How To Help A Newborn Fall Asleep

How To Get Your Baby To Sleep Tip : Swaddling Your Baby

Ever heard of Moro Reflex? Its more common nickname is Startle Reflex, and its an infantile reflex that virtually all babies are born with. You know that feeling you get, when youre falling asleep in your desk chair, or halfway asleep in bed when suddenly, you feel like youre free falling off a cliff and your body jolts awake. Yeah, that happens to babies too. And unfortunately for you, it tends to happen a lot during nap and bed time, causing babies to flail their arms and legs and startle awake.

Moro reflex is present to protect your newborn in the early stages of development. Its almost like an alarm that is triggered by any sudden changes in sensual stimulation . The absence of Moro Reflex can indicate a problem in your babys nervous system. But dont worry, we summed up everything you need to know about Moro Reflex here.

Swaddling has been proven to significantly help calm babies when experiencing Moro Reflex. Swaddling keeps their arms and legs tucked close to their bodies, so they stay in place until the baby has calmed down. Not only does the Zen Swaddle keep your babies arms snug, it also provides the comforting pressure and security of a parents loving touch with the gently weighted pads on the chest and sides.

Sleep Problems: 6 Months Old And Up

These days your babys sleep pattern likely looks a whole lot different than it did just a few short months ago.

At 6 months, your baby should clock 10 to 11 hours of sleep at night and take two or three naps during the day.

Whats more, babies who are 6 months old and up are completely capable of sleeping through the night. And yet, there are still plenty of things that can disrupt their snooze time.

Helping Babies Sleep And Settle In The Early Months

In the first six months of life, babies need to wake at night to get enough food for growth and development. For most babies, sleeping through the night and settling by themselves comes later, when theyre developmentally ready.

But there are three things you can do in the early months to help with baby sleep and settling:

• Emphasise the difference between night and day.
• Put your baby to bed drowsy but awake.
• Start a sleep routine.

And if you do these things in the first six months, it can help your baby learn to sleep and settle independently later on, when baby is developmentally ready.

Remember: responding to your baby and being flexible are the most important things in these early months. Its OK if your baby falls asleep while feeding sometimes. Its also fine to cuddle or rock your baby to sleep if theyre unsettled.

Safe sleeping practices can help you minimise the risk of sudden unexpected death in infancy . These practices include sleeping your baby on their back, making sure your babys head is uncovered during sleep, and sharing a room with your baby for the first year of life, or at least for the first six months.

Also Check: What Can I Use On My Newborns Dry Skin

How Much Should Baby Sleep

Infants tend to sleep a lot, typically 14 to 18 hours a day, says Edward Kulich, MD, a New York City-based concierge house call pediatrician and baby sleep consultant. It can take several weeksor monthsbefore babys sleep settles into a pattern. In the early days, Kulich notes, schedules are erratic, since babies have a small stomach and cant go more than one to four hours without eating. But by 3 months old, he says, baby will tend to get into more of a rhythm, usually taking three naps a day, and some babies will sleep through the night.

He defines sleeping through the night as baby getting 7 to 12 consecutive hours of shuteyewhich is a dream stretch for any new parent. But how do you and baby get to that point? Routine is key, Kulich says. Consistency above all. Many methods will work, but no method will work unless everyone in the household applies it consistently.

How Long Will My Newborn Sleep

Newborns should get 1417 hours of sleep over a 24-hour period, says the National Sleep Foundation. Some newborns may sleep up to 1819 hours a day.

Newborns wake every couple of hours to eat. Breastfed babies feed often, about every 23 hours. Bottle-fed babies tend to feed less often, about every 34 hours.

Newborns who sleep for longer stretches should be awakened to feed. Wake your baby every 34 hours to eat until he or she shows good weight gain, which usually happens within the first couple of weeks. After that, it’s OK to let your baby sleep for longer periods of time at night.

The first months of a baby’s life can be the hardest for parents, who might get up many times at night to tend to the baby. Each baby has a different sleep pattern. Some start to sleep “through the night” by 23 months of age, but some don’t.

Also Check: How To Relieve Constipation In Newborn Babies Quickly

Where Should My Baby Sleep

For the first 6 months your baby should be in the same room as you when they’re asleep, both day and night. Particularly in the early weeks, you may find your baby only falls asleep in your or your partner’s arms, or when you’re standing by the cot.

You can start getting your baby used to going to sleep without you comforting them by putting them down before they fall asleep or when they’ve just finished a feed. It may be easier to do this once your baby starts to stay alert more frequently or for longer.

Try To Have A Regular Bedtimeand Routine

Find the time, ideally between 6.30pm and 8.30pm, that suits your baby to go to sleep. It wont always be possible but try and stick to it as often as you can. If they go to sleep at that time most nights, theyll start to learn what bedtime means .

A regular night time routine bath, story, milk or a lullaby in a dark room can help too . Getting your baby to sleep in the same place at least most of the time can also make a difference.

Don’t Miss: How Long Should Newborns Nap

Help Her Find Her Pacifier

“If your baby cries because she’s hungry or wet, that’s understandable, but waking up in the middle of the night because she can’t find her pacifier is frustrating for all. You can teach her to find it on her own: Put a couple of pacifiers in one corner of the crib, and every time she loses one in the night, go in and help her reach for it herself by bringing to hand to that corner. This shows her where the pacifiers are, so if one goes missing, she can find another and get back to sleep. She should figure it out in about a week.” Jodi Mindell, Ph.D., a Parents advisor, associate director of the Sleep Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and author of Sleeping Through the Night

Will Your Baby Sleep When He Or She Is Hungry Probably Not

This is one reason why newborns sleep in short bouts. They get hungry!

What can we do about it? Not much, not when our babies are very young. They need frequent feedings in order to grow and thrive.

But you can probably improve your own ability to sleep with smart timing.

Dream feeding is a technique in which you provide your baby with a big meal immediately before you attempt to fall asleep for yourself. The idea to help your baby tank up, so your baby will sleep longer.

Another tactic is to introduce brief delays before beginning those middle-of-the-night feeds. For example, instead of feeding your baby immediately, you might change your babys diaper first. As babies get older, this might help them break the association between night wakings which all babies experience and feeding.

Do these tactics work? One experimental study suggests they do.

Researchers recruited 26 families, and assigned half the parents to offer their babies a big meal between 10pm and midnight. They were also told to avoid feeding babies immediately after they woke up during the night.

In addition, parents were instructed to expose their babies to strong cues about the natural, 24 hour day.

The intervention appeared to be very successful. Eight weeks after training began, 13 out of 13 infants in the treatment group were sleeping quietly from midnight to 5am . Only 3 out of 13 control infants were doing so.

It sounds promising, but keep in mind: This is a small study that needs replication.

You May Like: Can My Newborn Sleep On Her Side

How Do You Prevent An Overtired Baby

Follow these steps to stop the cycle of overtiredness before it begins:

• Be punctual. When your babyâs wake window comes to a close, drop what youâre doing and put down your baby to sleep. The key is to prepare her for sleep before she shows signs of overtiredness.
• Create a sleep routine. A sleep routine like the one advocated in the Ferber sleep training method will signal to your baby that the time for slumber is approaching:
• Switch on soft music or the white noise machine.
• Change your babyâs diaper without playing or tickling her.
• Read a story in a calm tone.
• Gently massage his back, arms, and legs.

Do Cry It Out Tactics Cause Problems

One highly-publicized study tested the long-term effects of sleep training on more than 170 babies, but did so by lumping together several different training strategies, including a program that didnt involve leaving infants alone .

Thus, we cant know if families who used graduated extinction experienced different outcomes than families who used other methods like those that kept babies and parents together in the same room.

In addition, this study failed to determine if parents in the control group attempted sleep training. This, too, is crucial, because it means we cant draw conclusions about a failure to detect differences between groups.

Maybe outcomes were similar because treatments were similar: Babies in both groups were exposed to a mixed bag of sleep training techniques.

A more recent study presents similar interpretative problems . The researchers took the helpful step of distinguishing between graduated extinction and other types of sleep training.

But they didnt measure what parents assigned to the control condition did with their babies. Nor did they keep track of where babies slept with respect to their parents alone or in a shared room.

Moreover, this was a much smaller study, and one marked by substantial amounts of missing data, as well as some discrepancies in the published numbers.

For example, at one time point during the study, almost half the families failed to participate. Researchers filled in the missing data with their own estimates .

Don’t Miss: How Many Ounces Is A Newborn Supposed To Eat

Importance Of Sleep For Infants

Sleep plays an essential role in anyones mental and physical health, but this sentiment is particularly true for babies as it is crucial for both their cognitive and physical development. Sleep deprivation in these crucial early stages of life can lead to problems down the road like hyperactivity, negative or aggressive behavior, mood swings, and or anxiety.

There are two stages of sleep REM and non-REM. Babies spend half their time in each stage, but at about six months, they spend about 30% of the time in REM. For infants, REM sleep helps prepare their brains for retaining new information, which is critical for effective learning. During non-REM sleep, on the other hand, their body builds muscle tissue and releases a hormone pertinent to their growth and development.

Here is a helpful table to help you determine whether or not your baby is getting enough sleep.

Newborns: 16 hours 1 month: 15.5 hours 3 months: 15 hours 6 months: 14 hours 9 months: 14 hours 1 year: 14 hours 1.5 years: 13.5 hours 2 years: 13 hours

Bio: Gwen Thompson is a Certified Sleep Science Coach that writes for The Slumber Yard. Besides helping people improve the quality of their sleep, she also likes playing the piano, making homemade jewelry, and taking her dog for walks.

Break The Nursing Or Sucking Sleep Association

This one is a toughie. So many moms nurse their babies to sleep or put them down with a pacifier. Sleeping with a pacifier is even one of the recommendations for SIDS prevention.

Babies are comforted by the sucking motion and for many moms nursing to sleep is a great way to wind down the day.

That said, this provides a sleep crutch that can eventually become problematic. If baby assumes the only way to go to sleep is after nursing, theyre going to need you every time they wake up. Since everyone wakes up 3-4 times per night, this can get dicey.

Breaking the nursing or sucking sleep association can usually be accomplished by rocking your baby to sleep. Of course, this is something youll also need to eventually stop doing. If you can go cold turkey, try that. If your baby needs more help, you can remove rocking in the next phase.

Recommended Reading: How Long In Newborn Diapers

Settling Baby To Sleep

Every baby is different, and youll get to know what works best for settling your baby down to sleep.

Having a sleep routine is a good start, but try to be flexible. Your babys sleep cycles will change as they grow.

Try putting baby to bed while theyre awake or slightly sleepy, if possible. That way they associate their bed with sleep. If they wake up knowing where they are and feeling safe, they might be able to settle themselves back to sleep.

Read more about settling your baby to sleep