Sleeplessness is one of the tough sides of parenthood, no matter how excited we are to be with our baby, we must have a good sleeping routine to bring a healthier environment for the whole family.
It is almost impossible to keep a newborn asleep through the night because of their need for food.
When you start waking up every hour or so, this starts affecting your normal functionality and disturbs your ability to go through the day time activities/work. This includes looking after your baby.
It is hard to change things
If after 4 months, your baby still wakes up every hour or so, it’s time to make an effort and try changing her sleeping routine.
How?
Start by showing your baby the difference between night and day. Light, noises, movements in the house, they all help with making the difference. You can start a little before bed routine of quiet cuddling, singing lullabies, telling stories.
Learn to respect your baby’s signs of tiredness and don’t delay the bed time.
If your baby shows sings of tiredness, like tired eyes, lack of interest in toys and playing, lack of interest in food, rubbing eyes, ducking into your chest or asking for a cuddle in any other way, use this moment.
You can try to change your baby’s nap routine. If she has 6 naps a day of 15 minutes each, it’s obviously that she will make an effort to stay asleep for longer at night time.
You can try to change her eating routine. If you feed her all through the day with short snacks, it’s likely that she will wake up more frequent at night, expecting to be fed. Try main meals a day is usually enough for a baby.
If your baby starts falling asleep sucking on a dummy or cuddling a comforter, don’t worry about it and let her go on with it. In time, she will start creating her own comforting environment that works for her and that is the best thing that could happen for both of you.
As babies grow, you will find that they can go back to sleep on their own, without a feed. You will certainly know when your baby is hungry or she just wakes up out of habit. Try and comfort your baby back to sleep without a feed when you sense it’s out of habit. In a few nights, hopefully it will start working and both of you will get longer hours.
In the case of over 12 months olds still being breastfed, still waking up through the night could be a sign of time to switch to the bottle. Don’t be afraid to switch to the bottle. If it improves your baby’s sleeping hours, it is worth trying.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lorena_Goldsmith |
No comments:
Post a Comment