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Sleep - Suggestions on how to get more - www.lullabytrust.org.uk
- During the day wake a sleeping baby to feed
- Lie down to feed your baby and rest with her
- Consider day time routine – is it too busy for both of you?
- Check your posture, are you relaxed, shoulders down?
- Healthy diet – drink less caffeine
- Bath baby during the evening if baby enjoys it and helps you all relax
- Go to bed early
- Keep lights low at night
- Don’t change nappies at night unless dirty
Facts
- For the first 2 weeks a newborn does not know they are no longer in the womb, where they were fed and held all the time and slept when they chose to. This is why baby love being in baby carriers (slings and wraps)
- Newborns sleep 16-17 hours per 24 hour period
- A newborn does not know the difference between night and day
- Babies move progressively through different phases of sleep
- Newborns enter REM sleep immediately upon falling asleep and move from deep to light sleep in cycles of 20 minutes.
From 2 months
Babies have the ability to soothe themselves back to sleep
At 3 months
Babies enter non REM sleep first, a pattern that will continue for the rest of her life.
70% are said to sleep from midnight until 5 am.
At 6 months
- Babies may sleep 13-14 hours during 24 hours
- 85% of babies are said to sleep from 12 until 5 am
- Almost all infants are physiologically capable of sleeping through the night
Tips to get baby sleep in their crib
- Remove bottle or nipple as they drop off but before deep sleep
- Gently hold their chin to slow down sucking reflex
- Transfer them to crib whilst sleepy not fast asleep, they will then not be afraid when they wake up alone
Set up a night time routine
- Keep things calm and quiet
- Read and/or sing to your baby
Find a phrase or a few words that will signal sleep, be it
- shhhshhh
- sleep time now
- time to close your eyes
and use your phrase every night
Facts taken from:
- Practical Parenting: Sleep by Siobhan Stirling (2003)
- Guidance books: the no-cry sleep solution by Elizabeth Pantley (USA 2002)
- Baby carriers, the facts – www.schoolofbabywearing.com
- Evidence based websites:
www.unicef.org.uk/caringatnight
The 5 S’s for soothing your baby
How to ‘Switch - off” Your Baby’s Crying With the 5 S’s from The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp, MD - www.thehappiestbaby.com
- Calming your baby is like dancing, but you have to follow the baby’s lead.
- Do the 5 S’s vigorously only lessening the intensity after baby begins to settle
- The 5 S’s must be done exactly right for them to work.
Here’s a summary of the most important aspects of the 5 S’s
Zzzz
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Baby Intuition 2017