Hello, Sonya’s Happenings…! My name is Sarah Vaizman of Authority baby.
Most moms are normally overjoyed by the simple thought of experiencing motherhood for the first time. The feeling becomes even more satisfying when they get to hold their newborn in their arms.
However, this beautiful experience turns into a nightmare as soon as the baby can no longer sleep at all during the night. The baby basically stays up all night and expects to be held. This in some cases can even go on for months.
This leads to the mom being exhausted and frustrated. Getting your baby to sleep tends to be one of the main challenges any new parents faces, this is due to the fact that no one really ever equips new parents with skills and knowledge on how to get your baby to sleep the entire night.
Most new parents ought to know that there are tips on how to get a baby to sleep through the night.
Your baby will not just start sleeping through the night on their own, there are things you must do right for this to actually happen. Outlined are 3 ways that can effectively get your baby to sleep through the night.
1. Ferberizing
This is a commonly used method whose notion is based on the fact that babies tend to make associations with anything that relates to falling asleep. For example, if you make a habit of rocking your baby till they are asleep or letting them have a bottle till they fall asleep, then they will automatically rely on whatever common routine to sleep.
Even if they happen to wake up during the night they will not go back to sleep till you repeat the routine they associate with sleep. This method ensures that your baby is in a position to sleep by himself and in his own crib.
How Ferberizing works:
• Place your baby in their crib, say goodnight and then leave the room. If he happens to cry, let him cry for a maximum of 5 minutes. Go back into the room, comfort him slightly but do not pick him up, then leave the room.
If he happens to cry again, wait for 10 minutes before repeating the same routine, then wait for 15 minutes, then 20 minutes until he finally falls asleep.
• Make sure you repeat the same ritual whenever your baby needs to sleep (whether it’s in the night when he wakes, during the day when he needs to take a nap or sleeping time) and use the same time intervals.
• You can also consider adding 5 minutes to the first time interval with time. For example make if the original time interval was 5 minutes, you can consider making 10 minutes your first-time interval.
This method tends to be quite effective due to the fact that after a short while your baby will automatically associate their crib with sleep. Once this happens it will not have to struggle to get your baby to sleep a whole night.
2. Scheduled Awakenings
This method works by altering your baby’s sleeping habits by making sure you wake them up at prescribed times.
How scheduled awakenings works:
• For like one week make sure you note the times your baby wakes up every night. Once you have the specific time your baby wakes up, its times to use the collected information to your advantage.
• For example, if your baby has a habit of waking up at 1AM and 4AM, make sure you wake them up at 12:45AM and 3:45AM, then you can rock your baby or use whatever other routine you use to make your baby sleep.
• On daily basis, extend the set waking up times by 15 minutes, for example, if your baby has a habit of waking up at 1AM and 4AM, make sure you wake them up at 1:15AM and 4:15AM. With time you baby is bound to stop waking herself up but instead wait for you to wake them up.
• The more time you add to the waking up intervals the more time your baby will get to sleep for longer hours. This eventually ensures that you baby is in a position sleep on their own for a whole night.
3. The Family Bed
This method is quite common and it entails children and parents sharing a bed. This method does not involve sharing your bed with your baby once in a while; it involves having to share your bed for most of the nights.
This method is effective due to the fact that it is believed that if your baby happens to wake up during the night and finds both mom and dad there is a certain sense of security that engulfs a baby. One of the main advantages of the family bed is the fact that if you happen to be breastfeeding then you do not even need to open your eyes to breastfeed in the night.
This method also comes along with a few disadvantages, the main disadvantage being that you will have to forget about having your privacy as a couple for as long as your baby sleeps in your bed. For you to use the family bed method you need to ensure that your bed is large enough to comfortably accommodate the three of you.
Once your baby is sure that he or she is in a secure environment (with both mom and dad) sleeping becomes easier and with time they will comfortably sleep through a whole night.
Conclusion
Getting to finally make your baby sleep through a whole night can be quite a task that may require dedicated effort as well as willpower.
However, if you make to keep up with all that is required to ensure that your baby is in a position to sleep through a whole night, then everyone will be in a position to rest easily without much of a struggle.
With the above ways, getting your baby to sleep through the night does not have to be a nightmare anymore. When it comes to making your baby sleep through the night, there is no shortcut, you have to follow the required rules. So long as you follow all that is required of your then you are good to go.