Anyone with children with be able to empathise with parents of newborns – those first few months can be the most tiring of your parenting career. It’s so difficult to function properly on a poor night’s sleep, and your baby feels the same way as you – grumpy, frazzled and stressed. Some simple tweaks to your daily routines can help to ensure a better night’s sleep for your baby, and therefore for you as well.
Daytime Stimulation
Make sure your baby gets plenty of playtime in during the day. Stimulation during the day will help to tire them out and ensure they are ready for bed later on and hopefully longer stretches of sleep as well.
Bedtime Routines
Routines are so important to babies. Getting into a routine or rhythm when it comes to your babies needs helps to make them feel safe and secure, and when they feel safe they are more relaxed and able to sleep, or at least that’s the theory anyway! Keep bedtime routines the same each day, whatever it may be for your family. A playful bathtime with some relaxing classical music, followed by a bedtime story and cuddle every evening can work wonders on your baby’s sleep patterns. Using a calming baby lotion after bath can help relax your baby as well – Pitta Patta’s Calm & Content Moisturiser contains organic chamomile and lavender essential oils to help calm and soothe even the most restless of babies.
Low Lighting
When your baby wakes up in the early hours, don’t switch all the lights on and make a big fuss. This will only serve to wake them up more fully and make it harder for them to fall back to sleep. Invest in a quality night light or soft lamp you can use for night time feeds and always use a quiet, soothing voice.
Sleep Cues
Watch your baby and learn their sleep cues – these differ from baby to baby but can include things like yawning, rubbing their eyes, whining, or losing interest in people or activities. If it helps, keep a journal of when these cues appear and whether your baby goes to sleep and for how long. You may find a pattern appearing and getting a handle on daytime naps can help to improve the quality and length of their night time sleeping.
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