Help Your Baby Sleep Through The Night: 7 Tricks
For many parents, getting their child to sleep all night is a challenge, and it can be especially difficult during the first few weeks at home.
It is important to create a good sleep routine from the beginning to avoid problems in the long run.
In addition, it is not only important that children develop good sleeping habits. You also need enough time to rest as a parent.
Therefore, we go through some simple but effective strategies to give your baby a relaxing and energizing night’s sleep. It also helps you and your partner to face the new day rested and charged with energy.
How to help your baby sleep through the night
Give your baby something to eat before bedtime
Before you put your baby to bed, see if he or she seems hungry, whether you are offering breast milk or milk replacer.
After feeding your baby, put him or her to bed. It is best if you can do this when your child is sleepy, but still awake. It makes it easier for the child to sleep for longer periods and he or she also gets used to falling asleep on his or her own.
2. Try to make it fun
It is perfectly normal for young children to protest against going to bed. Establish a fun and structured routine, because it helps them get used to going to bed at the same time every night.
Read a story to your child or spend a few minutes on one last play. Make a chart that illustrates all the steps you will follow in your child’s laying routine before he or she goes to bed each day.
Keep in mind that you need perseverance to establish good habits, but in the end it contributes to the well-being of the whole family.
3. Lay your baby down early
You may think that if you put the baby to bed early, he or she will wake up earlier in the morning, but this is not usually the case. Newborns and babies up to about 1 year of age wake up less often and sleep longer when they go to bed around 8 o’clock in the evening.
It is therefore worth encouraging an early bedtime from the beginning, because the child will then find it easier to fall asleep early when he or she has to start school.
4. Learn how children sleep at different ages
Newborns only stay awake for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. At around three or four months, most people begin to become more alert and stay awake for about an hour.
By knowing how children of different ages sleep, you get a clearer idea of when you need to change a diaper and feed your baby so that he or she stays calm. By establishing a routine, you learn when your child is ready to take a nice, long nap.
Other tips to help your child sleep through the night
5. Avoid overstimulating the baby
For a baby who is getting to know the world, everything around is new and stimulates his or her senses. Therefore, you should avoid doing anything that can distract the baby when it is time to sleep. It just keeps your child stimulated and awake.
Put your baby to sleep in a clean and quiet room without too much color or sound. It helps the baby’s nervous system to relax.
6. Give your child a blanket
Another trick to help your child sleep through the night is to make sure he or she is comfortable under a blanket and / or in his or her pajamas.
Newborns are accustomed to a comfortable and safe environment after living in the mother’s womb. They feel more comfortable and calm when they are bedridden or wrapped, as they were in the womb.
7. Help your baby relax before bedtime
Just like adults, children need a transition period between being active and going to bed. When the child is about to go to bed, it would be good to turn off the TV and any music. Make sure that the room also has dim lighting and a comfortable temperature.
If you want to help your child sleep through the night, you and your partner must also be relaxed. Children can feel tension and this makes it difficult for them to rest.
Enjoy the time while your child sleeps and take advantage of the valuable moments to think about something other than bills or work. Use your baby’s sleep time to unwind from your tasks and worries for a while.
