How to Improve Your Baby’s Rest-Activity Cycle
Along with the joy that a newborn baby brings, sleep deprivation is a reality for almost all new parents. A baby’s sleep patterns can seem entirely random and chaotic and developing any sort of routine or predictability about a newborn’s behaviour can take many months.
While there is considerable variation in the amount of time in which newborns sleep, feed and ‘play’ (as much as a newborn baby can play), there are strategies that parents can use to try to develop a pattern of rest and activity for their newborn. Particular strategies, including baby massage and close contact, have been found to be effective in helping a baby settle for sleep.
So, what can a parent do to improve their baby’s cycle of rest and activity?
Try baby massage:
The benefits of baby massage extend to both parents and the baby and the practice has been found to strengthen bonding and attachment between parent and child. In addition, there is some evidence to suggest that babies who receive massage early in life (from approximately 10 days of age), tend to exhibit the sleep patterns of slightly older babies when they are a number of weeks older.
Baby massage can be enjoyable and relaxing for both parent and child. The use of a quality baby massage oil can be of benefit and enhance the enjoyment and ease with which the massage is given.
Use cues:
Although we may not realise it, it is likely that (even as newborns) babies pick up on social cues, including the way that we go about our day. Many experts recommend including the baby in your daily activities so that they come to realise the times of day for activity and those for rest.
It is not inconceivable to think that babies soon pick up on the patterns of our day and become most active at the times when we are busiest.
Be mindful of stimulation:
Of course it is a reality that newborn babies wake for feeds at night. As you prepare and provide the feed (by whatever means you use), try to keep activity and disturbance to a minimum. Essentially, this means that noise levels should be kept low and the baby moved around as little as possible. The best scenario is that the baby will be fed without completely waking, but this is not always possible.
The benefits of natural light:
Although your newborn baby may not respond to differences in light as much as the social cues that you provide, exposing your baby to natural light in the day time can help him or her to adjust to the twenty-four hour cycle of a day. Some studies have shown that some babies who are exposed to unchanging but low levels of light may take longer to become familiar with the twenty-four hour cycle.
Breastfeeding:
Although it is not possible or convenient for every mother, it is possible that some breastfed babies fall to sleep and thereby adjust to the twenty-four hour cycle more quickly than formula fed babies, because of an amino acid found in breast milk. Some studies have found this to be true, but there will of course be variation from baby to baby.
Close proximity to your baby:
While there is not an overwhelming amount of evidence to prove it true, some believe that sleeping in close proximity to your baby can help him or her to develop their circadian rhythms.
As parents spend more time getting to know their baby and adjust to the changes brought about by a new little person in the household, patterns will emerge. However, there are a number of things that parents can do to try to regulate and develop some consistency in the way that a baby rests and is active.