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Baby Sleep
First let's think about what's the surrounds your baby while sleeping. A dark, quiet room is ideal for your infant to sleep at. Try to choose a separate room or space out of the traffic center of your home. Some babies sleep better with background noise (or white noise) that buffers sudden loud noises. Don't forget that babies should always be positioned on their back for sleep. For a baby's crib, use a flannel-backed, waterproof mattress cover, which will be safer, cooler, and more comfortable than a plain plastic or rubber cover. You may also use soft, lightweight, crib-size blanket and fitted sheets. Avoid heavy comforters, which have been linked to suffocation. Never use infant cushions that have a soft fabric covering or are loosely filled with plastic foam beads or pellets. These cushions have been forbidden by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission because they've been linked to a few dozen infant suffocations. Since pillows can also cause suffocation in very young children, don't let your child sleep with a pillow until he's older than age 2 and has made the transition to a bed. Considering the best bed-time for your baby - the sooner you establish a bedtime routine, the better. In the majority of cases, a baby's biological clock is preset for an early bedtime. When parents work with that time, a baby falls asleep more easily and stays asleep more peacefully. Most babies are primed to go to sleep for the night as early as 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. Start following a set pattern every night when your baby is as young as 6 or 8 weeks old. Babies can appreciate the consistency and predictability. Stick to your routine as best you can even when you're not home - it can make it easier for your baby to settle down in unfamiliar surroundings. What you include in your ritual is up to you. There's the standard bath, putting on pajamas, reading a story, and having a cuddle, or you can play a quiet game. Just make sure you choose something that helps calm your baby instead of riling up. And while you can certainly start your ritual in the bathroom or the living room, it should end in your baby's bedroom. It's important to teach your baby that room is a nice place to be and to sleep at. If your baby gets upset seeing you walk out the door after you tuck her in, tell that you'll be back to check on her in a few minutes. In all likelihood, your baby will be fast asleep by the time you return. In their efforts to encourage their baby to sleep better, one approach that many parents use is to put their baby to bed later in the evening. They think, "If he's "really tired" he'll sleep better, right?" Wrong! This often backfires because Baby becomes overtired, and chronically sleep-deprived. Early to bed, early to rise? For babies, early to bed does not mean early to rise! Most babies sleep longer with an earlier bedtime. Many parents are afraid to put their baby to bed so early, thinking that they will then face a 5 a.m. wake up call. But keeping your little one up too late backfires, and more often, a late night is the one followed by that early morning awakening. But what if you are a working parent, and your evening with your little one begins at 6:30 or 7:00, you may find yourself torn between keeping your baby up for some playtime and getting him right to bed. If you will supply a good night's sleep for your baby, you can consider getting up earlier in the morning and saving some time before work to play with your baby, as an alternative to that late-evening play session. As when your baby goes to sleep earlier, and sleeps better, he awakens in a pleasant mood, eager to play. You'll both enjoy that special morning time. Later, when your baby is consistently sleeping all night, every night, you can move bedtime a little later and judge whether the difference affects your baby's sleep. Finding Your Baby's Best Bedtime It can take some experimentation to find your baby's best bedtime. If you have been putting your baby to bed too late in the evening, you can approach this adjustment in one of two different ways: • Adjust your baby's bedtime to be earlier by fifteen to thirty minutes every two or three nights. Pay attention to how easily your baby falls asleep as well as his awakening time and mood to gauge the effectiveness of the changes until you settle on his best bedtime, or • Beginning at around 6:30 p.m., watch your baby closely. As soon as he exhibits any signs of tiredness (fussing, losing interest in toys, looking glazed, yawning) put him right to bed, even if his previous bedtime has been 11:00 p.m. When you do this, keep your home quiet and the baby's room dark so that it resembles his usual environment in the middle of the night. If this bedtime is substantially earlier than usual, your baby may think he's going down for a nap and awaken after a short snooze. If he does this, respond very quickly so that he doesn't fully awaken. Follow your usual method for helping him fall back to sleep, such as rocking or nursing; keep the room dark and quiet as you do during the middle of the night. It may take a week or more of adjustment to settle into a new bedtime, but once you do, you'll find that both you and your baby are happier.
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