One of the difficult tasks for young parents can be called laying the baby to sleep. Not all peanuts fall asleep at once, and even the smallest ones do not always want to go to bed. Of course, it’s much more interesting to be in your mother’s hands and consider new bright toys. How to put the baby to sleep correctly so that he can quickly fall asleep, have a good rest himself and let his parents sleep? About everything - in this article.
How does a newborn baby sleep?
The recently born baby is sleeping most of the day. This is approximately 16-18 hours. As a rule, a healthy baby, having received a lot of impressions from the outside world, having eaten tightly and lying down on his mother’s arms, starts to yawn, becomes less active and falls asleep.
Children who live only the first weeks of their lives usually wake up from hunger, discomfort from wet diapers, or other causes. If the baby and his mother had a Rhesus conflict, which resulted in newborn jaundice, he will sleep somewhat more than a healthy child. This is absolutely normal. But if he screams, constantly cries, sleeps little, you need to go to the pediatrician for an appointment.
How to put a baby to sleep, if he either does not want to go to bed or falls asleep, but after a short period of time he wakes up, also writhes? Neither lullabies nor carrying on hand help. In this case, it is necessary to seek the cause of what is happening as soon as possible. The more the baby is awake, the more difficult it is to put it later, because his nervous system will be overworked, and switching it to a sleepy state is very, very difficult.
Possible reasons
The baby may not fall asleep for a number of important reasons for him:
- colic (how to put a baby to bed 2 months old, it will become clear if you remember that up to three months colic occurs to one degree or another in all newborns);
- the baby just does not want to sleep;
- insects bite;
- the baby missed her mother;
- hungry or thirsty;
- a nose is laid (there are many reasons - rhinitis of an infectious nature, drying out of the mucous membrane, allergy);
- tight clothes;
- the baby gets sick;
- the baby is bothered by a headache (if there is an ICP syndrome);
- wet diaper;
- mom is very nervous or is in a dangerous, conflict situation.
Before you start to “beg” the child to sleep, you should make sure that there are no obvious reasons for his concern. When they are found, they must be removed immediately.
If the baby, in addition to sleeping and crying poorly, often spits up, sometimes not as usual - after eating or after 15-20 minutes, and after an hour, if his chin, arms and legs twitch, you need to show him to a neurologist. If the nose is blocked, the body temperature has increased, then you should go to the pediatrician for an appointment.
We put the baby to sleep
The difficult question of how to quickly put a baby to sleep at night worries many parents. Possible reasons have already been mentioned a little higher. And now - about the rules and age features, thanks to which you can get to know the little ones better and get as close as possible to solving this issue.
If at night the baby sleeps poorly, this suggests that, most likely, he gets enough sleep in a day. But due to the fact that the quality of rest cannot be violated, it is necessary to reduce the duration of daytime and increase the duration of night sleep.
So that in the evenings the laying does not go parallel to crying, the pause between the last daytime falling asleep and the nighttime should be at least four hours.
If the baby is not yet a year old, it must be well fed before laying. Otherwise, the baby will scream from hunger. But this rule is not necessary if, after eating, the child likes to play.
To understand how to put a baby to bed at 3 months, it must be remembered that until six months the baby needs feeding at night. Therefore, often mothers, in order not to get up every two hours, practice joint sleep. As soon as feeding is reduced at night, falling asleep is usually optimized.
If the baby confuses day and night in the first six months of his life, you just have to endure this period, which is quite difficult for parents, while trying to translate the baby into a convenient sleep and wake mode.
Bast basket and motion sickness
How to put a baby to sleep at night? You can use two simple methods - a basket and motion sickness.
The first days of his life karapuzik still remembers how he lived in his mother’s tummy. Therefore, it will be enough just to put your hands to his priest or head, and the baby will fall asleep almost instantly. Some pediatricians advise to put to sleep in a cradle or small basket at the beginning of a child’s life. So he will feel like in his tummy and will be calm. This method is most effective during the first months of the baby’s life and will help to accustom him to the regime.
Motion sickness is perhaps the most beloved way of Soviet mothers. Today there are several options: motion sickness in the cradle, on the fitball, on the arms, in the crib or sling.
For the smallest children, this is the most effective way, because in this way they feel comfort and security. The physical preparation of the mother is also of some importance, because at times it is necessary to rock the coat long enough.
Joint sleep, lullaby and rituals
More and more parents advocate sleep with the baby. For mom, this is very convenient, especially if the baby is breastfed. Yes, and the child is satisfied: it’s safe near the mother, and her smell and heartbeat soothe. This is a great way to solve the problem - how to put a baby to sleep without motion sickness. The baby’s night sleep will be stronger and longer, and emotionally for the peanut it will be much better.
The baby knows how to recognize her mother’s voice from birth, and after only a month - and her smell. That's why only mom can calm the baby as soon as possible. Even if the mother does not know how to sing, and will recite “aaaaaaaaa”, the baby will fall asleep quite quickly. When the association “lullaby = sleep” is developed and the necessary regimen is added, the parents will not have such an acute question of how to put the baby to sleep.
Each mom (and, of course, dad) can try to come up with certain rituals, habits that the baby will associate with sleep. It can be calm conversations, tummy massage, farewell to the sun, reading fairy tales ...
From bathing to hours
As a rule, babies are well affected by taking a warm bath. Especially if they like to flop there. It is permissible to add decoctions of soothing herbs to the water, but first you need to consult a pediatrician (for example, it is believed that the string and calendula dry the skin). If in the process of taking a bath the baby begins to rub eyes with handles, it remains to feed him and put him to bed.
How to put a baby to sleep if its time intervals do not coincide with her mother's? For several days, you can just watch what time the baby falls asleep and wakes up. And then wake him up to half an hour earlier, until the biorhythms of mother and baby are equal.
The "For Iron Ladies" Method
For strong moms, this option is also suitable. Although, knowing about different methods, they still can not choose the most suitable, able to answer the question of how to properly put the baby to sleep. But this one can be suitable if you have patience and packs of tea with lemon balm and valerian.
Take the baby in her arms and lay in the crib. Silently hum him something, standing so that the baby saw his mother and did not cry. If, however, the peanut burst into tears and even fell into a tantrum, you need to take it on its hands again, calm it down and put it back to bed. Stand with the bed next to him until he falls asleep. It usually takes from 45 minutes to an hour.
Harvey Carp Method
For several decades, the technique of the American pediatrician Karp has been used in practice by parents all over the world. It has only 5 effective tricks:
- swaddling;
- barrel laying;
- motion sickness;
- the use of nipples;
- inclusion of "white noise".
Such steps are permissible to apply both comprehensively and separately. One of the parents sends the baby to bedtime or puts it at night only after motion sickness, someone says that the baby instantly calms down when “white noise” hisses in his ears - birds singing, the sound of the ocean, raindrops ...
Nathan Daylo Method
When deciding how to quickly put the baby to bed, you can use this method. Especially if you approach the matter with imagination. In practice, there is a known case when a young father from Australia immersed his little son in a calm sleep, just passing a paper towel on his face.
Experts are sure that there is nothing strange in this, because many newborn peanuts thus react to touching their ears or the face of soft objects. Similarly, in some cases, touching the nails on the handles or legs works.
Of course, a 100% accurate version of lulling a baby or a little older is difficult to find right away. What is suitable for one child will not affect the other. Therefore, a suitable method is sought through trial and error.
Estivil Method
A similar technique of the Spanish pediatrician is more used for babies over one and a half years old, already able to understand a little the words that parents say. This method is not suitable for newborns. But you need to get to know him.
This method of self falling asleep consists in the fact that during the daylight the mother will tell the baby that today he will sleep in his crib without any reminders and motion sickness.
In the evening, mother puts the little one to bed, wishes him good dreams and says that she will see him after a minute. Then she leaves the room and closes the door. She needs to withstand these 60 seconds, despite the fact that the baby will cry and, most likely, very loudly.
Throughout the week, the duration of the solitude of the baby should increase. Mom should not spare him, but explain with the same words why he sleeps in his crib.
Important! Such a technique of falling asleep has both followers and opponents. Therefore, it is necessary to focus not on what other parents express on the Web, but on how their own little one reacts.
The rules of Dr. Komarovsky
According to the arguments of the main television doctor - Evgeny Komarovsky, there are only 10 main recommendations, the implementation of which will help to ensure the baby and other household members a healthy sleep. How to put a baby to sleep without motion sickness?
- First you need to prioritize. This means that the whole family should rest. It is important for a newborn baby that his mother be calm and sleepy.
- Decide in advance where the baby will sleep. Komarovsky assures that the baby must sleep independently and in a separate bed. Thus, adults can get enough sleep, and when the child turns one year old, the crib can be moved to another room. Although the mother can put the baby and with her if necessary.
- Increase daily activity. Mom can make the wakefulness regime for her baby more active - walk with him on the street, watch the world around him, play more, communicate with animals and people. Thus, you can increase the duration of night sleep.
- It is necessary to determine the sleep mode. In the wakefulness and sleep schedule, one should take into account both baby's biorhythms and the parents' daily regimen. Observe falling asleep daily.
- Providing fresh air. The kid can not fall asleep just because the room is stuffy. Low humidity also does not contribute to healthy sleep. Parents should bring these parameters to optimal performance.
- Feed optimization. Mom needs to track how the baby will react to food. If he will doze off after eating, in the evening he needs to be fed tightly. If, on the contrary, he wants to play after dinner, the amount of food must be reduced.
- Bathing baby. Thanks to the warm water, fatigue will be relieved, the mood will improve, and the little bather will relax.
- Prepare a crib. The doctor offers each time to monitor how well the sleeping place is organized. It is very important to purchase exclusively high-quality mattresses, sheets and diapers for the baby.
- Do not be afraid to wake up the little one. Quite often, the question of how to put the baby to sleep during the day gradually flows into another problem - the reluctance of the baby to sleep at night. Parents need to adjust their daytime sleep.
- Mindful of diapers. A high-quality disposable diaper will give the baby the opportunity to sleep, and mother can have a good rest. Therefore, do not abandon such hygiene items.
Subject to such simple recommendations, the reward for the mother will be a sweetly sniffling baby and preserved nerves.
In conclusion
The question will never lose its relevance: how to quickly put a baby to bed? So that the baby can fall asleep without tears and as soon as possible, parents will have to try many different methods and listen to a huge number of different recommendations.
But in this situation, it is very important for mom to not forget about herself and her psychological health. After all, if she is tired and plagued, it will not contribute to falling asleep quickly. Therefore, we must remain calm and solve the problem without unnecessary nerves.