Everyone wants their baby to sleep. Newborn babies sleep a lot but probably not when you want them to sleep. Here are some tips to get your child to sleep.
Babies need to learn the difference between night and day. You can accomplish this by creating a dark, quiet room at night and a light, active room during the day. Seems simple, but it is very important. When your baby wakes up at night, keep the curtains drawn and lights off and talk softly to her. When feeding and changing diapers in the day, keep a bright room and engage with your child by singing, talking and playing.
When our twins were 6 weeks old, my husband and I started a bedtime routine for them. I was determined to have them sleeping peacefully so my husband and I could enjoy dinner together. We gave them a bath, story and a feed and bedtime was approximately the same time each night. It took a long time to establish this bedtime routine. One of the twins became sick and was unsettled, and then the other one was sick. Sometimes they would not sleep and cry a lot. Other times we had family and friends around for dinner and the routine was lost. We were far from perfect, but we persisted and the routine paid off. For the most part, the twins started sleeping through the night and had more energy and less mood swings during the day.
The World Health Organization issued guidelines that children need "good quality sleep." I interpret this as infants should be placed in their cribs (on their backs) to sleep and not left in car seats and strollers. This will create better quality sleep. This advice is for naps as well.
Establishing good bedtime practices will allow you and your child to have more sleep which is essential for everyone.
