Is Your Baby Suffering From Sleeping Problems?
When your baby has a problem sleeping, life in every form can become almost impossible for you! What’s frustrating is that the baby can never drop off to sleep during the nights or at anytime convenient for you! Here are a few tips on how to make your baby sleep calmly without spurts of wakefulness.
Music is one of the few lullabies that babies appreciate. Try playing soft peaceful music in the nursery, or even singing softly to the baby! Slow, soft and repetitive sounds are known to lull the baby to sleep. Try reading poems or bedtime stories to your little ones, even if they are too young to understand them. You’ll have your baby in dreamland in no time!
A lot of babies feel protected whilst they are being rocked or even held. Pace around the room slowly with your baby in your arms, and see him nod off. Babies also fall asleep during motion; a stroller ride or a drive in your car. This may be very frustrating since you’ve no liberty of falling asleep at this time! Try taking the baby for a short drive and then settle him at home!
You can also opt to use a rocking crib which fixes in place so your baby doesn’t get accustomed to this rocking movement at all times. Rocking cribs help your baby fall off to sleep, but don’t get them too used to this, since they’re likely to have a problem once they get older and shift to a bed that cannot rock.
Babies are quick to pick up on any changes in the atmosphere. Even if you’re anxious about your baby’s lack of sleep, try to keep calm and do not communicate this feeling to your baby. The baby will associate this strange feeling with sleeping time and be afraid to of bedtime or even scared of the dark. This leads to sleeping troubles which may last up to adulthood! When getting your baby to go to sleep, listen to some soft music to relax both you and the baby. This will create a safe state for your baby to nod off in!
If you’re currently in a routine that doesn’t seem to be working for your baby, experiment with changes to it. Try out different options; different sleeping time for the baby, both parents involved in putting the baby to sleep, napping during day-time, changing the baby’s feeding times and so on. If you try to fix the baby in with your own routine, you’ll have some serious problems with the baby!
If the above tips do not work in putting your baby to bed, it is best to seek your doctor or paediatrician’s help, so that there is no boundary left untouched in the quality care you wish to provide to your baby.
