Introduction
Sleeping is essential for your baby’s health and development. That’s why it is necessary for you to make sure that your precious one has sufficient rest and sleep. A sleep-deprived baby is a fussy baby, and a fussy baby will cost you your rest and sleep. The parent-child relationship is a vicious cycle. With that considered, what should you prioritize or avoid when putting your baby to sleep? This guide contains some helpful hints for you!
Things You Should Avoid Doing Before Your Baby’s Bedtime
Cradling Your Baby to Sleep
Some newborns require crutches or other supports to fall asleep faster and better. This is because your kid has yet to develop a coping mechanism to calm themselves to sleep around this period. As a result, kids will rely on their environment or on you to help them sleep. You may be tempted to gently rock or cradle your baby as this is one of the best ways to help your little one to sleep. This can be a double-edged sword for you while it’s an effective way to lull your baby to sleep.
You may wonder how. Your baby will be overly reliant on cradling to fall asleep if you make it a regular basis or even worse, it will be hard for them to fall asleep without your presence near them. To solve this problem, you can let your baby to sleep in their own crib rather than in your arms. You will be able to train your baby to become more independent to fall asleep without your presence by implementing this bedtime routine.
Feeding Your Baby Late in the Night
Contrary to popular opinion, your baby doesn’t require extra calories to fall asleep! Before your baby’s bedtime, make sure they are well-fed and you do not have to feed them again if they wake up late at night or in the midnight. It is important to avoid late night feeding because it would cause your baby to have an unhealthy eating habits as well as disruption to your sleeping.
If your baby is used to being fed at late night, they will feel very full in the morning and hungry at night, resulting in a sequence of unhealthy cycles that will keep your baby up at night. But, of course, each child’s situation is different. Therefore, before attempting to build any feeding routine, get the advice from your pediatrician. If your pediatrician has given you the all-clear, try to remain firm with your baby and eliminate any opportunities for them to eat after their bedtime meal.
Letting Your Baby Sleep Anywhere
While it may be simpler to let your baby to take a nap in their stroller or in the car, it will be more difficult to put your baby to sleep during their bedtime. Why? When your baby falls asleep in the car or stroller, they are being moved or rocked. They gradually lose their ability to self-soothe and must rely on movement to sleep. Your baby is not getting a deep and sufficient rest when they are sleeping in the car or stroller. This is due to the fact that motion sleep keeps the brain in a light slumber. Car naps can disrupt your baby’s sleep pattern because they are often shorter – around 20 to 30 minutes- and does not constitute a full sleep cycle. Your baby may also wake up when you stop the car. This will cause your baby to have more interrupted sleep at night.
Build a familiar and appropriate sleep environment for your baby to help them develop healthy sleep routines. It is better if your baby can nap and sleep at night at the same area every day. Try to plan your daily errands around your baby’s nap time or get the help from your family, nanny or a babysitter if necessary.
Not Putting Them to Sleep Earlier
Some parents believe that their babies will tire out and naturally fall asleep if they stay up late. This is most likely a myth even though it seems like a logical explanation. Putting your baby to bed late will just train them to stay up longer than their usual bedtime. They will get tired more often if they stay up more often. This will cause your baby to take a longer time to fall asleep and be awakened more frequently.
So, how to solve this problem? Bathe your baby earlier and give them a gentle massage to prepare them for an earlier bedtime. This could help your baby to relax for bedtime. You can try to shift all of these new habits to 15 minutes earlier than the time they fall asleep if they are resistant to the new change. This would help to realign your baby to their normal sleeping schedule.
You may hire a confinement nanny to get the professional help, especially if you are a new parent who need help and guidance to put your baby to sleep and to learn more about baby care during your confinement period. The nanny can help you with confinement care, baby care, confinement meals preparation, basic housework and more. Therefore, your adjustment to motherhood could be much easier.
Conclusion
These are the four things you should not do before your baby’s bedtime. Avoiding these practices not only helps your baby to sleep better, you can also obtain much needed rest and sleep.