Sleep!
Sleep!
Sleep Tight
When your baby has been home from hospital for a few days you may find yourself wondering if you're ever going to get a decent night's sleep again. Sleep, or lack of it, is one of the major pre-occupations of most new parents. Getting your baby settled into a good night-time routine could be the answer to all of your prayers...
Obviously the way that you handle sleep deprevation is going to depend on the parenting concept that you plan on following. Some do not endorse the following tips, which is entirely up to you!
Babies and young children can thrive on routines. The world can be a pretty confusing place when you're small and a consistent plan to the day can help your little one to make sense of everything. Providing your baby with cues for when they will be bathed, fed or put to bed can make for a contented family all round!
What is a Routine?
A routine means nothing more than being consistent with when you feed and put your baby to bed. Some parents prefer a fairly strict routine throughout the day with all naps taken in the cot at the same time. Other parents prefer to be out and about during the day, but stick to a regular pattern of bath, feed and bed at the same time in the evening. What sort of routine you go for is up to you, but the key is to be consistent, particularly in the hour or so before they go to bed for the night.
Is my Baby too Young?
As soon as your baby is just two weeks old you can start to help it differentiate between day and night by treating daytime naps differently from night-time sleep. You shouldn't worry too much about your baby sleeping in a dark, quiet place during the day - in fact you may be quite surprised at what they will sleep through! At night-time, however, most parents find it helps if they put their baby to sleep in a dark, quiet room and keep all feeds as quiet, sleepy and brief as possible with playing and talking kept to a minimum.
Self-Settling
From around six weeks, you can begin working towards your baby settling itself without being fed or held. Try putting your baby in its cot when they're feeling settled and content, but not asleep. It is important to establish good sleep associations from an early age - if your baby gets into the habit of being comforted to sleep then they may expect this throughout the night every time they come into a light sleep. This is how parents can easily fall into a pattern of soothing their baby to sleep every two hours throughout the night.
What is a Routine?
A routine means nothing more than being consistent with when you feed and put your baby to bed. Some parents prefer a fairly strict routine throughout the day with all naps taken in the cot at the same time. Other parents prefer to be out and about during the day, but stick to a regular pattern of bath, feed and bed at the same time in the evening. What sort of routine you go for is up to you, but the key is to be consistent, particularly in the hour or so before they go to bed for the night.
Is my Baby too Young?
As soon as your baby is just two weeks old you can start to help it differentiate between day and night by treating daytime naps differently from night-time sleep. You shouldn't worry too much about your baby sleeping in a dark, quiet place during the day - in fact you may be quite surprised at what they will sleep through! At night-time, however, most parents find it helps if they put their baby to sleep in a dark, quiet room and keep all feeds as quiet, sleepy and brief as possible with playing and talking kept to a minimum.
Self-Settling
From around six weeks, you can begin working towards your baby settling itself without being fed or held. Try putting your baby in its cot when they're feeling settled and content, but not asleep. It is important to establish good sleep associations from an early age - if your baby gets into the habit of being comforted to sleep then they may expect this throughout the night every time they come into a light sleep. This is how parents can easily fall into a pattern of soothing their baby to sleep every two hours throughout the night.
The Dreamfeed
If your baby is older than six weeks and waking more than twice in the night then you might like to try the dreamfeed, which will help your baby get through the night with the minimum amount of waking. To try this, put your baby to bed as normal (which will probably be at around 7pm at this age) and then at around 10.30pm (or just before you go to bed), gently pick them up and place the bottle or breast on the lower lip and allow them to drink without waking. Your baby can then be sat upright for a couple of minutes to allow wind to escape. They will probably wake again at around 2.30am for a night-feed and should then sleep through to 7am – meaning that you’ve only had to get up once during the night. As your baby gets older, it will wake later and later for the night-time feed until it’s sleeping through to 7am. You can cut back on the dreamfeed when you introduce solid food at around six months.
Sleep Training
Sometimes a sleep routine can go wrong, and this is where sleep training might help. There are various techniques, and your health visitor is a good first point of contact to give you information about sleep clinics and support networks in your area. Sleep training usually involves you not picking your child up at all during the night, however much they’re screaming. This can take a lot of willpower on your part, and you shouldn’t be surprised if you shed the odd tear yourself. Sleep training can take as little as three days to work, or it may take up to a week but however long it takes, most parents feel it’s worth it in the end.
Disruptions
Illness and teething may temporarily disrupt your baby’s routine, and you may find yourself having to comfort them more at these times. Don’t attempt sleep training when your baby is unwell, but be sure that you don’t let yourself slip into bad habits when your baby is fighting fit again. When your baby is well, go back to your routine in a ‘business as usual’ kind of way - if you have a good routine established then you’ll be surprised at how quickly they’ll slip back into it.
If your baby is older than six weeks and waking more than twice in the night then you might like to try the dreamfeed, which will help your baby get through the night with the minimum amount of waking. To try this, put your baby to bed as normal (which will probably be at around 7pm at this age) and then at around 10.30pm (or just before you go to bed), gently pick them up and place the bottle or breast on the lower lip and allow them to drink without waking. Your baby can then be sat upright for a couple of minutes to allow wind to escape. They will probably wake again at around 2.30am for a night-feed and should then sleep through to 7am – meaning that you’ve only had to get up once during the night. As your baby gets older, it will wake later and later for the night-time feed until it’s sleeping through to 7am. You can cut back on the dreamfeed when you introduce solid food at around six months.
Sleep Training
Sometimes a sleep routine can go wrong, and this is where sleep training might help. There are various techniques, and your health visitor is a good first point of contact to give you information about sleep clinics and support networks in your area. Sleep training usually involves you not picking your child up at all during the night, however much they’re screaming. This can take a lot of willpower on your part, and you shouldn’t be surprised if you shed the odd tear yourself. Sleep training can take as little as three days to work, or it may take up to a week but however long it takes, most parents feel it’s worth it in the end.
Disruptions
Illness and teething may temporarily disrupt your baby’s routine, and you may find yourself having to comfort them more at these times. Don’t attempt sleep training when your baby is unwell, but be sure that you don’t let yourself slip into bad habits when your baby is fighting fit again. When your baby is well, go back to your routine in a ‘business as usual’ kind of way - if you have a good routine established then you’ll be surprised at how quickly they’ll slip back into it.
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
© Bits' n Bumps 2009
