It is said that newborns have difficulty in differentiating day time and night time. They could get it all mixed up, so they also have messed up sleeping routine and often can’t sleep through the night. This is the reason why it is important to establish a good bedtime routine as early as newborn stage, so that it will be easier for them to adjust and effectively get the routine to their system. In this article, let us discuss the parts of betime routine and how it helps the baby to easily retire to bed during night time.
Sample Bedtime Routine
•Since you will be included in this routine as the parent of the child, i suggest you have a good dinner first so you can attend to the little one without getting interupted by hunger and you can focus on your goal.
•Now with your little one, let’s start by giving him a good bath. When he is clean and fresh, it’s more likely for him to get a better sleep.
•After putting on his clean diaper, might as well give him a good massage. It will help him to relax and gets him ready to retire.
•Put on comfortable jammies and might as well pud him in swaddles too. Swaddles helps baby to feel secured and since he was living inside your womb all curled up and warm, being is swaddles will make him feel as though he’s back in there.
•Play gentle music, lullaby, or maybe an ambient noise which also helps stimulating calmness and makes baby feel sleepy. You can put dim light instead of being in full bright light. This helps baby’s brain stimulate hormones to make baby feel sleepy too.
•Feeding time time. By now, after doing the first few steps, your baby will be ready to retire to bed, but he needs help to feel comfort too. Making him full through feeding, or simply nursing, can be a great help so he will stay focused and little by little, feel drowsy and sleepy.
•Almost there. After feeding, burp your baby so he will not have a gassy tummy or feel any discomfort in his tummy. While you burp him, you can also rock him gently along with the sound you turned on. Or simply patting his back would work too.
•If he is still awake but drowsy, put him to bed. This is a great way so he can practice going to sleep on his own. It will be much easier for both of you once he mastered that skill.
Just a Reminder
Since you are handling a newborn, it is never really advised to use any blanket or pillow in his crib. Bare bed is the best so his airways will not be blocked and nothing can trigger for him to wake up even when he moves around for a better position.
Check your baby a few times even when he isn’t crying. I’m quite sure though that he will cry and ask for feeding in the middle of the night. Just provide what he needs, and by establishing this bedtime routine, he will eventually learn to sleep better at night like how he’s supposed to.
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