Go to sleep little baby

Go to sleep little baby

If you are finding that your little baby is not sleeping well during his or her first few months of life, then you might want to try and cut back on the time that they are awake by fifteen minute increments. If they are getting over stimulated, then they will fight sleep and be difficult to get off. The way to prevent this is to watch their sleepy cues to make sure that you put them down when they are beginning to get sleepy.






There are some parents who believe that letting their child cry will harm him or herself. 15 or 20 minutes of crying will not harm your child physically or mentally. Young babies will learn to self soothe and fall asleep on their own, so you don’t have to constantly say to them go to sleep little baby please, but then only if you let them. It is quite important that babies learn to fall asleep by them selves to enable them to self soothe in case they wake in the middle of the night. Otherwise, you might end up with a child that possibly won’t sleep through out the night for years.


Regular normal sleep patterns are inter-related with regular normal eating patterns, so let us look at some different stages of a baby’s life:


Newborn: Your newborn baby will sleep anywhere from sixteen to 20 hours a day, including the naps that they take between feeding times. Whenever your baby has been fed, let them stay awake for a little time and then put them down before they become too over stimulated.


At two months: Around about two months and older, you should let your child try to self soothe during their nap times and at bedtime. Having a cry is fairly normal when you put your baby down again, so that’s okay. If they cry for longer than 10-15 minutes, then go in and check on them. Do not get them up, but just pat their bottom or lightly rub their back until they settle down.




Three to Six months: At about three to six months, your little one will stop taking one of their naps. Normally it is about the third nap or late afternoon one that they won’t need as much. They may start to get a little fussy and might want to take a little nap, but you need to try to keep them up if you want them to go to bed at a normal and proper time and sleep soundly through out the night.


Sixteen months and over: When your child reaches sixteen to twenty months, they normally stop taking the morning nap in favour of a bit of a longer sleep in the afternoon. Young ones of around this age usually sleep for between ten and twelve hours a night and take a two to three hour afternoon sleep.


Ground Rules about Napping

1. You decide you no longer want to have to say go to sleep little baby.
2. You decide when the sleep starts and ends, not the little one.
3. When your baby gets to older than four months, they will wake up crying if they haven’t had enough sleep, this is not necessarily a child sleep problem. They might have a mucky diaper, or be in a position that is not very comfortable, or may even be that they are too hot or too cold. Just fix the problem and give them some encouragement to go back off to sleep. Babies that have enough sleep and rest wake up happy, chatty, and in a reasonably good mood. So you no longer hear yourself saying go to sleep little baby.

 

Sleep Problems