of stimulation are all necessary steps in teaching baby that night time hour are quiet. Try to keep a hushed voice, as well as not providing playfulness or animation, and he will soon make the connection that daytime hours are for being awake just as he will connect night with quiet time and sleeping.

Bedtime routines play a very important part in your quest to getting a bit more sleep. One thing that often helps is leaving bath time until right before bed. The warm water can be very soothing to your little one, as can the entire bathing process. Sometimes however, you may notice your baby getting too excited during bath time, which defeats the purpose of a calming experience. If this is the case with your little one, it might be a better idea to chance this to a morning ritual instead. Establishing new bedtime rituals such as soft music or story time may also help with this transition.

Outside of a bed time routine, there are still many babies who have challenges in regards to calming down to fall asleep. There are many thoughts and techniques on how to help your baby accomplish this.

One technique you can try once baby reaches about 6 weeks old is the crying down method. After making sure that she is not hungry, or any other possible issue that needs your attention, try letting her cry for a bit until she calms on her own. The initial amount of time for this is normally 5-10 minutes, but in the event that she is over-tired or over-excited it could take longer. Be prepared to wait up to 20 minutes for her to finally drift off into dreamland. If the crying persists and you have trouble ignoring it, try and wait 5-10 minutes before returning to her room. Keep the same procedure in motion until your baby quietly and calmly falls asleep on her own.

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 look at it, babies are precious to their parents, but they still need to sleep. Listening to a few tips from others and a bit of patience, a sleep pattern that is beneficial to everyone will soon show the way to that good night’s rest.

Tags: Mental Health

Share This