How to Get Baby to Sleep Through the Night
One of the biggest problems parents face is the fact that your baby doesn’t know the difference between day and night. A baby sleeps most of the time, but this downtime is broken up into intervals. While baby can catch up on lost sleep throughout the day, Mom or Dad just has to keep going on a limited amount of sleep if their young son or daughter doesn’t sleep through the night.
The most important thing you can do, is to set a bedtime. Babies are just like older children and adults in that their internal clocks can be set. But, in order for baby to go to bed and sleep through the night, a bedtime ritual must be established also. Your baby should have a warm, relaxing bath, for example. Johnson’s Baby Bedtime Bath is one product that contains “lavender, chamomile and other natural herbs”. These herbs, when mixed in with your baby’s warm bath put off delicate scents. These herbal scents will help relax your young son or daughter so he/she can sleep better and longer at night. Johnson’s also sells a Natural Lavender Baby Shampoo, powder, and a massage balm.
After the bath, feed him/her and put on a clean diaper and a sleeper. You can then rock him or her to sleep. Or, you can lay them in their bed, pat them, and sing them lullabies until they drift off to sleep. Always speak or sing in a low, hushed tone in order to help your baby calm down and relax.
Your baby’s bedroom should be dark, with only a night light on when he/she goes to bed at night. Ideally, your baby should fall asleep in a quiet environment. If that’s not possible, try drowning out street noise by using a musical toy. Hanging insulated curtains in the windows of his/her bedroom will also help keep unwanted noises and distractions out. Not to mention the glare of streetlights, car headlights, and so on.
Another thing to keep in mind when you’re trying to get your baby to sleep through the night, is the temperature of their bedroom. If it’s too hot or too cold, your baby will invariably wake up crying. Be careful not to place too many blankets on him/her or use too few.
If your young son or daughter is too full of energy to get calmed down at the set bedtime, then you’ll need to do more play activities with them in order to use up that energy. But, to help your baby sleep through the night, don’t play with him/her for approximately an hour before bedtime. You don’t want to wind them up and get them too excited to sleep.
To keep your baby from getting too much sleep in the daytime, position their crib in a room that’s bright and sunny. Don’t worry, they’ll still get tired and will take naps throughout the day despite the brightness. Make sure the location of the crib doesn’t put your young son or daughter in the direct sunlight though. Babies’ skin can sunburn easily.
You should also play with them during the day to keep them awake and to use up energy.
Getting a baby to sleep through the night is a gradual process. It won’t happen overnight. But if you stick to it, your son or daughter will be sleeping all night, and so will you!
After a baby reaches four months old, their sleeping time decreases to about 15 hours a day. Still, babies are alike adults. Some need more sleep, while others are fine with less.
