The post Baby sleep myths busted! appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>This is definitely a myth. Keeping your baby up longer at night or between naps will result in an overtired child. An overtired child will be fussy, cranky, have trouble feeding and take much longer to settle into sleep.
They will also be more likely to wake during the night and earlier in the mornings, and will only have very short naps the following day.
It is possible, but only if you have set the foundations for healthy sleep skills early and your child is developing good self-soothing strategies.
In this instance, you can usually expect babies to start sleeping through the night between three and six months of age (providing they are healthy and developing well).
However children that still rely on “props” to fall asleep, such as feeding/rocking/patting, etc. will more than likely continue to wake through the night. This is because they have never learned the ability to put themselves to sleep so they are unable to consolidate sleep cycles through the night.
They will often rouse after a sleep cycle and instead of using their own skills to return quickly to sleep they will cry out for their “prop” before they are able to go back to sleep.
It is very difficult to always put your baby in their cot/bassinet while awake and allow them to use their own skills to fall asleep when they are newborns, as they need to sleep often.
Parents will sometimes be out and about and need to put their baby to sleep in the pram, car seat or carrier. However it is important to be respectful of your child’s sleep needs and whenever possible give them the opportunity to attempt to fall asleep in their cot or bassinet. This is the place where they are going to get the best quality sleep.
Remember how challenging and disturbed your own sleep is if you have to sleep in the car, or even when staying in a hotel room as opposed to your own bed at home. If you always let your baby fall asleep in your arms they are never going to develop their own self-soothing skills.
Just remember that as your child grows, they get heavier and while you may find it easy to rock a newborn to sleep in your arms, it will not be as easy to do this with your one, two or even three year old.
It is never enjoyable to have to wake a sleeping baby, and the only reason I would suggest doing this would be to preserve a bedtime. As children get older their sleep needs change and sometimes too much daytime sleep (for an older baby or child) can have a negative effect on bedtime and sleeping through the night. However, the opposite is also true and over tiredness will also negatively impact night time sleep so it’s best to err on the side of more sleep as opposed to less.
Most children will usually drop their daytime nap around three or four years of age (providing they are getting their 11-12hrs of night time sleep). However, it is possible that children as young as two and a half years of age to drop their daytime naps. Before this age, a daytime nap or naps are very important to prevent over tiredness and recharge their little bodies for the remainder of the day.
This is a myth. For very young babies, the length of time for which they are able to sleep is largely determined by how quickly their little bellies empty after a feed. However, as your baby reaches the three to six month age, it is healthy sleep habits and good self-soothing skills (that can be introduced gently from birth) that will help your baby sleep for longer periods. It is always very important to ensure your baby is well fed and developing properly, but the addition of good nutrition throughout the entire day is more important than adding infant cereal to their bedtime bottle.
About the Author: Good Night is a child and baby sleep consultancy that specialises in helping parents with children who struggle to sleep soundly. For more information, visit: www.goodnightbaby.co.za
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]]>The post Is your baby an early riser? Follow these 14 tips to stretch your baby’s sleep! appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>Between 5am and 7am is a tricky time for babies as they are in the lightest stage of their sleep and most likely already have 10 hours under their belt, so if they are woken, it is very tough to get them to go back to sleep.
The reality is, early mornings are probably going to be a part of your life for a while (a side effect of being a parent unfortunately), but here are a few suggestions that I recommend you try to see if you can make that early morning not quite so early.
Is your baby’s room as dark as possible? Even the slightest bit of light can encourage your baby to wake before an appropriate time, especially during the summer months. We sleep best in complete darkness so investing in good blackout blinds for you and your family will help encourage restful sleep.
Is there any environmental noise happening? Somebody getting up for work, building noise, a garbage truck rolling by?
Using a sound machine set to white noise can help eliminate the chance that an outside noise wakes your baby up. Make sure if introducing white noise that it is on when baby goes to bed and stays on all night long so their sleep environment is consistent.
Stick to your guns when it comes to wake-up time. I never suggest getting your baby out of bed prior to 6 a.m. If you start bringing them out earlier than this it will only persuade them to call for you at this time.
Decide on a minimum wake-up time (within reason) for your family and make it a rule. If you have a toddler who is in a bed, introducing a night light that changes colour when it is morning can be very useful.
What time is your baby’s first nap? If you’re putting your little one down too early after rising then they will start to use this as an extension of their night time sleep.
What is happening when your baby is waking early? Could they be waking up early looking for something?
Make sure to delay your baby’s first feed by about 10 minutes. If you rush to them and feed them right away when they wake at this time, you’re only supporting their decision that it’s time to get up.
What time is baby’s bedtime? It could be that your baby is overtired, which can lead to early wake ups.
Ensuring that your child gets to bed somewhere between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. is ideal, depending on when their last nap ended.
Keep in mind that when changing bedtime you often need to stick to the new time for a week or two to see any results, so be patient.
If after trying an earlier bedtime for a week or two with no change in wake-up time, it may be time to look at slowly moving bedtime later by 10 minutes every three days until it is 30 minutes later than normal.
Again, you cannot expect to see results for at least a week, if not two; just be consistent and patient.
This is usually the last thing that I suggest to parents when nothing else has worked and you have looked at all other possible causes for the early rising. This can only be done if the wake-up time is fairly consistent;
About the Author: Good Night is a child and baby sleep consultancy that specialises in helping parents with children who struggle to sleep soundly. For more information, visit: www.goodnightbaby.co.za
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]]>The post Worst baby sleep advice ever appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>Unfortunately, you will also walk around with one eye open, wondering whether the difference between night and day even matters anymore.
And because you look like a walking zombie, every woman who you dare to make eye contact with, will offer you their ‘tried and tested’ baby sleep advice.
From swaddling, to crying-it-out, to keeping baby awake during the day – you will hear it all. In sleep deprived desperation, you will probably try every piece of advice that you receive, only to realise that it doesn’t work and you’re still yawning your way through life.
Some tips are just not worth it. To help you sift through the baddies (before trying them and realising that they don’t work), we asked our Facebook fans to share the worst baby sleep advice that they had received…
Ok. So who will do the housework, laundry and cooking for you then?
Your baby is awake, not sick. If your baby wants to be awake, she will probably fight the drowsy effects of the Panado. Cue overtired, screaming baby.
Sleep training is important, but for an older baby, not a newborn. The only thing this piece of advice will get you is stress and crying, crying and more crying.
Um, what if your newborn baby chokes?
No, he won’t. Not without help. All this piece of advice will get you is an overtired baby. An overtired baby cries. A lot.
Giving water to newborn babies is not recommended, as it interferes with their digestive system. The last thing you want on top of a tired baby, is a crampy baby.
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