How To Get Your Baby To Sleep At Night

The difficult part of parenthood is making your baby sleep at the night. Believeit is not difficult. It requires a perfect understanding of your baby. We are discussing a few ideas that can help your baby sleep better at the night.

Why My Baby Wakes Up During The Night?

Sleep is a very essential part of a baby’s development. Babies keep changing their sleep patterns during every stage of their development. Also, growth spurts, teething, and illnesses can affect your baby’s sleep. Your baby may wake up at the night for the following reasons.

As babies have a small tummy, they may wake up for a feed.
They may want your comfort and reassurance during the night.
When your baby is ill or having a growth spurt, she may not be able to sleep well.
Teething symptoms can cause sleep disturbances
If your baby’s room is too hot, he may find it difficult to sleep. Keep your baby’s room at about 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheitand dress him properly.
If your baby is learning a new skill like rolling over, crawling, and sitting up, he may have harm time sleeping at the night.

Ways to Make Your Baby Sleep

Babies do not have regular sleep cycles until six months of age. Always understand your baby’s needs and act accordingly. Remember each baby is unique and one rule will not fit all. Here are a few ways that help your baby sleep.

Be quiet
Differentiate day and night
Soothing
Stick to a schedule
Use a pacifier

Be Quiet

If you want to feed or change a diaper during the night time, try not to stimulate or wake your baby. Maintain a soft voice and keep your movements calm.

Differentiate Day And Night

A baby playing with mother, Credits: pixabay

As babies are unaware of day and night times, help them learn the differences. During day time, open the curtains, play games, and make lots of noise. Duringthe night, dim the lights and keep things quiet. This will help her to set her body clock and differentiate day and night.

Soothing

A baby sleeping, Credits: pixabay

One way to help make your baby sleep is via soothing techniques. Making children sleepy requires their levels of cortisol to be low. So to decrease cortisol, try soothing techniques.

The best and easy way of calming techniques is rocking your baby and singing a lullaby. The other ways to soothe a baby include swaddling, massage, and playing soft music. Swaddling gives a sense of comfort as if they are in the womb.

Stick to A Schedule

Though making your babies sticking to a particular sleep schedule is difficult in the initial few months, you can try to keep the day time naps short and make them sleep longer during the nights. Remember that the bedtime schedule you try to establish should be simple and sustainable. Gradually babies may respond to consistency and structure. If there are fewer disruptions to their schedule, the more likely they will sleep better.

Use aPacifier

A baby sleeping with a pacifier, Credits: pixabay

If your baby finds difficulty in sleeping, you can try using a pacifier. The use of a pacifier also has been shown to reduce the risks of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Things Not To Do

A baby’s crib, Credits: pixabay

Here a few things you must not do when trying to make your baby sleep.

Some children fall asleep when they are in a car ride. This is not a healthy practice. Babies should be made to sleep in a flat surface.
Do not place stuffed animals on the crib. Make the place as pleasant as possible.
Making babies eat cereal before bedtime is also not the right practice. This causes restlessness and gas pain in babies. Breast milk and formula are the ideal choices.

Take-Home Message

Though babies may not sleep through the night during the initial months, gradually they will have a healthy nighttime sleep.