|
You’ve had a long, hard day and you’re looking forward to some well deserved sleep. You feel grateful that baby seems to have the same idea. Your head hits the pillow and you revel in the luxury of drifting into a peaceful slumber – and right at that point it starts. An incessant wailing from the room that contains your little pride and joy. Before you can even think to resist, your partner is pushing you out of the bed and encouraging you to take care of junior. Oh, the joys of parenthood, you mumble, as you stub your toe on the bedside cabinet.
You can take some comfort in the fact that you are by no means alone in the new parent sleep deprivation stakes. Child experts tell us that a child will not sleep soundly through the night until the age of about four to six months. Prior to that all parents must go through the frustrating routine of trying to find their own creative ways to send the little tyke into dreamland. Here are some suggestions that are well worth trying on your child:
(1) Establish a loving, comfortable pre bed-time routine. This may involve gently rocking your baby as you sing to him or reading him a book.
(2) Put the child to bed while he is still awake. If you don’t do this you will only be postponing future problems.
(3) Once you put your baby to bed leave the room. If he cries, wait a decent amount of time before checking on him, perhaps ten to fifteen minutes.
(4) When you go back into the room to check on baby, soothe him with your voice, but no not pick him up or feed him.
(5) Gradually increase the time between checks. The checks are designed simply to reassure your child that everything is o.k., that he is not abandoned. Soon he will get the message that crying will not get him out of having to go to sleep.
(6) Once the child gets a little older (about a year) allow him to sleep with an object like a stuffed toy or a special blanket. This will comfort him when you are not there.
(7) Expose your baby to the differing day and night time environments. Open the blinds during the day and let the child hear normal daytime noise levels. At night provide a dimmer, quieter atmosphere.
(8) Try not to encourage too many naps while the child is mobile, such as in car seats and baby strollers. This type of sleep does not provide a quality rest and will only serve to keep baby awake at night.
(9) Don’t let baby sleep for extended periods during the day. Keep naps to between two and three hours. However, don’t deprive him of needed daytime sleep in order to have him sleep through the night. Strike a balance here.
(10) Wrap baby in a snugli to prevent him from moving around too much while in his crib.
In the final analysis, you will have to do a little experimenting to see what works best for your baby. With a healthy dose of patience and perseverance, however, there will come a time when you will once again be able to enjoy a good night’s rest.
| 
