One of the most persistent jokes you’re going to hear as a new parent is “say goodbye to your sleep.” In fact, the sleepless nights can sometimes be a little overstated. But what is true is that babies do have a way different sleeping pattern from adults, and you can’t exactly leave them alone when you’re awake. As such, getting in sync with your baby’s sleeping habits is a very good idea, but understanding those sleep habits and how you can influence them over time can make for a much easier transition.
Get To Know Their Sleep Cues
Being able to anticipate when your baby is going to fall asleep is one of the best ways to help you get in sync with their sleeping style. A lot of the common sleep cues are fairly obvious and easy to recognize, such as rubbing the eyes, arching, and yawning. However, at that stage, they should already be in a comfortable, quiet place, ready to head to bed. The earlier sleep cues that parents can often miss include things like slowing their movements, staring off into space, or even getting a little fussy. The exact combination of cues can differ from baby to baby, so it’s worth watching your baby to learn their own little habits that show they’re heading off to the land of nod.
Sleep When Your Baby Sleeps
In most cases, as a parent, you shouldn’t aim to get a full night’s sleep like you normally would. Your baby is not as likely to sleep through the night, but rather, might have more bursts of sleep while waking up semi-frequently, sometimes to feed, sometimes for no discernible reason. As such, getting a short nap when they do, or even having a quiet moment of rest while they sleep, can help restore some energy. Some parents opt for a co-sleeping arrangement, but you need to be especially careful if you decide to do that. Sleeping while the baby sleeps isn’t a hard and fast rule. The baby is going to need a lot more sleep than you, but timing your sleep with daytime naps so that you can wake up in the night when they wake up can help you adjust.
Keeping Nighttime Calm
While babies do wake up at night, and you simply have to accept that and be awake when they are, it doesn’t mean that you should encourage it. Even when they wake up, you should avoid getting too active or playing with them. Instead, keep the lights dim, your voice quiet, and your movements slow. Avoid talking too much or using bright screens or lights for night feeds or diaper changes. As they grow, they are going to get a little more structured in their routine, and showing that nighttime is for sleep makes them more likely to follow that lead.
Make Good Use Of Your Wake Windows
You want to make sure that you get enough sleep while your baby sleeps because you really want to make better use of their wake windows. How long these are and when they happen during the day will vary by age, as well as from baby to baby. Finding those wake windows for a newborn gives you some of your earliest opportunities for meaningful time together, which also helps them develop. As such, use their wake windows for feeding, skin-to-skin contact, talking to them, playing with toys together, and more. Engaging them during their wake windows is significantly better for a growing baby than spending that time away from them.
Avoiding Overtiredness
Although it might sound counterintuitive, if a baby is awake for too long and you’re not able to get them to bed soon enough, then you might have a hard time putting them to sleep. Due to a rise in stress hormones, their body and mind feel physically more alert, even if they can feel their own tiredness and desire for sleep. This, in turn, can lead to shorter naps and bigger tantrums. As mentioned, you need to pay attention to those early sleep cues to start preparing yourself for bed to avoid this. You also need to respect naps. A lot of parents have the wrong idea and will wake babies during naps to help them sleep through the night, but typically, it will result in the precise opposite outcome. Waking a baby for a feed or if a late nap might interrupt bedtime (especially when they’re a little bigger) can be fine, but you typically want to let them nap when they feel like napping.
Create A Supportive Sleep Environment
Sleep cycles become a lot more predictable, and rest is a lot easier to maintain in the right environment. A good sleep environment is dark, comfortably cool, and quiet, but not too quiet. You want to avoid excessive environmental noise, but a room that’s totally silent can make any level of noise much more disruptive. Familiar surroundings are important, as well. Sleeping in the same space for both naps and nighttime sleeps builds a level of predictability for your baby that can help them settle more comfortably.
Build Consistent Routines Over Time
Just as your baby has their cues for when they’re tired, you can create routines that act as triggers for sleep, as well. This can include a nighttime feed in their nursery, singing to them softly at night, rocking them in a chair, or otherwise. Routines don’t have to be particularly rigid, especially as your baby’s sleep schedule is likely to change over time. However, if they begin to associate these actions with sleep, it can make it a lot easier to help them drift off when they’re starting to show those earlier cues. In a lot of cases, putting a baby straight to bed simply isn’t going to cut it.
Not every baby has the exact same sleeping style. Temperaments and preferences can show themselves, especially over time. However, with the tips above, you can make sure that you find the sync that you and your baby can work with.
If you enjoyed this post you may also like :
How to refresh your workplace
Travel baby must haves
The ultimate gift guide