Five ways to help your newborn sleep at night

At first your new little one will probably do nothing but sleep, waking for only short periods of time, up to two hours max and sleeping for longer periods of 3 – 4 hours. It is essential that your newborn does NOT sleep through the entire night while they are just as few weeks old, as they need frequent feeding to grow and thrive.

That being said, there is a wealth of advice out there explaining all sorts of different methods that can help you to get your newborn to sleep at night.

As sleep is so very dear to our hearts I just wanted to share with you all my 5 newborn sleep tips. Please feel free to adopt as many as you wish or maybe combine them with other techniques that you have tested… I do hope it results in happy sleeping babies with equally happy well rested parents. Of course, it goes without saying that using an easidream will guarantee a peaceful and safe sleep for your precious little one!

Step 1. Create the mood!
A great way, nearly always guaranteed to help ‘bring on’ those sleepy feelings, is to give your little one a lovely warm bath, preferably with suitable baby night time aroma bubble bath! Follow this with a clean nappy, and then a little baby massage. Any gentle caressing of the baby’s arms, legs, body and forehead will really help bring on those sleepy feelings… but hey DON’T OVER DO IT…. You need to make sure you slip in the next step first!

Step 2. Full tummy
Always make sure that your baby has a really satisfying feed at both the early evening and late night feeding times. Whether this is breast or bottle, it is essential that you really try to make sure that they take a full feed before they drop off to sleep. Of course, it is a ‘must’ that your baby is fully winded, so as to avoid griping tummy pains, which are certain to cause discomfort and a restless baby. A full feed almost always guarantees a longer, more settled sleep.

Step 3. Swaddling + dummy/pacifier
A great way to help newborns feel safe and secure is to swaddle them tightly. This offers them reassurance by reminding them of life in the womb and also helps with limiting waking caused by the startle reflex (Moro reflex - when a baby suddenly startles with their limbs outstretched). Swaddling is a fantastic technique to use for around the first 3-4 months or so.

A dummy is also great way to help babies to settle. Dummies satisfy a baby’s natural sucking instinct and a lot of babies find them really soothing, as the sucking gives them a feeling of security. Dummies have also been proven to reduce the risk of a sudden infant death incident occurring.

Step 4. Give a little love!
Who can resist that night time cuddle with their newborn and normally it only takes a short while before your little one has peacefully and contentedly drifted off to the land of nod! If you prefer to put your baby down while drowsy but still awake, a great way to help them still feel secure, is to give them a comforter that you have had next to your body (tucked down your top for around one hour) so they can still smell ‘mum’ on it. In fact, a comforter is great to use even if you put your little one down when they're already asleep; if they stir after a short while, the aroma of mum may be all that they need to help them drift back off to sleep. (Quick tip… make sure you have at least 2 comforters so that you can have one in the wash and one in use!)

Step 5. Make night feeds dull!!!
Always make night feeds subdued, with as little interaction as possible. Keep the room dimly lit and disturb your baby as little as possible. Don’t even change their nappy unless it’s a dirty one (No 2) or you really think it’s necessary. Just feed your baby, wind her and then place her back in her cot/crib with her comforter.

I would just like to mention here that an old favourite technique of mine is to angle the mattress; I have propped the head end of the mattress up slightly, for all my babies, by placing a folded up blanket between the mattress and the base of the cot. This is a great way to help relieve reflux/wind/colic. Be careful not over tilt the mattress, as you do not want your baby to slide down the mattress which would be dangerous…it is always best to check the angle first with your health visitor or doctor before using this technique.

Last and by no means least be aware of safe sleep guidelines (check out the full guidelines here) Always place your baby to sleep on their back with their feet to the foot of the cot, in a nursery that is not too warm.

Sweet dreams everyone

Lynda

How I got my six little ones off to the 'land of nod'

Quite a lot of mums have been contacting me to ask how I managed to introduce a sleep routine with my 6 babies - well 5, I'll just leave Bradley out........only kidding!

So for those of you who may be interested, I thought I would start by telling you the feeding plan that I gradually introduced as my LO's approached around 8 to 12 weeks.

Essentially, the Sweet Dreamers Feeding Plan (SDFP) is:

2am

6am

10am

2pm

6pm

10pm

The beauty of the SDFP is, when your LO is able to sleep through (around 3-4 months) ,then it is the 2am feed that is dropped, so they then go from 10pm to 6am (or as near as) and you all get a totally fabulous sleep!

Here's a few other tips to make the SDFP work:

Obviously if they do sleep through the 2am feed, when they wake at 6am they are going to be ravenous, so make sure you have a bigger feed made up, or if you're breast feeding, they could want a top up or have a longer feed.

To encourage them to sleep through, try to make the 10pm feed a larger feed than the 6pm one or if they seem hungry in between these two feeds, try offering water, so they get the full benefit of the 10am feed.

In between the 6pm and 10pm feed try to let them have a slightly longer period of time awake. If you don't mind giving your baby a bath later, then slip it in between these feeds (around 8.30 ish) or if you are like me, you could try it earlier (7.30 ish) and then let them have a short nap before the 10 pm feed.

The early evening feed (6pm) is a notorious time for bouts of crankiness, I remember all of mine crying continuously for about 1 hour around this time in the evening... and it can be really draining. So don't worry, you're not alone if your LO is prone to this and believe me, after speaking with 100's of parents, it is really common. Try to remain calm through out this time, as your anxiety will be passed on to your LO and perhaps try a little baby massage, a warm bath or hold your baby in a number of different positions to see which one is the most comfortable for him (laying on their tummy across my knees always seemed to help for mine). Your LO may be suffering from colic, in which case a visit to the doctor may be wise. I myself will cover my own 'Sweet Dreamers Colic Cures' in a later post.

If you are breast feeding, please consider giving your baby a bottle feed top up at the 10pm feed (I know you may not want to do this, but for a lot of babies, it really does seem more satisfying for them). If you prefer not to do this then the NCT are a great source of advice for breast feeding.

If your baby has gone into a deep sleep following the 6pm feed and you really can't seem to wake them up, you may want to consider giving your baby a 'dream feed' at 10pm. This is when you give your baby a feed, wind them etc. whilst they are still drowsy and then put them back to sleep.

One final tip.. the whole aim of this feeding plan is to try to drop the 2am feed, so while your LO is still waking at 2am, try not to disturb them too much. ie) keep the room dimly lit, don't change their nappy unless you really have to, make as little noise as possible (definitely don't put the TV on), so as to create a tranquil and peaceful environment. Also, try not to make your LO wait too long for their feed otherwise they may become too fully awake. This is easy when you're breastfeeding, but if you are bottle feeding (like I did) it's a little bit more tricky; try to perhaps take a flask of hot water up with you together with the milk (kept in one of those insulating zip up tubes) so you don't have to travel down to the kitchen to get the milk out of the fridge and wait for the kettle to boil . Or, you could try investing in a bottle warmer to do the job for you. I followed this plan with all of my children and everyone of them (with the exception of Bradley), slept through the 2am feed by the time they had reached 4 months.

I hope you find the Sweet Dreamers Feeding Plan helpful and I really would like to hear how you get on, if you decide to give it a whirl!

Please do leave me a comment with any questions you may have on this or any subject and I will be more than happy to help if I can.

Check out later posts for more Sweet Dreamers Mini Guides, including introducing a totally 'snoozetastic' bedtime routine.

Sweet dreams

Lynda