A FEW EASY TIPS TO MAKE YOUR BABY SLEEP WELL

Photo by Felipe Salgado

Originally Posted On: https://livingwellkids.com/2020/04/10/a-few-easy-tips-to-make-your-baby-sleep-well/

Children do not have regular sleep cycles until they are about six months old. While newborns sleep sixteen to seventeen hours a day, they may only sleep an hour or two at a time. As children grow older, they need less sleep. However, different children have different sleep needs. A six-month-old baby usually wakes at night but falls asleep after a few minutes.

1. Develop rhythm

Newborns sleep 16 hours or more a day, but often for a few hours at a time. Although the pattern may seem unreal at first, your child’s will mature and have a more extensive sleeping schedule and may take a longer time feeding. Between three and four months of age, many children sleep for at least five consecutive hours. At some point during the first year of a child’s life, every child is different, and they go to bed for 10 hours every night.

2. Let your child sleep in his room

Ideally, your child should sleep in your room. Instead, let him or her sleep in a baby coat or other structure designed for children, for at least six months and, if possible, up to a year. Sleeping in their own bed can reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Adult beds are not safe for children. The child may become trapped and quenched between the headboard, the distance between the mattress and the bed frame, or the space between the mattress and the wall. A child can also choke if a parent accidentally turns their nose and mouth.

3. Promote good sleeping habits.

The first few months, midnight meals will, without doubt, affect parents and children’s sleep, but it’s never too early to help your child sleep well. To promote good sleep, consider these tips:

Follow a consistent, comfortable routine before bed. Excessive nighttime stimulation can make it difficult for your child to sleep. Try to shower, cuddle, sing, play soft music, or read to a clearly defined endpoint when you leave the room. Begin these activities before your child becomes tired in a quiet room without light.

Sleep peacefully with your baby, but wake up. This will help your child attach the bed to the sleep process. Don’t forget to put your child to sleep on his back and to clean the crib or sofa from blankets and other soft objects.

Give your child time to calm down. Your child may complain or cry before he finds a comfortable place and goes to bed. If the crying doesn’t stop, check your child, make words of relaxation, and leave the room. It may be your presence that your child needs to sleep comfortably.

Consider a pacifier. If your child has adjustment problems, a pacifier may be sufficient. Research shows that sleep pacifier helps reduce the risk of SIDS.

If your child needs nursing or breastfeeding at night, use dimmer light, soft sound, and calming movements. This way, your child knows it’s time to sleep, not play. Do not turn on the bright lights when you become a nightlife. Buy a battery-powered LED night light (so you can place it anywhere) and turn it on quickly. It also helps to reduce the “waking” signals that go to the parent’s and child’s brain, making it easier to return to sleep after eating.

Respect your child’s choices. If your child has a night owl or early sleeper, you may want to adjust the routines and schedules based on these natural patterns.

4. Keep that in perspective

Remember that sleeping at night is not a measure of your parenting skills. Take the time to understand your child’s habits and communication channels to help him sleep better. If you are concerned, contact your child’s doctor.

5. Put your baby to bed when he is sleepy but still awake.

This will help your child fall asleep in his bed. Holding or shaking her until she is totally asleep may make it tough for her to go back to a nap if she wakes up in the course of the night.

6. Play during the day.

By talking and playing with your child all day, you can extend the waking hours. This will help him sleep longer at night. It is difficult to wake up a napping baby, but being asleep for too long throughout the day can destroy sleep at night. If the infant sleeps after two to two and a half hours, go ahead and wake him up, feed him, keep him awake for a while, and then put him back down for a nap. If you think the baby needs longer naps, you can increase the nap limit to two and a half hours. Sleep break during the day helps your newborn sleep better at night. It also allows you to get more food throughout the day, which is very helpful.

7. Wait a few minutes before responding to your child’s agitation.

See if she can sleep alone. If she continues to cry, look at her, but do not turn on the light, do not play, and do not pick her up. If she goes crazy or can’t resolve it, think about what else could upset her. She may be hungry, wet or dirty, have a fever, or feel sick.

8. Don’t feed a baby so they can sleep

Newborns fall asleep all the time while eating. However, after four or five months, if sleep is disconnected from the diet, children generally sleep better. As with other sleeping songs, during weaning and feeding, your baby will think that he needs to eat to fall asleep each time he wakes up at night. Another problem with this is you are the only one who can put your baby to bed.

Think of it like this, if your baby chews at the age of five months while nursing, you should go to bed earlier. Gradually shift the flow earlier until your little one can pass, then end the routine with a soothing book and song and sleep sleepily. Your baby may still have to get up to eat at night, but he will be hungry, not bald.

Follow the cycle of eating, waking up, sleeping. The baby wakes up from sleep and eats immediately. Then the baby is awake for a while to play. Then the baby goes back to sleep. This cycle has several objectives. First, it stimulates complete nutrition by allowing the baby to eat right after waking up. The baby will have the most energy immediately upon waking, which will make him more likely to take a full feeding and to switch from one feed to another.

Feeding the baby after sleeping rather than before sleeping prevents the child from attaching food to sleep or from using food as a sleeping pill. When using this cycle, the diet is usually not before bedtime, but before sleep.

Hazardous Effect on baby for not having proper sleep

1. It can cause obesity

Lack of sleep affects not only brain function but also the metabolic processes in the body. Deprived children gradually gain weight and become obese at the age of three years. Children who sleep less often lose weight due to a lack of energy. This energy imbalance is caused by changes in hormones such as insulin, cortisol, leptin, ghrelin, and growth hormone.

2. Negative impact on the immune system

Lack of sleep weakens the immune system, and the child is more likely to get infections such as flu or cold. Many studies have been conducted, and most have concluded that sleep and the immune system are closely linked and that our immune system releases proteins that fight disease during sleep. If the body does not sleep, the number of proteins decreases and the baby becomes more susceptible to infections. It also affects recovery time during the illness. Long-term sleep deprivation can have serious effects. If the child shows signs of excessive fatigue and sleep deprivation, corrective measures should be taken to avoid more severe problems later.

3. Interference with memory

Lack of sleep affects the brain’s ability to consolidate memory and makes learning difficult. The brain stores the memories made during the day in a long-term cache to organize and retrieve them later. The brain performs this function during the REM (Random Eye Movement) or dream sleep. Lack of sleep disrupts this function and affects our memory, especially direct memory.

4. Lower cognitive values

The brain changes dramatically in early childhood. Babies and toddlers who sleep less do poorly in neurological developmental tests. Cognitive skills and sleep go hand in hand. It is not easy for your tired mind to concentrate. Sleep plays an essential role in the maturation of a child’s brain. The brain is usually involved in an ongoing process of forming new cellular connections that promote healthy mental development and support learning processes. If normal sleep time can be maintained, the likelihood of cognitive development during sleep escalates.

5. Makes babies moody

Most children can cry and smile in a split second. If a child has trouble calming down after a condition, he or she may have fallen asleep. Falling asleep when the baby is irritated can be a difficult task. Try to do a routine five to ten minutes before each nap to stand with the child by the window or sing in the lounge. The child slowly gets used to this routine and learns to relax.

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