Your heart may melt with love when you watch your newborn sleep, but if he or she isn’t sleeping, you’re not going to be sleeping as well. For many parents, getting their newborns to snooze is always a priority. While it’s not something you can rush, you should take comfort knowing that in nine months, your newborn will comfortably sleep through the night. To help with the process, here are some tips for getting your newborn to sleep through the night.
Why Does Your Newborn Need Sleep?
Giving your newborn enough sleep—sleep that’s uninterrupted and non-fragmented—is crucial. On average, an infant should not spend more than 4 hours awake in a day. A newborn needs sleep because it promotes growth. As they sleep growth factors, growth hormones, and immune regulators work together to boost the immune system, provide energy, and build tissue.
Sufficient sleep for newborns is also important because it aids in improving their mood. Children who don’t get adequate sleep are sometimes hyperactive, overly emotional, and impulsive. A well-rested child will be alert, pleasant, and will easily respond to stimuli.
Getting a Newborn To Sleep Through the Night
1. Understand Their Sleep Patterns
The average newborn will sleep for most part of the day and night, waking up every few hours for feeding. As a result, it would be difficult for a new parent to understand how long and often their newborn should sleep. Besides, there isn’t a specific schedule and may newborns have their nights and days confused.
Typically, a newborn will sleep for 8 hours during the day and 8 hours during the night, but will often awaken to eat after every three hours. Understand your newborn’s sleep patterns and always watch for any changes.
2. Be Consistent at Bedtime
Newborns who are put through a regular bedtime routine go for longer hours of sleep and wake up less at night. So what bedtime routine should you adopt? When your young one is between one and two months old, choose a series of soothing bedtime activities—like a warm bath followed by lullabies—and repeat the same each night at the same time.
Your infant will find comfort in the routine’s familiarity, and it will often signal them that bedtime is approaching and there is need to lay down. For success with your bedtime routine you should:
- Keep all activities the same and in their right order every night.
- The last activity of the routine should be calm and peaceful.
- A pre-bedtime bath helps calm down your baby.
- Create a conducive nighttime environment for your baby.
- Save their favorite activity for last and do it on their cot.
3. Let Your Baby Fall Asleep On Their Own
While snuggling your sleeping kid in your arms could give you a warm, fuzzy feeling, the truth is that it will only increase their chances of waking up later in the night.
After completing your bedtime routine, pamper your tot until they drowsy then put them into the crib before they doze off while still in your arms. This teaches your baby to fall back asleep without your intervention should they wake up at 2:00 am.
This way, you will reduce the nighttime trips to your child’s room and enjoy more sleep.
4. Avoid Using Sleep Props
This is an aspect of baby psychology that you should understand because it can affect your baby’s sleep. Generally, a sleep prop is any item you frequently use to get your tot to sleep. If your baby always falls asleep when you feed them, for instance, they will associate sleep with being fed.
While this might seem like a solution, the truth is that your baby will have difficulties going back to sleep without a little breastfeeding. Instead of using sleep props, make sure your baby is relaxed and not over-stimulated or over-tired. This way, you should easily put your infant to sleep, and they will also learn to catch sleep naturally without any help.
5. Put Them in The Right Position
Pediatricians agree that getting your baby to sleep through the night has a lot to do with their sleeping position. Putting your baby to sleep on his or her back will guarantee not only longer periods of sleep but also safety. Side sleeping has been found to increase the risks of sudden infant death syndrome.
6. Don’t Mess With Sleep Time
For adults, cutting back on daytime sleep will result in better and longer sleep at night. Although this seems logical, the truth is that it could seriously backfire for your baby. Babies and adults have different sleep cycles, and the former spend less time in the rapid eye movement sleep.
Infants who enjoy a healthy sleep cycle rarely have problems sleeping at night so don’t keep your child awake all day to get them to sleep longer at night.
It is crucial for a baby to enjoy uninterrupted sleep, whether during the day or at night. Besides, babies cannot establish their sleeping or waking patterns so you can help your baby sleep through the night by teaching him or her to fall asleep alone and creating a conducive environment for a comfortable rest.
