Establishing good baby sleeping patterns.
When a baby is born everyone has to make adjustments, including your new baby. Your baby is used to sleeping at anytime in your womb. Your movements during the day provided a comforting rocking motion. Once you bring your new baby home from the hospital, it is time to establish a routine that will help everyone to adjust.
As you observe your little one, you will start to recognize there signs that they are beginning to get tired, including yawning, stops playing, gets a dazed look and wants to nurse – even if they ate not that long ago. When you start seeing these signs, it is time to start the bedtime or nap routine.
There are a few things that are usually good to include in a bedtime routine. A bath followed by getting into pajamas will soon become a signal that it is time to settle down. Follow bath time with some time in a rocking chair if you have one or just gently rock them in your arms and hopefully the baby will start to drift off soon.
By singing lullabies or reading a favourite bedtime story, your baby falls asleep knowing that you are still close by. This helps them feel safe and secureand able to fall asleep much quicker. As they drift off, it is a good idea to place your baby in to there cot before they actually fall asleep, this way youare teaching your baby to associate there bed with sleep time, so if they should awake during the night there is a greater chance of your baby being able to fall back to sleep by themselves.
There are two schools of thought on where your baby should sleep. Some are firm believes in baby sleeping in their own crib. They use the “cry it out” method to help there baby learn to sleep on their own. Others use a “visit and leave” method, extending the amount of time the parent comes in to check on the child before returning to their own bed. When they come in, they don’t pick the child up, but rather comfort them while they remain in the crib. This
assures the child that mom and dad are near by and they are safe.
On the other hand, some parents prefer the idea of co-sleeping, letting the baby sleep in the parents’ bed (ensuring the bed is baby proofed). This allows the child to be near mom all night. If you co-sleep, the baby might not go to bed until you do, allowing the baby fall asleep as they nurse. Many families prefer this, as it also allows for less missed sleep during the night. Sometimes neither the mother nor baby wake completely for nightly feedings. Some feel that this leads to too much dependence on the mother, but studies have shown it actually helps children to grow up feeling much more confident and closer to their parents.
You have to decide which works best for you and your family and establish a bedtime routine to fit that choice. Once the baby gets used to a routine, and if you find that it works, continue with it each and every night. It may not be easy at first, but the consistency will pay off once everyone is getting a good night’s sleep.
Mail this post