How to establish a good and effective baby sleeping routine
First of all you shall remember that each baby is different but most of the time babies are found to be content when in a routine.
That is why establishing a sleeping routine from the start of your baby’s life is an effective way to have him calm & sleeping through the night quite fast.
Him sleeping will improve both your happiness & sanity as parents as well as your baby’s tranquility.
I am not an expert nor a professional but the following is what I have found helpful & effective as a mom when trying to teach my son to sleep at night.
General view
- Give yourself time to enjoy the first weeks of your baby’s life & learn about his own way to be. That is why I would recommend to start introducing a routine around one and a half/two months old
- Be patient & consistent; it can take a few weeks before you see results
- Baby should be sleeping in the dark and quiet at night & in the light (reasonably) and noise during the day
- Baby’s sleeping area should be peaceful & not messy
- Try to introduce a bottle (even if baby is breastfed; in this case you should pump your milk) for the last feeding of the day to insure baby eats enough and does not fall asleep on the breast
- A good sleeping baby at night is a good sleeping baby during the day so naps are also very important (although usually napping pattern comes later in the baby’s life)
- Baby should be in bed around 8/9pm
- Try not to rock your baby to sleep or use a musical night light because he will quickly get use to it & you may risk that he will not fall asleep unless you do so
- Don’t be afraid to use a pacifier if your baby takes it. Newborns (until 9/12months) are soothed by sucking
Baby routine example from one and a half month/two months to 6 months old
Around 7/8pm start your routine
Prepare your baby for bath time
Bathe your baby (as baby gets older you can make it last longer by having him playing in it - when baby is able to stay seated alone)
When bath is over, dry your baby, put his diaper on, put on lotion to gently massage him, put him in his night clothes
Prepare his bottle according to his age milk or feeding needs
Feed him in quiet environment / burp him if needed
When finished insure his diaper is clean for the night
Say “goodnight” to the family
When baby gets older (around 5 or 6 months) you can add a step to the ritual like reading him a short night time story
Put him awake (sometimes baby will fall asleep eating that alright) in his bed
Say “goodnight, sleep well, night-night, etc” to your baby
Say you love him & kiss/cuddle him goodnight, give him his pacifier if he uses one
Then exit his bedroom
Baby will probably cry to see you the first times when you leave his room
Of course check if he is ok & safe but be persistent
Let him cry a little before going back
Usually they find sleep after a little while
Adapt the schedule to your baby & try to be calm at all times
Also during growth spurts, teething, colic etc baby can wake up during the night to feed or be cuddled, it is totally normal. Do not discourage yourself.
But at any doubt ask your health care specialist/ pediatrician for advice
We did this schedule with our son when he was around two months old & after 3 or 4 weeks of doing it he started sleeping from 8 pm to 5 am
Let me know if you liked this post & if you would want to see more of them
Thank you for reading & for your support
And thx steemit
This is really well written, lovely advice and very good choice of pictures.
A guide like this would have come in handy during the first months with my firstborn, who's about to turn 5. We learned that establishing a routine very similar to what you posted was not only easier for him to relax, but also for us. After a while it becomes automatic, and even they know what the next step should be.
Key thing for all new parents to realise is that there is no magic answer or method to any child, where one thing may work amazingly for your sister and her kids, it might not work for you personally. Learn your child, and adjust to what works for them, and most importantly you...
Burning yourself out with stress ad lack of sleep is only going to be detrimental to all involved. Stressing yourself out will waste these precious moments we get in the early times, times you'll wish you could get back very very soon...
Are you fucking serious!? This is the WORST thing you can do to your baby! This increases the chances of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. If you decide to become parents, fucking live with getting up at night to care for your baby! Never ever let it sleep alone in a dark, quiet room. This is NOT natural. It can kill your baby! Every baby will sleep through the night whenever it is ready. Until then: Don't get a baby if you don't want to get up. Or care for the human being that was given to you! I can't believe I have to read this in 2016. What else do you do? Feed your baby on schedule!? Because you can programm your babys hunger? WTF!?
pittyvandefik plz go out of this post you know nothing, and you just came for spit up.
I congratulate Meouw for his interresting post and learn about sleeping benefits for infants.
I won't go anywhere, because this is child abuse. Take care of the needs of your child or don't get one. We have birth control pills - use them.
Do you know why babys stop crying somewhen? Because they learn that no one will help them when they're in need. This will seriously harm the bond between you and your baby. It will lose trust in you. If you can live with this, go ahead. Grow yourself a psychopath.
Great post!
I remember how unstable my little one was at the beginning(now 10 months). Getting her on a routine(we started at 7 months) was so easy. It was like she wanted one the whole time(first time parents). We also co-slept with her and she hardly slept through the night. The first night we put here in her crib she slept through the whole night. All babies are different but my baby really loves her own space.lol
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