Helping Your Child Sleep Better
It seems that parents of every new baby quickly become challenged by broken sleep and their baby’s unpredictable and erratic sleep patterns. It is hardly surprising then that parents are eager to learn techniques to help their child sleep better.
While a child may not sleep well or follow a logical sleep pattern, the effects are equally as profound for sleep-deprived parents. Some new parents are surprised to learn that ‘sleeping through’ is defined as sleeping for five consecutive hours, according to many studies of infant sleep.
The great news is that a number of gentle and calming strategies can be used in an effort to help a child and their parents sleep better. Here we take a look at seven of these:
1: Recognise and understand the baby’s tired signs
For all of us, there are few things as horrible as being made to stay awake when we are exhausted and want to sleep. Instead of waiting for a baby to become ‘over-tired’, it is helpful to put a baby to bed as soon as they exhibit signs of tiredness, such as becoming increasingly quiet, jerky movements, losing interest in toys and people and being overly fussy. Recognising and acting upon tired signs is important, as a grumpy, over-tired baby can be very difficult to settle.
2: Infant massage
An increasing body of evidence shows the benefits of infant massage for children and their parents. Some studies show that infants and toddlers who receive massage on a daily basis have less difficulty settling and falling asleep than other children of the same age.
Infant massage creates a unique and special opportunity for children and parents to bond and, when delivered using a safe and natural baby massage oil, the experience can be all the more enjoyable, calming and can help your child to regulate their sleep/wake cycle.
3: Follow a bedtime routine
Even very young babies benefit from consistency and learning the cues that indicate it is time to settle and prepare for sleep. One of the best elements of a bedtime routine is a warm, relaxing bath, perhaps followed by soft music, a song or story, just before bedtime.
4: Music
Traditional lullabies are perennially popular and effective in soothing a baby because they may help a child to recall the music that they heard while in their mother’s womb, including the mother’s heartbeat and the sounds of fluid rushing through the placenta.
Other music designed specifically for babies includes white noise or elements that replicate the rhythm of the mother’s heartbeat. These sounds tend to have a wonderfully soothing effect on babies and it is sometimes recommended that they be played continuously throughout the night.
5: Motion
Many babies love motion, particularly the relaxing sensations that come from a rocking chair or the movements of a parent as they carry the baby in a sling. Devices such as baby hammocks are also used by some parents to soothe their baby off to sleep.
6: Swaddling
It is understood that some babies disturb their own sleep with their sensitive startle reflex. This reflex causes jerky, reactive movements that can occur even when the baby is asleep. Swaddling a baby can help them to feel more secure and enable them to sleep more soundly by limiting the impact of the startle reflex. A newborn should be firmly wrapped in a muslin or gauze piece of cloth in the warmer months and something a little warmer in winter. As the baby grows and ages, they can be wrapped more loosely until the startle reflex disappears (usually around the age of three months).
7: Time feeds appropriately
When your baby is old enough, many parents recommend timing feeds so that they help the baby to distinguish between day and night. If a baby sleeps for long periods between feeds in the daytime (for example, four hours), it can be appropriate to wake the baby and offer them a feed in the hope that they will sleep for longer at night.
Some parents also swear by giving a dream feed — the offering of a feed just before you go to bed yourself, no matter what time the baby received their previous feed. The intention of this practice is to have your baby’s longest sleep occur at the same time as your own.
Almost all parents are eager to have their children sleep better. The aforementioned techniques and strategies offer some practical suggestions that have been successfully used by some parents.