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There
is some evidence to suggest that bringing in a mattress from another
home might increase the risk of sudden infant death very slightly. When
using your own mattress for a second (or more) time, ensure it is still
firm and flat with no tears or holes, and is not sagging in places.
Thoroughly clean the waterproof layer and ensure the mattress is clean
and dry before making it up with fresh bed clothes. Children can vary
widely in their habits and tendencies, so if your child naturally wakes
after 7:00, feel free to honor their later sleep patterns. But just
remember you’re not likely to get a later wake up time just by putting
them to bed later the night before. There has been ample long-term
research studying sleep training, and there is no evidence that sleep
training is physically or psychologically damaging to babies and
children. Most new moms notice that their memory turns to mush right
after giving birth (or even a few months before). Many women joke that
part of their brain must have come out with the placenta, and nursing
moms often complain of “milk brain.” (Scientists have speculated that
this memory holiday is Nature’s blessed way of helping women forget the
rigors of childbirth.) If despite your best sleep schedule your little
one continues to wake with hunger during the night, try boosting her
daytime calories and adding a dream feed to prevent night waking before
it happens. Colds and ear infections can keep anyone awake at night —
and your baby is no exception. Rest assured, once he starts feeling
better, your baby should start sleeping better too.
Young
babies tend to only sleep for 2-3 hours at one time. Although newborns
sleep a lot (up to around 16 hours out of every 24) their timing doesn’t
really match ours, so it’s normal (and expected) for a baby to wake up
frequently through the night in the first few months. Newborn babies
will wake up to be fed. Your baby will sleep for 1 to 3 hours until
their next feed. Their sleep time gets longer as they get older. Their
tummy influences their body clock. A night-time dummy can help soothe
your baby if they enjoy the comfort of sucking without actually being
hungry. Be warned though, dummies regularly fall out of babies’ mouths,
so you may be woken up just as much as before by playing ‘hunt the
dummy’ in the dark. Few activities can be as soothing as taking a
bath—and that’s especially true for little ones. After coming out of a
warm bath, a baby's body temperature starts to cool, which can help your
infant fall asleep more easily. Whether its something specific like
sleep training
or really anything baby sleep related, a baby sleep consultant can
guide you to find a sleep solution as individual as your baby is.
Keeping Safe At Night
Whilst
there are also many reasons that could wake your baby at night, the
important thing is to consider all of the factors that could be
contributing. Remember, you can’t control them all, and they may be
going through a stage of unsettled sleep which will pass soon. The early
months of parenthood can be especially tiring. But soon you'll have a
toddler bouncing off the walls all day and (usually) sleeping for longer
stretches at night. Just know that — like the days of tiny onesies and
infant burp cloths — this stage, too, shall pass. It is important that
you keep the same routine for your baby, as babies who are normally
slept on their backs but sometimes slept on their fronts are at a great
risk of sudden death. Once a baby is 4 months old, you can begin doing
some sleep training if it suits your family. This can look different for
everyone, but the most important piece is that you have your
pediatrician’s okay, and that parents choose a method that they’re
comfortable with and can be consistent with for at least 2 weeks.
Mothers can try and sit up rather than lay in bed to breastfeed in order
to stop themselves falling asleep. As most babies breastfeed
frequently, mothers risk falling asleep in a more dangerous position
than if they had been lying down. Many abandon breastfeeding altogether
as they are so exhausted, thereby depriving themselves and their baby of
all the benefits that breastfeeding brings. A sleep consultant will
take a holistic approach to create a sleeping system that you can manage
and one which takes into account
gentle sleep training as well as the needs of the baby and considerations of each family member.
If
you’re nursing, it may seem like you’re awake nearly all night long,
but one recent study showed that nursing moms sleep just as long as
formula feeders during the first few months. Another showed that nursing
moms actually got forty-five minutes more sleep per night. If your baby
is very consistent and stays awake a consistent amount of time
throughout the day, that’s also normal. A 6-month-old might stay awake
two hours before each sleep period all day. If this is the case,
consider yourself lucky that you have a predictable routine. It’s also
normal. There’ll be a well-meaning someone or other who’ll tell you that
their little one slept through at 12 weeks after introducing a spoon of
baby rice at bedtime and you’ll start to wonder if there’s any merit in
these old fashioned ways. The important thing is to stay confident and
consistent and gently help your baby to adjust to falling asleep on
their own - and in their own time. How do you get babies to sleep twelve
hours by twelve weeks old? I believe that babies would do this on their
own if parents just left them alone and encouraged their babies’
natural tendencies. But twenty-first-century parenting is wrought with
insecurity. Having a baby is a steep learning curve and aspects such as
ferber method come along and shake things up just when you're not expecting them.
You Must Feel Empowered As A Parent
The
goal of sleep training is to teach your little one that they are
capable of falling asleep independently. You want your baby to be able
to fall asleep on their own without needing to be rocked or soothed by
you. For most new parents, it’s the eternal question: How to get baby to
sleep? When it comes to putting baby down to sleep—and helping baby
stay asleep—it can feel like mission impossible sometimes, especially in
those first few days, weeks or even months with your newborn. Babies
and toddlers can go through several phases of sleep regression and
common times include 4 month sleep regression and 8-10 month sleep
regression, so this could be the reason your baby is waking at night.
Brace yourself too as they can have another sleep regression at two
years old. Symptoms of some conditions like postnatal depression can
feel similar to extreme tiredness, so if you’re really struggling, or
think that your feelings could be down to more than just lack of sleep,
it’s a good idea to talk things through with your GP or health visitor
to work out a way forward. A child who takes a long time to settle into
sleep for naps or at night is usually just struggling with the method
being used to “get them” to fall asleep in the first place. That is, the
child naturally wants to lie down, close their eyes, and fall asleep,
but they only know how to fall asleep with assistance, be it rocking,
nursing, strolling, or sleeping next to someone else. If you're looking
for a compassionate, effective and evidence-based approach to sleep or
just advice on one thing like
sleep regression then a baby sleep specialist will be able to help you.
If
your baby wakes up hungry each night, besides boosting her daytime milk
it makes sense to boost her evening calories. (Think of it like topping
off the gas tank of your car by filling it to the brim.) Two classic
ways to do this are cluster feeds and dream feeds. If your well-meaning
neighbor says to keep your tired baby awake during the day to boost her
sleep at night, don’t do it! This strategy may work for adults, but it
usually backfires with babies, leading to bigger struggles falling into
sleep … and staying there. Newborn humans are programmed to cry whenever
someone puts them down, because being left alone is dangerous when you
cannot move to escape danger, and are reliant on your caregiver’s
proximity for your very survival. Even their control over their heart
rates and breathing is reliant upon being in the arms of a caregiver,
whose own heartbeat and breathing stimulates that of the newborn’s. For
the first few months, middle-of-the-night feedings are sure to disrupt
sleep for parents and babies alike — but it's never too soon to help
your baby become a good sleeper. Consider any strong smells, the
temperature of the room and what your baby is wearing. If your baby is
too hot or too cold, she could be uncomfortable which may be affecting
her sleep. If your baby has sensitive skin, her pj’s could be irritating
her, which again, could be affecting her sleep. Be sure to have a room
thermometer so you can check the temperature of the room your baby
sleeps in. It should be somewhere between 16-20°C There are multiple
approaches to
4 month sleep regression and a sleep expert will help you choose one that is right for you and your family.
Understand Your Baby's Sleep
What’s
a parent to do? Learning about the science of infant sleep can help.
Once you understand how, why, and when babies sleep, it will be easier
for you to decide on the best sleep strategies for your family. It may
also bring you peace of mind. After the age of six months, some babies
can manage without a night time feed; however they may continue to wake
up out of habit. If your baby seems obviously hungry then feed them but
if you are confident they have eaten enough during the day and they are
gaining weight, you can help your baby to outgrow this habit by leaving
it a few minutes before you pick them up as they may fall asleep again
naturally. Babies spend more time in light sleep than adults and your
baby will quickly notice when you’ve moved him from the warmth of your
arms to his cot. He needs to fall asleep in his cot so he wakes up in
the same place and won’t be alarmed. Try the gradual retreat method: you
start off by staying close to his cot while he goes to sleep, and then
each night you gradually move a little further away until finally you’re
outside the door. Get additional facts about Sleep Consultants at this
NHS entry.
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