Most new parents aren’t strangers to babies tossing and turning at night, but did you know it doesn’t have to be this way? You can try reworking your little one’s sleep routine, trick baby to sleep, or apply some of these tips we’ll discuss today to solve the issue.
Ready to snooze through the night with your little one? Let’s begin!
Tip #1: Establish a routine.
One thing that tells a baby it’s time for bed is the environment. A few minutes before bedtime, start dimming the lights and turning down the noise. Children will take cues from these changes, particularly the lighting. The brain associates dim lighting with sleep and bright lighting with waking.
Tip #2: Schedule an early bedtime.
As important as the routine is the timing in which babies are put to sleep. Due to the rise in melatonin in an eight-week-old baby’s system, putting them to bed early as the sun is setting shouldn’t be a problem.
What could lead to problems, however, is keeping them up late. Scheduling bedtime at a later time may result in your little one becoming overstimulated and more difficult to put down. Melatonin production increases around sunset, but it would be wiser to put them to bed earlier since this can vary depending on the season.
Around 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. is a good time. Close the shades if the sun is still up, but stick to that time as much as possible.
Tip #3: Naps should be taken seriously.
A well-rested baby will sleep through the night better than an overtired one. It may seem counterintuitive, but keeping a baby up late or skipping naps to tire them out in the hope that they’ll sleep longer does not work.
They may fall asleep, but it won’t be long before they’re up again. That’s because the lack of day rest can cause stress hormones to act up at night and wake your babies if they aren’t in that deep-sleep stage yet.
Guidelines for Napping
It’s always tempting to let our precious little angels nap during the car ride home but always aim for at least one full nap in the crib. In that way, your children get the quality rest they need.
The first and second naps set the tone for how your babies behave the rest of the day, so make sure they take place in the crib as much as possible.
Your baby will start having more extended wake periods at around four months old. This lets you construct a proper nap schedule: one longer one in the morning and early in the afternoon and a short one late in the afternoon.
Naptime provides the perfect opportunity for you to practice getting your baby drowsy and putting them to sleep. It isn’t the middle of the night, so you should have no problem thinking clearly, taking cues, and following through.
Once you have the setting and timing right, you can introduce other calming rituals to perfect the routine. Reading your baby’s bedtime story, giving them a warm bath, or singing them a lullaby should prove an effective addition to the routine. However, once you add any of these rituals, be consistent with their order and timing, as babies can be very particular about those.
3 Things You Shouldn’t Do If You Want Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night
We’ve tackled the do’s of how to help children snooze through the night; let’s now discuss the don’ts. Here are three things you should never try if you want a good night’s sleep for your little one:
Don’t Do #1: Keep your child awake the entire day.
This is a common mistake by many parents. They think that by keeping their children awake during the day or minimizing naps, they can get their babies tired enough to sleep through the night.
More often than not, this isn’t going to happen. Instead, what’s likely to happen is that their kids wake up time and again in the middle of the night thanks to charged-up stress hormones from not having had enough rest during the day.
Don’t Do #2: Cereal before bed.
Another thing you should avoid is adding cereal to your child’s bedtime bottle to keep them full longer, hoping that this would keep them from waking before morning.
The cereal will actually have the opposite effect on your babies, causing them to wake more frequently from restlessness due to gas pain. Your baby’s bottle should have only one of either two things: formula or breast milk.
Don’t Do #3: Hold your child as you fall asleep.
Holding your baby as you fall asleep is both unsafe and irresponsible. If you feel like you’re about to fall asleep from exhaustion, hand the baby to someone else or place him in the crib. That way, your child would be out of harm’s way at least.
That’s three do’s and three don’ts on how to get your little one to snooze through the night. If you haven’t already, implement them today. You and your baby will thank you for it!
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