When you have a newborn getting enough sleep is almost impossible. This can go on for weeks, even months, but did you know that there are ways to help your child (and you as well) sleep longer through the night? Here are some of our tried, tested and proven baby sleep tips.
Swaddle From birth to about four to five months, babies possess a startle reflex, in which they feel as if they are falling. The sensation of falling causes jerking movements, and, you guessed it right, incidentally waking the baby. Keeping a tight swaddle prevents babies from startling themselves awake, helping the newborn baby sleep both better and longer.
Create a bedtime routine Babies are creatures of routines and predictability. Creating consistent routines for your baby will help bring order to a very chaotic world. A bedtime routine may include a bath, a massage, reading a story, feeding, swaddling, dimming the lights, a few cuddles, and saying your sleepy words. Following the same exact routine as consistently as possible cues the baby for sleep, and over time the baby will learn that sleep immediately follows the bedtime routines.
Lighting is key
One of the things we first practiced when we had our firstborn is to create certain moods as cues for daytime and nighttime. During the day, we make sure that the room is well-lit (full of sunshine if possible) and upbeat baby-friendly music is playing. At night, we dim the lights and play lullabies. This, along with the bedtime routine serves as the signal for bedtime. From sleeping for 2 hours, it extended to 4, 6 until she was sleeping full 10 hours at night in just a matter of 2 months.
Dreamfeed
Dreamfeed is to feed your baby right before you go to bed. A full stomach helps the sleep longer at night, preventing those late night crying asking for feeding. It helps the baby and helps the mommy, too!
Keep track of your baby’s daytime naps and adjust it accordingly
Newborn babies love naps and usually these daytime naps affect their sleep schedule and sleep quality at night. To help assure longer sleep at night, monitor your baby’s nap schedule. For our babies, we let them nap several times during the day but make sure that they’re awake at 5 or 6 pm. The longer they are awake before bedtime, ensures that they will sleep longer at night.
Change your baby’s diaper strategically
Changing the diaper before a middle of the night feeding prevents the baby from waking up too much after a feeding is finished. When the baby wakes up change the diaper and re-swaddle to prepare him for sleep immediately following a night feeding. If you change the diaper after the night feeding, the baby may become too awake, making it more challenging for him to fall asleep.
Don’t rush in.
We may inadvertently encourage the start of a bad sleep habit by rushing in when a baby cries or rustles during the night. Often times, babies wake up, babble and go back to sleep. The baby may even cry briefly or babble and still be asleep. Give the baby some time and see if he will resettle himself. Avoid rushing in and disturbing this process in order to help your newborn baby sleep better.
Lay the baby down awake, but drowsy.
The best way to encourage your baby to sleep well in the long run is to teach him to fall asleep independently.
Babies, like adults, will naturally wake up during the night. Without knowing how to get back to sleep, a baby will cry out after waking regardless of actual need, resulting in night waking droning on for much longer than is actually necessary. Once a baby gets older, falling asleep independently enables a baby to drift back to sleep after waking in the night, ultimately helping your baby sleep better in the long run.
Take your time Teaching your baby to sleep longer at night will take time so don’t beat yourself up. The key is to be consistent. Along the way you’ll also find certain ways that will work for your baby that aren’t even on this list. Take your time and enjoy the whole process.