- Categories : Advice

Tips: sleep and baby

Once you get home from maternity, you’ll discover a new rhythm, that of chopped nights, interspersed with suckling, diaper changes and small rhymes humming in the ear to soothe your infant. For milder nights, follow these tips:

The Sleep

You were warned when you were pregnant: sleep will be the sinews of war. Indeed, with the arrival of a baby, the nights take on a new dimension: waking up every 3 hours, diapers to change, bottles to prepare or feedings to give, and above all, cuddles and go. - returns to the house to soothe the crying of the newborn.

Why are the nights so complicated when you have a toddler at home?

The first 3 months, the rhythm of the baby is set on his needs primary: fatigue and hunger. He makes no difference between day and night and simply wakes up when he is hungry,” explains Marion Bonvarlet*, psychomotrician, specialist in early childhood.

Subsequently, as the feedings become less frequent and the nights are supposed to get longer, comes the anxiety of separation. “It can happen as early as 3 months for some, 6 months for others. The baby wonders why his parents left, if he is really alone, if we will come back to take care of him...

He then feels a very strong need to be reassured, hence his tears. It is then necessary to return, to assure him of his presence, again and again… “Little by little, he will understand the “permanence of the object” and accept sleep. He will gradually reassure himself, ”explains the psychomotor therapist. A process that can take time.

Ritualize bedtime

“After the first few weeks, when he can share his parents’ room, I recommend installing the baby in a space of his own”. Discover the Lit'bellule bedroom!

First and foremost because it makes it possible to ritualize bedtime as much as possible, an essential process to soothe the infant and allow him to fall asleep peacefully. “At this stage, the baby cannot tell the difference between day and night, between a nap and a sleep that needs to last longer. It is therefore the role of the parents to help him settle into this new rhythm”. How ? By establishing different rituals depending on the time of day. For the night, we dim the lights, we talk softly to the baby, we always sing the same nursery rhymes, with a slow and soothing rhythm. “Ideally, we start the bedtime ritual before entering the bedroom and we finish it once in the bedroom. The baby must understand that it is the beginning of the night, that he must go to bed”. During the day, we establish a little ritual with different nursery rhymes and we do not hesitate to leave light in the room. “And we must not forget to verbalize, as always: explain that we are going to bed, that it is time for a nap, etc.

Little tips to reassure a baby who can't sleep

"Above all, you have to be patient and not feel guilty." But a few tips can also help you:
  1. In the quarter of an hour before bedtime, warn your child that bedtime is approaching and opt for calm activities: cuddles, reading, etc. T
  2. Always follow the same routine, so that the baby understands that bedtime is coming and gradually learns to fall asleep on his own.
  3. Give your baby a cuddly toy impregnated with your scent, which will reassure him in your absence – Explain and comment on what you are doing: "I'm going to put you to bed, I'll be right next to you, it's time to sleep, etc. »
  4. Do not rush at the first cry: sometimes the baby goes back to sleep on his own. "Study his crying, if it intensifies or on the contrary subsides..."

And above all give lots of love! 

Related posts