Top 5 Things You Can Do To Ensure Your Baby Sleeps For Longer Stretches Through The Night:
You are probably here reading this post because you are finding yourself waking up more often than you’d like to throughout the night. Before you read any further I would like to point out that these suggestion points are not for those mamas who are still breastfeeding because breastfed babies tend to wake up demanding boobie time whenever they want to and I am sure if you nursed your little one in the early months you are nodding your head right now!
Let’s get to the list!
- Safe Sleeping Space is of Utmost Importance: Crib or bassinet that has a firm mattress if your baby is under 12 months and ensuring that there are no blankets, pillows or stuffed animals that could pose risk of suffocation. Make sure the room temperature is cool preferable keeping it between 68 F. to 72 F.
- Appropriate and Comfortable Sleep-ware: Babies should not be overheating or be too cold. Most sleep sacks will indicate a unique TOG (Thermal Overall Grade) that usually range from 1.0-2.3/3.0. The higher the number the thicker the garment. Avoid using any loose blankets as babies tend to toss and turn and even try to roam around in their crib throughout their sleep cycle and to minimize risk of suffocation.
- Bedtime Routine: Bedtime routine can be implemented as early as newborn stage. Key is to try to complete all bedtime tasks around the same time. Starting with a bath then bottle. Try to give a longer stretch of time for the baby to finish the bottle…Remember when we eat we also like to take some breaks to breath, chat or have a drink in between bites – babies are the same. Giving a burping break halfway through the bottle can help baby finish the entire bottle before bedtime and avoid dosing off to sleep before bottle is finished. Maybe read a book and finish bottle. Get into the sleep sack, rock in the chair with a song and its sleep time however that may look for every family.
- Music/Whitenoise: Most babies will fall asleep to soothing lullabies or white noise. In my personal experience I like to use both because I have a difficult sleeper. I put a white noise machine under the crib on very low volume and have the baby cam play also a low volume lullaby that helps my baby get back to sleep in the middle of the night.
- Dark Room: The slightest peak of light can have your baby thinking it is daytime and time to wake up and feed. This is the reason a darkened room is so emphasized. If your baby is still taking a bottle during the night, try to use a night lamp or red light to keep your baby drowsy so he or she can easily fall back to sleep.