Baby Sleep Guide For Peaceful Sleep

In our Baby Sleep Guide you can learn about what to expect when you bring you baby home.

1. 5 Things You Might Not Know About New Born Sleep
2. Helpful Tips To Get Your Baby Sleep
3. How To Help Your Baby Sleep Through The Night

5 Things You Might Not Know About New Born Sleep

There are helpful  things that you need to know about your baby, especially when it comes to sleeping habits. In order to understand the psyche of your newborn, consider a simple instance.Whenever you go abroad and cross time zones you experience jet lag. Your body clock takes time to adjust to the time difference and the sudden change in environments.

Likewise, when a babies are born, they experience a similar change in ambiance and temperatures, which is why they need time to adjust and adapt to their surroundings.

It is helpful to bear in mind these factors to have a realistic idea of what newborn sleep is like

• Newborn Sleep is Unpredictable

If you think the weather is the most unpredictable thing ever, you couldn’t be more wrong! During the early stages of an infant’s life,she is thoroughly sleep deprived and tries to make up for the loss of  sleep by sleeping whenever they she needs to.  Usually, a newborn sleeps for only a few hours, at a stretch and then wakes up again, with a soiled nappy or hunger.

Research reveals that newborns sleep about 14-18 hours, on average, but this figure reduces, as your baby grows up.

You can’t  predict when and where your newborn will go to sleep. ever make the mistake of trying to keep your newborn awake in an attempt to fix his sleeping routine. A new born needs a lot of  sleep and this is not the time to work on his sleep habits.

Don’t have unrealistic expectation! Newborns need attention pretty much 27/7 in the first few weeks.

• Sleep All Day… Party All Night

Newborns have no idea about day and night!

It was dark inside the womb and you baby slept when she needed to.  You baby’s circadian clock won’t be set to our idea of ‘day and night’ for the first few months.

There is the possibility that you baby will sleep all day and stay up all night.

The best way to survive this period is to take a nap, whenever your baby sleeps.

This sleep pattern is only temporary and as the baby matures, physically and mentally, a sleeping routine can be developed over time.

•  Newborns Do Not Need Pin-Drop Silence

Newborns are used to a lot of commotion and noise! They have spent a nine months in their mother’s womb which is a vey noisy place. You don’t need to be particularly careful around them; they can even sleep with the lights on, or with plenty of background noise.

“Most young babies can sleep in the noisiest, brightest places,” says Charles Shubin, director of paediatrics at Mercy Family Care in Baltimore, “They don’t need the same kind of sleep environment we do.”

Research reveals that they tend to sleep better with ‘white noise’ like  a repeated sound of a machine or the fan. You don’t need to drive people out of the  room or create a night time environment for your baby to sleep.

What you should do is cherish the time while the “sleeping phase” lasts.

After that all that awaits you is endless hours of sleepless nights.

•  Newborns Have Their Personalities

Newborns have their own  ‘sleep personalities’. Some try their best to ward off drowsiness, while others happily embrace it.

 “There are definitely individual differences in how babies sleep, just as there are light sleepers and heavy sleepers among adults,” says paediatrician Cohen

If you have more than one child, you will probably be able to relate to this and can compare the extent to which sleep personalities differ between your children.

•  Newborns Need a Comfortable Sleeping Place

When you think of the ideal sleeping place for your child, what is the first thing that comes to mind?

A wooden crib with a soft and cosy cushioning, right?

Paediatricians have discovered that the most ideal setting for a newborn to sleep in is a flat and firm mattress, with a soft blanket to keep them warm.

Stuffing your baby’s crib with toys and stuffed animals will  restrict his sleeping space, not to mention the risk of suffocating your baby.

Always make sure you clear all soft toys and side cushions out of  baby’s sleeping space.

Helpful Tips To Get Your Baby To Sleep

Sleeping can be a troublesome matter for most new parents because they expect babies to sleep at night like adults and be awake during the day like adults.

In reality babies have erratic sleeping patterns and it is not surprising that some nights will be sleepless for both the baby and  parents.

The way in which your baby sleeps will vary and there is no single, comprehensive set of instructions on how to be a good parent.

Putting your child to sleep at the right time in a safe and secure environment and getting them to sleep will depend on your commitment and understanding of what your baby prefers and what works!

At the same time, to ensure that the baby sleeps properly and consistently it is  important to have a routine for sleep and naps.

Newborn babies sleep around 15-16 hours daily while 6 month old babies sleep for 14 hours and 12 months old babies sleep around 13 hours.

As the baby’s age increases the number of hours he sleeps during the day decreases i.e. newborn babies sleep around 8 hours during the day while babies who are a year old sleep only around 2 hours during daytime.

This only serves as a guide. Every baby is different. Here are some tips you can try.

Tips to Help Your Baby Sleep

• Wrapping up your baby in a blanket which make him feel secure is usually helpful in inducing drowsiness.  This technique is known as ‘swaddling’ in which the baby is placed on a light blanket and one corner is folded inside snugly across one arm while placing the other end of the blanket on top.
• Massaging your baby before bedtime can also be helpful. The soothing touch of your hands will make baby feel relaxed and peaceful making it easier for him to drift off to sleep. Use a simple oil such as coconut oil, jojoba oil, avocado oil, apricot oil, sweet almond oil, and even olive oil can be good choices too. No need to buy processed baby massage products full of chemicals and preservative.
• Rocking the baby to sleep is a very effective technique but it can be exhausting for parents to walk while rocking the child. The solution is to use a rocking chair or crib. Rock  baby while patting their bottom lightly along with a song or light humming which makes them aware of your presence.
• Nursing your child to sleep is a good technique which ensures that they are well-fed and don’t end up waking up in the middle of the sleep due to hunger. You can also use pacifiers for this and some babies are used to thumb sucking which can help them fall asleep faster.

More  Sleeping Strategies for Babies

There are several tested strategies which can be followed depending on the temperament of your baby and your personal level of comfort.

• One way is to prepare your baby for sleep with comfortable clothes; nurse him and place your baby in the crib or cot to allow him to fall asleep independently. You assist  baby in sleeping by patting him on the back for a while. This approach encourages baby to fall asleep on his own. You can train your older baby to sleep alone by distancing yourself gradually i.e. initially you can pat the child to sleep and sit in a chair near and gradually you can start moving further away to allow the baby to adjust until you are able to leave the nursery without baby waking up.
• Letting the baby decide how he prefers to sleep is a different techniques in which parents  dowhat makes  baby sleep. In this case sucking a thumb, rocking or nursing becomes the sole stimulus for sleep. These cues can become a problem if that is the only way your baby is able to fall asleep. If you have to rock your baby to sleep for example, it can become exhausting!
• Co-sleeping can be helpful because it allows the mother to be available for the baby at all times, Your baby will feel secure in the presence of a loving caretaker. You can use a separate crib nearby or let the baby sleep in your bed, but in the latter case you have to be careful about the position in which the baby sleeps and avoid placing any heavy blankets around the baby. Never co-sleep if you have been drinking or taking medication. It is also important to be a non smoker. Passive smoke is also bad for your baby so if anyone else smokes this is a risk factor in SIDS.

By following these methods and tips you can ensure that your baby sleeps properly and gradually gets used to a routine which will make it easy for him to transition into either sleeping alone or at least in a separate crib.

How To Help Your Baby Sleep Through The Night

Making your baby sleep soundly through the night is one of the most challenging things you will ever have to face as a parent.Ask any mother and father and they will tell you about their experiences of getting up in the middle of the night to the distressing sound of their baby crying or turning over restlessly in bed.

Your instincts as a parent will simply not allow you to sleep soundly while your baby is awake and uncomfortable.However, getting a good night’s sleep is as important for you as it is for the baby. How, then, do you make your baby sleep comfortably?

Here we will look at some useful tips which any parent can use to ensure that their baby gets a peaceful sleep at night.

• Try not to make eye contact – Research has shown that if, before tucking them in bed, you make eye contact with babies, their heart rate increases and their blood pressure rises. This can be attributed to the fact that they feel connected to you and immediately experience a sense of attachment. This diminishes their willingness to sleep, so try to avoid making eye contact right before bed.
• Keep the temperature a bit low – Adults tend to sleep better when the room temperature is a bit on the lower side. The same is the case with babies. Their room should be warm during the day but cooler at night, so that they can sleep well.
• Keep the lighting dim – Keeping the room lighting dim as bright lights before bed time can disturb the baby’s circadian rhythms, and this will obviously disturb their sleep. However, during the day, you should keep the lighting bright. This will help teach baby the difference between day and night.
• Make some sort of noise – Although this may sound counter intuitive, one way to make your baby sleep comfortably is by making some sort of constant rhythmic noise. Babies are used to this type of noise since their time in the womb, and they will sleep very comfortably when they hear a familiar sound. You could use a baby white-noise machine for this or a white noise video.
• Use the swing technique – If, even after you have used white-noise, you find that the baby still keeps waking up, then you could use the swing technique to get him to sleep. With time, as the baby begins to develop sound sleeping patterns, you can stop using the technique. You can rock your baby in your arms, a chair or use a swinging bassinet.
• Avoid caffeine – Just as the caffeine in coffee can recharge your batteries during a busy day, it can do the same for your baby if you are breastfeeding. The  caffeine in coffee and soda can reduce their sleepiness at night, and in fact, it has a greater effect on babies than it does on adults.
• Give baby plenty to eat – During the evening hours, you can try decreasing the time between your baby’s meals. For instance, instead of 3 hours, feed him every 2 hours. This will ensure that the baby is satisfied and full when he is in bed, and this will help him sleep peacefully.
• Do not change diapers too often – Unless your baby has very sensitive skin, an existing diaper rash, or if the diaper is not completely soaked, then you do not really need to change it after every feeding. At night, you can simply use absorbent diapers with a good diaper cream.
• Skip burping at night – At night, babies are eating much less slowly, thus, swallowing less air. So, burping is not really necessary and you should not wait until late at night for the baby to burp.
• Use a bassinet – Your baby is more likely to get a good night’s sleep if he has a cosy and comfortable bed. Move a bassinet into your bedroom, and your new born is likely to feel secure and protected, and will help you sleep better.

With these baby sleep tips, you can be sure that both you and your baby will sleep peacefully.

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