I still remember my pregnancy days when my time was devoted to learning new and good stuff about childbearing and raising. My swollen legs used to become more tolerable resting on pillows while I used to focus on the books next to my coffee table put by dear hubby. Skimming through the pages, I was able to know a lot about baby napping and tips to make them fall into sleep quickly.
Dear New Mommas, it’s time I share some secrets on how to put a newborn baby to sleep that through a lot of reading grasped inside my head & heart…
How to Put a Newborn Baby to Sleep to Build a Healthy Nap Routine.
Some may believe that buying the best bed for newborn baby should be enough to make babies comfortable. Because that’ how it works for them. But Newborns are quite tricky to handle and far away from how an adult, teen or other age person feels about sleeping.
There’s nothing more complicated than understanding baby’s sleeping way and ritual. And so, here are some simple tips that may help you as it helped me…
A Motion That Makes Your Baby Recall the Womb.
You must be completely clueless about what the heck am I even talking about. A motion? Feels like a womb? Well, yes! There have been many talks about swaddling that it can almost recreate the same feel of being in womb.
And so, the method is very significant in helping to calm down your baby. Also, because babies spent most time sleeping in the womb, there’s a high chance a same feeling will help them do it again. The remembrance of the old, warm and familiar place will help them feel secure and safe.
You simply bring arms and legs of your baby closer to their body while swaddling. So, comfortable pressure can be transmitted as a signal to a parent’s loving touch to the baby. Gently pad on the baby’s chest and sides. And the self-soothing touch lets a baby calm faster to sleep peacefully.
Don’t Make Eye Contacts When It’s Time for Baby Nap.
You may wonder it’s really strange that eye contacts would stop babies from sleeping. But it’s true! Through eye contact for a prolonged period, your baby will sense that it’s time to get stimulated and play. The stimulation is a big factor to keep a baby feel like resting or playing.
And so, you must avoid any sort of eye contact before bedtime and also during diaper changing or feeding. Care about the room being dark enough and use white noise. Your actions and presence will make an impact to create that under-stimulated situation for a baby to understand it’s time to sleep.
Babies Have Sleepiness Prompts That You Need to Learn.
Newborns don’t really have a strict routine about when and when not sleep. And so, you need to understand their small cues or habits of being tired and wanting rest. When your baby gets to age 3 to 4 months, that’s when there will be a sleep pattern to follow.
One common problem with parents is that they believe keeping a baby awake during the day will help better sleep at night. Can you imagine starving a baby through the day to feed at night, it’s kind of same. So, don’t do that!
An overtired baby must sleep no matter day or night. Some cues you can notice are:
- × Yawning and looking quiet.
- × Scratching the ear, head, and eyes constantly.
- × Avoiding looking at you.
- × A soft sob or harsh crying signaling fussiness.
- × Crying with stiffed and stretched body.
If any of this signal seems to be happening with your baby, go for calming steps. Also, if you fall into such a situation in an unplanned event such as market, doctor’s appointment or a party, here’s what you need to do.
Take your baby to place without any sound or noise. If possible, bring a security blanket or pacifier. And if the baby still shows no sign of calmness, another family member who is calmer than you might be able to bring things down.
Work on Building a Consistent Sleeping Routine.
Now please understand I used the word routine, not schedule. You can’t set a particular time to force your kid to go into sleep. Instead, build activities and habits before the sleeping period that becomes a routine to your infant. And this will eventually make the baby tired enough to go for a nap.
Up until six weeks, there will be no certain time for the baby to fall asleep. It can happen at any time. But, throughout the week 4 to 6, you will be able to notice a consistency emerging change of the nap habit. There will be a gradual change in sleeping patterns. Short and frequent naps will slowly turn into long and fewer.
Also, there’s no sort of hard and fast ruling on how early you should start building the sleeping habit or routine. You can try baby bathing or rocking to calm down prior to sleeping. Also, try to keep those habits consistent. An easy routine is also necessary so that it can be performed every night no matter if you are at home or in other places.
Don’t forget to start seriously building good sleeping habits after the baby passes 6-week mark. The earlier started sleep and nap habits will be even more effective during this phase if you keep consistency.
Also, some tricks that worked well during the newborn phase might not do anything because of undergoing changes. keep experimenting with swaddling, story time, jammies, cuddling, cleaning, lotions, a warm bath and other things to find what works best to calm your kid.
Diaper Changing Strategies During Your Baby is Asleep.
The next and final tip could be a bit controversial but I want to put it in case some people want to try this. I know changing diapers as many times as possible is a thing to new parents and perhaps the experienced ones as well in some cases. But to be honest, it does not really bother a baby by sleeping in a wet diaper as you believe.
Now, of course, I don’t mean you should absolutely go for zero changes. But if you are doing it too frequently, the sleepiness and calm feeling of a baby can fade away. By frequently changing diapers, you are making the situation less calming and more active. So, it may work well for your baby to go for fewer diaper changes when he or she is sleeping.
Also, when you change diaper, try to do it without turning the lights on. It sounds harder but after a few tries, it’ll get easier. Don’t make eye contact and stay very calmed to not let them get excited. So that your baby doesn’t believe it’s a signal to wake up.
Conclusion
You can practice these tactics and see which one works best for your baby. There are many thoughts and ways on how to put a newborn baby to sleep. But eventually, there’s nothing too specific or exact that it will absolutely work.
You see, babies are all different. And so, every parent has his or her own ways, habits and strategies to raise their baby in the best way. These are the things you will learn throughout this parental journey.