How to Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Well

Many parents will find themselves overwhelmed when it comes to taking care of a newborn. And although things may start off well, it’s surprising how quickly it can feel like you’ve descended into chaos. One of the most challenging tasks faced by new parents is how to help your newborn baby sleep well. This article is going to take a look at some of the things you can do.

Swaddle

Up until five months old, newborn babies will suffer from feeling like they’re falling which will inadvertently wake them up with a startle reflex. Swaddling them prevents this reflex from startling them awake and will help them to sleep for longer.

Learn a daytime nap routine

Keeping your baby awake during the day is unnecessary and for the first few months they will spend a lot of time sleeping. To help your newborn baby sleep well, keep an eye on when and how often they’re napping during the day. After about a month, they’ll start to form a routine which will be easier to monitor. Just be mindful that they don’t oversleep during the day which will prevent them from sleeping longer at night.

Don’t rush in

It can be hard not to rush right in when your baby starts to cry in the night, but do your best to hold back. Allowing your baby to sleep independently will go a long way to help your newborn baby sleep well as they will eventually get to a stage where they no longer need you to step in and will be able to fall back to sleep on their own.

Create a routine

Structure and predictability are important for babies and creating a regular routine around bedtime and naptime will help them to stay asleep for longer. If you can maintain the same routine every day, your baby will begin to learn that sleep will follow this and it will help them to get to sleep quicker too.

Put your baby down awake

Although rocking your baby in your arms, or a pram, is good for settling a baby ready for sleep, try not to make it a regular occurrence. Put your baby down awake but drowsy and they will gradually be able to learn how to settle themselves.

Turn on some white noise

If your baby is finding it difficult to settle, turning on some white noise could really help your newborn baby sleep well and even if they startle awake, they will be more likely to drift back off again without being too disturbed. It’s fairly inexpensive to invest in a white noise machine, or something as simple as turning a fan on can also be just as effective.

Independent sleeping

Ultimately, independent sleeping is the only thing that will help your newborn baby to sleep well and all of these tips here will contribute to this. From about 3 months old your baby’s sleep pattern will change and at this stage in their life, the ability to settle themselves will be incredibly important to a restful nights’ sleep.

Resources:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/family/how-help-newborn-baby-sleep-6692617
http://www.themilitarywifeandmom.com/starting-babywise-top-10-newborn-baby-sleep-tips/