Do your little ones often wake up crying? Have you ever stressed on how to make your baby sleep longer? If your baby tosses and turns all night, reworking their sleep routine might solve your issue. There’s no such thing as a bad sleeper; it’s just bad habits.
Babies do not have regular sleep cycles until about six months of age. While newborns can sleep about 16 to 17 hours per day, they may only sleep 1 or 2 hours at a time. As babies get older, they will sleep less.
Start a baby sleep routine.
Turn the noise down and dim the lights, 30 minutes before the bedtime. The right lighting is essential because it helps to set a baby’s internal clock. You may also introduce other calming ways like a warm bath, lullabies or softly spoken stories. Be consistent with doing the same order activities every night, and your baby will learn what to expect.
Do not rely on soothing methods.
Try to put your baby down drowsy but awake. This will help your baby fall to sleep independently in their bed, which is the primary sleep training goal. Holding or rocking them until they are entirely asleep may make it hard for them to go back to sleep if they wake up during the night.
Do not turn on the lights, play with them or pick them up.
If they continue to cry, consider what else might be bothering them and check on them. They may be hungry, wet or soiled, feverish, or otherwise not feeling well. When the baby is five months old, most of them can fall asleep on their own. Keep your cuddle time, but gradually stop the patting and shushing and rocking to sleep.
Don’t feed your baby to sleep.
Newborns fall asleep all the time while eating, and if your baby often dozes off during feeding, they will think they need to eat to get back to sleep. To solve this issue, move the feeding earlier until your little one can get through it, then finish the routine with a calming book and song and tuck them in drowsy but awake.
Stick to an early bedtime & make day time as their playtime.
When considering how to put your baby to sleep, timing is just as important as a routine. At around eight weeks, babies have a rise in melatonin, a drowsy making hormone the body releases when it’s time for sleep, which means they are ready for an early bedtime consistent with the sun setting. If you keep them up late instead, they become overstimulated and harder to put down. Talking and playing with your baby during the day will help lengthen their awake times. This will help them sleep for more extended periods during the night.
Eliminate snacking.
Sleeping and nutrition go hand in hand. For the first eight weeks, your baby should be feeding on demand every 2 to 2.5 hours. Keep a 24-hour log of how many ounces a bottle-fed baby takes and at what time. For a breastfed baby, write down how many minutes on nursing each session.
If your baby is eating well during the day, they should sleep for a 4 to 6 hours stretch at night by around 2.5 – 3 months. To help your baby eat more efficiently, work toward spacing out their meals, try to distract them with some entertainment. Bright lights or noise can also be distracting to the baby. Try feeding your baby in a darker and quiet room.
Take naps seriously.
A well-rested baby will sleep better than an overtired one. It seems counterintuitive, but skipping a nap (or keeping a baby up late) in hopes that they will sleep longer at night simply doesn’t work. When infants get overtired, their stress hormones rise.
It’s ok to let your baby sleep with a teddy bear, special blanket, or some other favourite toy. These often help babies fall asleep—especially if they wake up during the night. Make sure the object is safe. Look for ribbons, buttons, or other parts that may be choking hazards. Stuffing or pellets inside stuffed toys can also be dangerous.
Baby sleep problems can affect the health of mums and dads. Being exhausted can make it hard to give your baby positive attention during the day. It’s a cycle that isn’t good for you or your baby, so it’s worth doing something about it.
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Source: 28DayMum
Routine is a must have! I’ve been trying to avoid it and keep my open-timetable as I like but it’s much better for the baby. I’ve been following this clever book on sleep training – https://www.parental-love.com/shop/baby-sleep-training and it all starts with the routine. The author really spoke to me in pretty short book and it worked big time for us.