6 Scientifically Proven Methods to Get Your Baby to Sleep
Thousands of Mothers Tried It Already
Nurturing a baby is definitely a tough task. The parents have to be extra secure and sure about the upbringing of their children from day 1.
A little mistake in the training of the child’s development can cause mind-disturbing results such as anxiety, depression or mood swings.
Adding to this, there are then experts which come in the line giving out different advice on the ideal timings and the sleep training methods who will make you unsure of who to believe, how to proceed or which training method should be followed for a perfect child’s development.
Now, to get an easy way through this, I am going to tell you 6 science-backed strategies that have been tested and proven to promote healthy sleep habits in babies and young children.
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Strategy #1 – Learn when your child signals sleep
We all have a sleep window of opportunity, that is a period where we are tired but not too tired and hence the same with you child.
So, if you miss a chance in that sleep window and you get late tucking your child into bed, then his body will start releasing chemicals to fight the fatigue, making it difficult for you to get him to sleep.
So it is difficult to guess when your baby is feeling sleepy and when not. Your one month old child will not tell you what he needs. So, given below are some clues that your baby is ready to start feeling sleepy or it's his time for bed :
- Your baby is not active as regular and feeling calm - this is the most common behaviour of your child that he is tired and you need to take actions accordingly.
- Your baby may seem less interested in things or not keeping up with the surroundings - his eyes may be less focused and eyelids may be dropping.
- Your baby must be behaving quite - If your baby usually keeps babbling around and at a time if you see he is not talking that much, it means that it is time for him to go to bed.
- Your baby will not nurse as usual, he will do it slowly - Instead of sucking away vigorously, your baby will act slow and he might even sleep in the middle of the meal as well.
- Baby yawns are a natural sign of his sleep time and the best time to take action and make him a bed.
When your baby is very young, you should try and put him to sleep one to two hours after he first woke up.
If you miss his initial sleep indications and start noticing the signs of overtiredness - for instance, fussiness, irritability and eye rubbing, simply note how much time it has been since the baby has been up from bed and then plan to make him sleep at least 20 minutes earlier than the next time he wakes up. The good thing about parenting a newborn is there are a lot of chances and opportunities for a parent to guess and identify those cues roughly around six or seven times a day.
Learning to identify and read your own baby’s indications and cues is the initial step to a more rested and content baby.
Here are a few other things that you need to know about babies’ sleep cues, something that you have to be extra cautious about.
Babies tend to go through an extra irritation and a lot more crying when they reach the six-week mark. The amount of crying that babies do in a day increases when the babies are around six weeks of age.
And there is nothing wrong about this behaviour of the child and there is nothing to worry about as it is a temporary stage that babies go through.
Does your child become overtired or your child behaves in one or more of the following ways. ( results may vary, depending on his age and personality):
- There will be a sudden energy boost shown by your child at the very time you think is his time of being tired.
- You will start seeing “weird” and sudden increase in the activeness of the child’s behaviour, even if you child does not hold these characters at all.
- Increase in arguments between you and the toddler child of yours.
- Your child will face increased irritation, clinginess and she might even fall apart because of not coping with the lack of sleep any longer.
After all of this, you will find that your child has his or her own unique responses to being extra tired. Few of them start to look pale, some of the young babies start to look for a breast and will try latching on anything within rooting distance, including your face or it might be your arm. When nothing seems to be wrong (he’s fed and clean), but he is just crying about everything and wants to be held all day should make the parents realize that he is overtired and needs help to get to sleep.
So, the first and foremost step to a more rested and happier baby is to learn to read your baby’s unique sleep cues.
Strategy #2 – Teaching your baby to differentiate between night and day.
Because our “Circadian rhythm”, also known as the time clock that has been running inside us operates on a 24-hour and 10 minutes to 24-hour and 20 minutes cycle (everyone has a different rhythm varying on a slight basis) and all of our rhythms are not in sync with the 24-hour clock on which the planet operates, it is slightly out of sync, so we have to reset our internal clocks each and every day. Otherwise, we’d be staying up later and ultimately sleeping in later each day slowly.
Daylight is one of the mechanisms that keeps a track on our biological cycles.
According to science, when your body is exposed to daylight first thing in the morning and darkness at night, there is a regulation of production of melatonin in the body - a hormone that keeps our bodies’ internal clock in sync to that the time of sleep and waking up is synced with the planets’ rhythm.
So, by exposing your baby to the daylight as soon as he wakes up in the morning and by keeping his environment bright during the waking hours, you will help his circadian rhythm to cue him making him feel sleepy at the right times.
Moreover, he will automatically realize that the dark light is to sleep and the bright light is to wake up and you will realize that it is the best way to take advantage of sunlight whenever possible.
Studies have shown that when you expose your baby to the daylight between noon and 4:00 P.M., it increases the chances of your baby getting a sound sleep during night.
Strategy #3 – Let your baby practise sleeping on his own
Some of the sleep experts suggest that you put your baby onto bed in a sleepy but awake state whenever possible from the newborn stage itself so that it can get into his behaviour.
Others suggest that parents’ should give the child at least one chance to try and fall asleep on his own each day.
And then there are few people who say that there is no point to work on these skills until your baby reaches the three-to-four month mark (when your baby’s sleep-wake rhythm begins to mature so that some sleep learning can take place).
Sleep experts assure that the sleep sync clock starts ticking at around six weeks. They claim that this is the point where your baby begins to really get in touch with his environment as he’s about to sleep.
So, if the baby gets used to sleep on your lap or in your arms while you rock him or you sing him a song , he will want you to do the same, that is rock him and sing him a song whenever he wakes up in the middle of the night because then that will be the only way he would be knowing to sleep.
This is because the baby has developed a sleep association that involves you. You have become a walking and talking sleep aid for the child.
Some parents decide that it makes sense to take a middle-of-the-road approach to sleep associations during the early weeks and months of their baby’s life – they decide to make getting sleep the priority for themselves and their babies and to take advantage of any opportunities to start helping their babies to develop healthy sleep habits.
So, giving no regards as to when you start paying attention to the types of sleep associations your baby may be developing, there might be some point where you want to consider whether your baby could be starting to associate any of the following habits or behaviours with the process of falling asleep:
- Falling asleep while feeding from the bottle
- Falling asleep when rocked.
- When you rub your baby’s back ro pat him or even sing a lullaby.
- Making the baby sleep around you in the room.
- Relying on a pacifier.
So, here is something important to keep in mind, since we take the subject of sleep light and then end up with full satisfaction of our decision or none.
You can reduce the strength of any particular sleep association by reducing the time given to the baby till he falls asleep.
For example, you give little time to nursing your baby, a little time for his rocking and try to put your baby to bed just at the time when he is asleep but awake. It will then be difficult for him to get attached to any of the sleep associations.
Sleep experts suggest that the strongest sleep association is the feeding sleep association. So if you can encourage your child to fall asleep not necessarily always needing to be fed to sleep, your baby will have an easier time learning how to sleep when he is a little old.
Most babies are ready to start practicing these skills when they are at the age of three to four months.
Strategy #4 – Make daytime sleep a priority: Children who nap sleep better
Scientific research has shown that babies who take a nap during the day tend to sleep long and have a sound sleep at night. It might be a thought and general perspective in your mind that making a baby not sleep during the day will make it easier for the child to sleep early and better during the night but it does not happen that way. Babies typically end up being so over tired that they feel unsettled at night and do not have a sound sleep.
And rather than sleeping in so that they can catch up on the sleep they did not get the day before, the sync with the planet time disturbs and it is difficult for the child to settle down for their naps as well.
In a simplified manner, just as the child requires a proper meal and timely snacks to ensure his good health and steady growth, similarly, a child needs nutritious sleep snacks during the day that will ensure his night time sleep meal to behave at its best.
It is also noticed that babies, toddlers and preschoolers who nap generally pay more attention are in a good mood as compared to the age mates who don’t nap.
Strategy #5 – Discontinuing night feed at the right time
Your baby, if he gets the habit of night time feeding, may continue to wake up in the night even when he is grown above the age of feeding.
There might be cases when the child will go through that “No Night-Time feeding” or will not seem particularly interested in nursing after he wakes up in the night. This is the time for you to eliminate night-time feeding and use non-food methods to put him back to sleep.
Eventually, you will of course want your child to sleep with other methods and eliminate the strong food-sleep association. This elimination is different with different kids. With some, it may happen quickly, while with others, it might be a slower process.
Once the sleep association is broken, the child may stop waking up as often in the night and start acquiring some self-soothing skills to put himself to sleep.
Strategy #6 – Keeping your mind relaxed about the sleep issue
It is very important for you to stay calm and relaxed with the sleep issues of your child. If you show frustration and get angry dealing with your child at night, he will inevitably pick up your vibes, even if you try to hide your feelings.
Accepting the fact that some babies have a tendency to adopt things early and some babies do it in a steady process, you have to have extra patience when dealing with the same. Doing this, it will be easier for them to cope up with the night-time sleep interruptions.
Scientific studies have shown that parents who are confident about their parenthood and have patience and understanding for their babies make it very easy to handle the sleep challenges of their babies.
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Tears No More
Learn how to dramatically improve your child's restful sleep by emptying his "Emotional Backpack". Simply enter your email below to receive 100% FREE instant access.