Sending little babies to sleep is one of the hardest tasks most mothers do. In general, babies are really hard to send to sleep. Even if babies are not hungry, wet or sick often times they are really irritable when it comes to bed time. Putting them down on a crib make them start crying and throwing tantrums as if they are abandoned by their parents but in reality they are just sending them to sleep.
Many first time parents are in trouble and in this same problem with others. By that, we gathered efficient solutions and guides for parents in giving their baby sleep training.
1. Do not feed and dance your baby to sleep. While in the first months, babies tend to adjust still on the life outside the wombs of their mothers. It is still fine if your baby sleeps after feeding them as they need to be fed every two to three hours while at the same time having a very disordered sleeping schedule. At this stage they do not have yet a strategy on how to soothe themselves. By 4 months onwards they are starting to develop neurologically. And that they are starting to develop habits that if not taken action can give a hard time to parents, especially when it comes to sleeping.
To refrain from the big problem of having to feed them and dance till you drop just to send them to sleep, make a sleeping routine that is favorable not only to your baby but of yourself. An example of best sleeping routine is to wash your baby first, put him in his pajamas, read him stories after and dim the lights. Eventually, you can be sending him to sleep. If you do this often, the baby will be given signals that it is now time for a goodnight sleep.
2. Do not pick up your baby every time he cries. Babies probably know that their parents love them the most. At the first six months, you should go and pick her up when she’s whimpering. However, when she reaches the age of 9 months onwards, this habit can be a bit troublesome to parents especially when going to sleep. To avoid this, try to adjust the instances you’ll come running to comfort her. Have a mental checklist of reasons why is she crying. Like if you have to feed her already, might be she’s wet or something. If there are some unchecked boxes on your checklist, then go and comfort her. If not, that is the time you’ll have to adjust the time to go and comfort her in her whims. Say, if she’s already crying after putting her in her crib and getting out of the room, wait for 5 minutes before going back to her. The next day, take it 10 minutes and so on and forth. This will eventually send her to sleep readily.
3. Do not let your baby stay up late. Just letting your baby fall asleep voluntarily even if it means he’ll be up late is not entirely a good idea. It might be an easy way for you to go that way but the baby tends to get more tired and wake up more often than usual. Understand his first month because he is still in its adjustment period where he has this chaotic sleeping routine. However, as the month goes by this should not be taken for granted. If there are times when your baby takes a nap early in the evening, seize this opportunity to bath him or clean him up and prepare him to sleep. He will eventually remember that time and make himself ready for sleep at those hours.
It might be not that easy to undergo your baby in a sleep training. However, do the above tips and eventually you’ll get the best out of it while at the same time giving your baby an ample of rest and a sound sleep.
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