The big day has come at last, you get to take your newborn baby home from the hospital. This is an exciting and wonderful time, but it can also mean sleepless nights. Your baby isn’t familiar with the concept of night and day which is part of the reason why they only sleep for a few hours at a time. As he or she gets older, they will sleep for longer periods of time, but following these helpful tips on getting your baby to sleep may be able to help you immediately rather than waiting a few months.
Put Your Baby to Bed Before They’re Asleep
Put her down as she is starting to get tired, but before she has nodded off completely. This will help your baby associate being put in bed with going to sleep. This may be tricky at first, particularly for mothers that are breastfeeding, but if you can get the timing down, you should be able to look forward to some extra sleep.
Dreamfeed
This is the feeding given to your infant right before you put him down to bed. So, instead of your newborn waking up just as you’re getting into a good sleep, he should stay asleep a bit longer.
Avoid Eye Contact With Baby
After you’ve put your baby down to bed, try avoid making eye contact with her since this can actually work as a stimulant for babies. If she locks eyes with you, she may think it’s time to play. Additionally, if you talk to your baby, be sure to use a calm soothing voice, and avoid turning the light on if you don’t have to.
Avoid Too Many Naps
As much as you might not want to wake your sleeping baby – especially if it means you also get to take a nap – you may be cutting into nighttime sleep if you let them snooze for too long during the day. If he goes past about two hours during the day, it is a good idea to wake, feed, and keep him up for a bit before laying him back down to sleep. Keeping your baby from sleeping too much during the day will likely help you both get more sleep at night – and we know how important that is!
White Noise
White noise has been shown to help both babies and adults alike in going to sleep and staying asleep. This can be especially beneficial if not everyone in the house is asleep yet – the white noise can help mask some of the additional noises. She just spent the last nine months in the womb, which is pretty loud, so noise is actually normal for her. A couple of options for providing white noise include placing a fan on medium near your baby (not pointing directly at them) or just simply downloading a white noise application to your smartphone.
These are just a handful of many helpful tips for helping your baby get to sleep and getting a few extra zzz’s yourself. As always, be sure to lay your baby on his or her back when putting them down to sleep. If you’re looking for some extra help keeping your baby comfortable while they’re sleeping, Kyte BABY’s sleep bags are a soft, cozy, and safe alternative to blankets.
