Get Your Baby Sleeping!
Bringing a new baby into the world is a beautiful experience, but it can also be filled with a multitude of anxieties. One major source of that anxiety is in trying to figure out how to get your baby sleeping through the night. Hopefully this article will provide you with some important tips from the baby sleep book, Sleep Baby Sleep - Nicolette Larson, and will get you started on your way to having a better sleeping baby and a well-rested house.
The biggest secret to getting your baby to sleep through the night is to teach your baby how to fall asleep without you. Instead of rocking or nursing your little one to sleep, try to get your baby to fall asleep without your help. The key to achieving this is by putting your baby down to sleep while your baby is still awake. Each time you put your baby down for a nap, it's a brand new "opportunity" for you to teach your baby how to fall asleep independently. Sometimes your baby might be too fussy to try it, but given enough of these opportunities your baby will eventually be able to fall asleep without you. Once your baby can sleep independently, s/he will be sleeping through the night in no time and everyone in your house will rest better.
The earlier you begin this process, the quicker and easier your baby will be sleeping through the night. If you start when your baby is a few weeks old, the process is simple and gentle and your baby will barely have to shed a tear. No matter when you try to get your baby sleeping independently, it's hard work. But keep in mind that the longer you take to get started, the harder it will be. In fact, if you wait too long - you almost assuredly will be forced to resort to some level of a cry-it-out method to get your baby sleeping alone.
New borns will rarely sleep through the night, needing an average of 12 - 15 hour sleep in a 24 hour period it may feel like they sleep and wake at inappropriate times (i.e. when you want sleep!) Newborns will need night feeds and this will continue for several months to come so it would be inappropriate to try and get your young one to have the same sleeping pattern that you once did!
From the 3 months stage the majority of night feeds has stopped and a typically an understanding of a longer sleep at night time has been instilled. Night time is the time where most parents feel the strain. You yourselves are starting to tire and wanting to have some relax time after a demanding day. The prospect of the next 2 hours running in and out of the bedroom to your child is certainly not the best thing you can imagine!
In order to start training your child to accept bed time it is important to have a night time routine. A routine that is adhered to will allow your child to learn quickly that bed time means sleep time!
The routine needs to start an hour or so before you put your child down to sleep. This last hour should be a 'calm down' time - could you imagine trying to get to sleep immediately after having an exciting time without having time to calm down? This last hour would normally consist of a relaxing bath, reading to your child, cuddles, last feed, gentle singing and generally nothing overly exciting to your child. Doing this as a routine nightly will allow your child to realise what is coming next.
When it is time for your baby to sleep, do not rock your child to sleep - even though this may seem like bonding time it is teaching your child not to sleep without you. Make sure your baby's room is warm and safe, give your baby a cuddle and kiss and lay them down in their cot/crib. At first this may result in your baby crying. This may make you want to rush in to your child but hold back for 2 minutes. If in 2 minutes your baby is still crying go back to your child, pat them and reassure them without picking them up. Leave the room. If crying continues leave for 3 minutes and repeat. Each time leave your child for a minute longer up to a maximum of 8 - 10 minutes.
Although it may feel like the worst thing in the world, most parents report that following 30 minutes the first night their baby went to sleep and a week later it was down to minutes.
If your baby is not sleeping well, that means nobody else in your house is sleeping well. Months of chronic sleep deprivation will wear you down and begin transforming your personality. You might even find that you are sleeping apart from your partner, and everyone in the house will wind up tired and cranky. If you can simply get your baby sleeping independently as soon as possible, your entire family will soon begin to reap the benefits.
You should try to remember that it's important to consider your needs, as well as your new baby's. It's a challenge to maintain balance in this new life of yours, and difficult to keep everyone happy, including yourself! If you can get your baby sleeping independently, you'll then have the time to rejuvenate and to take care of you. Saving time for your partner is also important, and ever so easy to forget. When you have quiet opportunities for yourself and your partner, you will be able to maintain the harmony in your life and allow the love to flourish throughout your house.
