Baby Sleep Tips - Some Tricks For The Transition
As a new parent, one of your priorities will be to establish
good sleeping habits with your newborn. Your baby needs to learn
to sleep on his own; the transition from sleeping with his
mother to sleeping by himself takes some time. Of course, as add
added bonus, if you get your baby to learn to sleep on his own
you will also get some much needed rest yourself. To instill
good sleeping habits in your baby, research and try to employ
different baby sleep tips: try a lot of things and see what
works for you, and don't be afraid to trust your instincts.
Many baby sleep tips center on the idea of establishing routines
and associations for your child between nighttime and sleep. The
sooner you child begins to associate bedtime with sleep, the
more likely he is to be able to go to sleep without a fuss. A
period that is often overlooked, however, in establishing day
vs. night associations, is the period of "transition" - that is,
the one between being awake and falling asleep. Here are some
transitioning techniques to try:
Try what is sometimes called "fathering down." Just before
placing the baby into bed, the father should cradle the baby in
such a way that the baby's head rests on the father neck. The
father should then talk gently to the child. Because the male's
voice is much deeper than the female's, babies are often more
soothed by it, and will fall asleep more easily after being
exposed to it for some time.
You can also try what is sometimes referred to as "wearing
down." This is effective if your baby has been active throughout
the day and is too excited to go to bed easily. All you have to
do is place your baby in a sling or carrier - "wear him" in
other words - for about half an hour before his bedtime. Simply
go about your regular household activities: being close to a
parent and slowly rocked about before bedtime will provide your
child with an easier transition from being awake to being asleep.
Finally, if you've exhausted other options, you can go for the
tried and true method of "driving down." Most parents are
probably familiar with this as a last resort: place your baby in
the car and drive around for awhile until he falls asleep. This
one, while inconvenient, usually works every time, and if you
desperately need some sleep it can be a godsend.
Obviously, you don't want to do things like drive around every
night to get your child to sleep. Nor do you want to have to
carry him around in a sling. The idea, though, is to start with
these more drastic techniques and then slowly ease out of them.
Keep in mind what a major transition your baby is going through
when he is tiny: he's never slept on his own before. He simply
doesn't know how to transition himself from being awake to being
asleep. By employing these transition techniques you will be
slowly teaching him how to do so, and as they are gradually
removed your baby will learn good sleeping habits, which will
ensure that both you and your child get a good night's rest.