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No question is more vexing to most new parents than how to get their infant to sleep more, to sleep better, to sleep longer.
There almost as many systems, methods, and practices to getting babies to sleep as there are babies.
Whether you choose to follow a method outlined by an expert or create your own routines, the key to nighttime parental sanity is to keep in mind that every baby and every family is unique. The way you parent your baby around sleep has to work for you, your baby, and the entire family. What works wonders in one situation may be disastrous in another.
How Babies Sleep
Whatever sleep parenting you end up adopting, keep the follow points in mind to maintain your sanity through any sleep deprivation.
“Sleeping through the night” for infants means a 6 hour stretch.
Babies have shorter and lighter sleep cycles than adults. This is natural and normal and there is little you can do to change it. They gradually, and at very different paces, move towards more of an adult sleep pattern during their first year or two. Every child is different. Some children sleep through the night at a few weeks old, while others don’t do so until they’re over a year old. In general, from birth to six months, babies wake two or three times a night; from six to 12 months they wake once or twice a night; and even until two years old many children wake once, at least once in awhile.
You cannot force a baby to sleep. Over time, you can teach a baby to sleep and you can help a baby get to sleep. In fact, that is what parenting around sleep is all about: teaching and helping your child develop healthy sleep habits.
Four Ways to Help Your Child Develop Healthy Sleep Habits
Establish consistent sleep times. Even babies a few months old respond well to set nap and bed times.
Create regular bedtime routines. A bath, donning pajamas, massage, a bedtime story, rocking, a song. Whatever combination is pleasurable for you and your baby can become a daily signal that it is time to go to sleep.
Avoid active play before sleeping times. Even before naptime, allow some winding down time before putting baby to bed. Play that gets your baby excited and active is fabulous, but not just before bed. Such excitement—just as for adults—makes it more difficult to go to sleep.
Consider creating some white noise. The womb is a loud place. Babies are used to sleeping through the regular sound of a heart beating and blood rushing. White noise CDs and machines can work wonders, but many parents find running a vacuum cleaner or fan works just as well in helping a baby calm down and fall asleep--and even stay asleep.
When Your Baby Wakes
When your baby wakes up at night, attend to them but do so in a quiet, subdued, minimally interactive way to avoid waking them up completely and easing their transition back to sleep again. Keep the lights out (or at least low) if you can.
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Posted by Sleeping during pregnancy on 05/21/2009 at 01:56 AM
Hi, good post. I think it’s also important for the mom to get a good nights sleep. That’s very important during pregnancy. I will try to remember your tips, consistent routines sounds like a good way to go.