Get your baby to sleep through the night
Repeating the same calming bed ritual every night teaches your baby the cues for sleep. Knowing what is going to happen will help her feel relaxed and secure. Give your baby a bath before bedtime and follow this with warm drink and a story in bed, and leave her to fall asleep by herself.
Once your baby is six month old, as long as she is healthy and gaining weight, she doesn't need to be fed at night (says sleep expert Andrea Grace). If babies establish a pattern of falling asleep while feeding, they often come to relay on unnecessary feeds to get them back to sleep when they are older.
As long as your baby is awake for two hours before bedtime, napping will help her sleep better and for longer at night. Overtired, fractious babies, are much more difficult to settle. Daytime naps reduce the levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Your young baby doesn't have full control over body temperature. For this reason you must keep the room at a constant temperature of about 24°C (75°F). Feel the back of your baby's neck to test whether she's too hot or too cold (if it's sweaty, for example she is too hot).
It is good to know that sweet foods like candies, cookies, and cakes can disrupt sleep, usually by making it difficult to fall asleep. These foods trick the body so it ‘thinks’ it’s supposed to become active rather than slow down. Blood sugar levels rise, stimulating body systems for activity rather than rest.
According to the Annabel Karmel there are types of food that produce chemicals in the brain that promote calm and sleepiness. Foods that help sleep contain a substance called tryptophan. Tryptophan produces a brain chemical called serotonin from which melatonin – so essential for sleep that it’s named the ‘sleep hormone’ – is manufactured. Foods that are high in tryptophan include: nuts such as almonds, cashews and walnuts, poultry, in particular turkey, bananas, dairy products – cheeses such as cheddar, gruyere and Swiss cheese have particularly high amounts of tryptophan, green leafy vegetables such as cabbage and spinach, oats, wheat, eggs, tofu and soya products.
Calm your baby down
A warm bath is a solution for relaxing tense muscles and busy minds.
Swaddling
Wrap your baby before she's put down, at least during the first month. She will feel much more secure and contented with something firmly wrapped around her. It helps recreate the sensation of calm and reassurance she experienced in the womb, and helps baby adapt gently to her new surroundings.
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| Red Castle The Miracle Blanket™ |
A blanket can comfort your baby as well as keep her warm. Make sure covers only come up to her chest and tuck them in so they cant creep up over her face. Sleep with the blanket yourself first so it picks up your scent, as that will make your baby feel secure.
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| H&M Spotted baby blanket |
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| Mamas and Papas unisex baby blanket |
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| The Babasac a multi-tog sleeping bag |
The bed
Trend Lab Paddington Bear 3 Piece Crib Bedding Set
Skip Hop Mod Dot 4 Piece Crib Bedding Set
Piccu
Sooth her
Thanks to his natural sucking instinct, your baby will be comforted by a soother. Made of soft latex, NUK's Starlight Soother feels similar to your breast so she'll feel close to you as she drifts off. Its flat, rounded shape helps prevent pressure marks while she sleeps and has been designed with healthy oral development in mind, plus the circulation grooves means air moves and doesn't irritate the sensitive skin around her mouth. After six months of life you should try to stop using a dummy habit. According to the Mandy Gurney, founder of Millpond Children's Sleep Clinic, a baby's memory increases rapidly at eight to nine months, so it's much easier to wean a baby off a dummy at six months old.
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| NUK Starlight dummies |
Think mobile
A musical mobile can work wonders in lulling your baby to sleep. The tune is soothing while the dangling toys will captivate your baby. Use it in the day to amuse your baby while you do chores.
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| Mamas and Papas Musical Cot Mobile |
The Lighting
The latest researches suggests dim red or orange light for a night light because it interferes the least with melatonin levels. Anyway, they are the same colors that feature prominently in the sunset, natures very own way of telling us to get ready for bed. An added bonus is that baby’s find red light soothing as it is a familiar color which can mean a better sleep. Experts believe that this is because the only colored light your baby would have seen in the womb would have been a red color.
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| Ikea LED night light |
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| Vertbaudet night light |
Sounds to sleep by
Your baby has not exactly had the quietest sleeping environment during her nine months in utero. So it is natural for babies to settle best with sounds that remind them of the womb. The sounds that settle the restless baby are repetitive, without meaning, that lull baby to sleep and they are known as white noise. Some producers of white noise are a vacuum cleaner, a fan, an air conditioner or a dishwasher.
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| Cloud b Sound Machine Soother, Sleep Sheep |
Instead of worn out several vacuum cleaners, you can just play this. This video helped my baby to fall asleep instantly every time.
