"My baby is sleeping through the night" or "Is your baby sleeping through the night?"
It's like a competition! like, I'm the better parent! Or I'm not doing it right because my Baby still wakes up 4 times a night!...
Getting your baby to sleep can be stressful and tiresome. Each baby is different and each baby needs different amounts of sleep at different stages in their lives.
As this can be one of the most challenging areas for new parents, these are some of the most common amounts of time spent sleeping by babies at different ages:
1 month old sleeps 13 – 20 hours
3 month old sleeps 11 – 16 ½ hours
6 months 9 – 12 hours
Below are some of the Sleep Essentials to assist you on your mission to getting your baby to sleep and saving your own sleep.
Sleep Essentials:
1. Use the feed, play and sleep routine
2. Recognise your babies tired signs & avoid your baby getting over-tired
3. Swaddle your baby for all sleeps
4. Put baby to sleep where you want her to wake up.
5. When-ever possible put baby into bed awake so she learns to settle herself
6. Help your newborn to sleep if she struggles to settle
7. Resist getting baby up at her first grizzle – give her the opportunity to resettle.
1. Use the feed, play and sleep routine
This is a simple three (3) step routine method – and can start right from when they are a newborn:
1. Feed them so they have energy
2. Play with them or let them play so that they then get tired
3. Sleep – let them sleep so that they can replenish their energy to do it all over again.
2. Recognise the Sleep Signs that your child may show?
- Rubbing of the eyes
- Arching back
- Frowning
- Hands clenched
- Jerky body movements
- Grimacing
- Grizzling
- Yawning
- Ear pulling
3. Swaddle your baby for all sleeps
Gives the effect of being tucked up nicely, just as they were during the nine months inside and they can’t move their hands or feet, as babies tend to have little control over their movements when just born.
Don't be afraid to wrap your baby up firm, they are used to it, otherwise they may wiggle loose and grizzle.
Once your baby has more control over their movements you can move them into a sleep-sack. This is a “sack” that has a zip down one side and usually buttons or domes at the top where the arms and head stick out of. It keeps them warm no matter what the season, as babies tend to kick of their sheets with all their movement.
4. Put baby to sleep where you want her to wake up.
Avoid getting into the habit of rocking your baby to sleep in your arms then attempting to place them in their own bed; you will pay for it in the long-run.
It is important for your baby to wake up where it went to sleep, so that your baby recognises familiar places and is not startled when it wakes and doesn’t recognise where it is straight away.
It is also a good practice for your baby to learn to put themselves to sleep, and that the cot or bassinet is a place to go to sleep and not just a place to wake up in.
5. When-ever possible put baby into bed awake so she learns to settle herself
Self settling is letting your baby settle themselves to sleep, this may mean letting them cry and giving them the time to do so, not rushing in to pick them up.
Crying is natural for a baby, and many will cry or wimper just before falling asleep, over time you will learn the difference between a settling cry, a protest cry, a distress cry which may indercate, hunger, uncomfortable (hot/cold/position/wet...) and a range of other reasons you will get used to checking over time.
Not all babies cry when put to bed, some will play for a little before settling into a sleep.
6. Help your newborn to sleep if she struggles to settle
Some babies may need a little more time to learn to settle themselves, a routine is recommended, it offers a sense of security to a baby when it knows whats coming next and whats happening, ie. Food, a little playing then sleep, the more you do it, the more the baby will get used to it, and expect it.
If your baby sounds like it is crying the house down, after 10 minutes go in without turning on the lights, and without making anymore noise than is nessary, check on your baby, pick them up without making eye contact, as babies like eye contact, sing a soft song moving slowly, and if your baby looks to had settled and calmed themselves ready to go back to sleep then put them back in their cot/bassinette, more than not they will cry again, but give it another 10 minutes, you might find that it maybe the cry the settles them to sleep.
Now the 10 minutes is just a guideline, you will know what you are comfortable with in regards to your own baby, but give them sometime to work it out themselves.
7. Resist getting baby up at her first grizzle – give her the opportunity to resettle.
Here is a little known fact, we all sleep in sleep cycles, of aproxiamently 40-45 minute cycles, where we will go from a light sleep to a deep sleep to a light sleep. Did you ever wonder why some mornings you felt great when you got up and others like a train just hit you? It would depend on where in your sleep cycle you had woken up in.
Babies are just the same, however when they get into their light sleep, they may wake and make a noise, or cry out, this is normal and is a part of learning to self settle and learning to sleep, your baby may go through 2-3 sleep cycles (give or take) during their day sleep, you could almost set your watch to it. How much can you get done in 40 minute bits?
You will get to know when your baby is done sleeping also, hopefully your routine is working and your baby doesn't feel like playing at 2 in the morning.
MORE INFORMATION
Times and Stages to look our for
Babies often have unsettled times when they seem more difficult to calm. These usually happen around 8 weeks (2 months), 20 weeks (5 months), 32 weeks (7-8 months) and 44 weeks (10 – 11 months).
You may also find that your baby’s sleep patterns change as they grow and develop, such as when they start teething.
Flat head syndrome
(Positional Plagiocephaly is the scientific name for it) can occur when a baby sleeps in the same position repeatedly or because of problems with the neck muscles. It is easy to treat, and with help will correct itself by the time a child is 1 year old.
Premature babies are more prone to positional plagiocephaly — their skulls are softer than those of full-term babies, and they spend a great deal of time on their backs without being moved or picked up because of their medical needs and extreme fragility after birth.
It is recommended that you lay your baby on their back, and alternate their head position depending on the sleep time. For example if you put them down in the morning and turned their head to the left, then turn it to the right in the afternoon sleep.
Always be sure your baby gets plenty of supervised time on the stomach while awake during the day. Not only does "tummy time" promote normal shaping of the back the head, it also helps in other ways. Looking around from a new perspective encourages your baby's learning and discovery of the world. Plus, it helps babies learn to push up on their arms, which helps develop the muscles needed for crawling and sitting up. It also helps to strengthen the neck muscles.
| Scott's Sleep Article - Sleeping Routine |
My partner (Renee) and I put our little lady (Pyper) into a Sleeping Routine, right from the next day after she was born and it worked very well for us.
Pyper was born in the end of July and she was sleeping through the night at 8 weeks of age which was fantastic for her and us. A book that I really recommend for getting babies in to a sleeping routine that we used was "Save our Sleep" by Tizzie Hall.
As a family we have a very hectic work schedule both Renee and I have our own businesses, as the Primary Care Giver I was trying to attend meetings, and careing for Pyper worked out because I knew that at 11am Pyper would be asleep so I could either take her in her capsule to the meeting or take her when she was awake at a later time.
Some people believe in attachment parenting and therefore sleeping, this means that when the baby is awake so are the parents, and if they want to play at 3am then so do the parents. My wife and I really love our sleep in fact if either one of us wakes each other up we get very cranky, so getting Pyper in a routine to make sure she slept through the night ASAP was really important for us.
Usually though you start to form a pattern and can see when things are going well and not so well, I know when Pyper is really sleepy because she becomes simply "destructive" running around, throwing herself at you, and being really rough.
- Scott
