Getting baby to sleep

With baby now 3 weeks old we had trouble getting baby to sleep, so we attended a settling class. Luckily for us we were the only ones there so we had the attention of the nurse for the full lesson. The beauty about it is you get to see first hand how it is done and best of all, how it is done on your own baby. Our baby was a bit grumpy as she had not slept for three hours so it took more time to settle her as she was over tired.

So after a feed, baby can play a little and when baby starts to show the tired signs, you need to settle baby. Wrap baby and hold to comfort for a little while, then put baby into cot while still awake. This will teach baby to fall asleep by herself. If you are always holding baby when she falls asleep it will become routine and always expect to be held in order to fall asleep. If baby is crying while in the cot you can put hour hand on baby for comfort. If crying persists for more than a few minutes you can pick baby up, otherwise baby will get more unsettled and it will be harder to get baby to sleep.

We were told that the routine for a baby during the day is to feed, play then sleep. At night it should be feed and sleep.  Also babies have sleep cycles of 40 to 60 minutes. REM sleep, deep sleep and waking. This explains why our baby always seems to wake up and complain alot, then we want to pick her up and comfort her. What we should actually do is leave her to see if she goes back to sleep by herself, otherwise try resettling.

 I highly recommend attending a settling class if you need help getting baby to sleep. 

I was told that sounds can help getting baby to sleep. My friend who also had a baby recently says his baby sleeps well when there is a lot of noise. I don’t find this hard to believe as there was a program on TV which should a guy who playedhis guitar and sang to his his baby while his wife was still pregnant. Now, the baby is born and when the baby is crying he just sings the same song and the baby calms down.

My aunt says to play classical music to getting baby to sleep and this also helps with their brain development. My seven year old daughter has her own technique and thinks that singing ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ will help getting baby to sleep through the night.

The baby sleep solution audio program

Getting baby to sleep can be quite a tiring task for parents. As the father of a newborn baby girl I wish I new the best way to get baby to sleep through the night. I know that won’t be possible for the first few months though as baby needs to feed at least every 2-3 hours. The first few days, all baby wanted to do was sleep and we hoped that it would always be this easy, but as you can guess that would be too good to be true.

The best way to getting baby to sleep is to give her a good feed. Just like you and me we feel tired after a huge meal, especially after returning to work after a nice big lunch. I have noticed that baby sleeps a good 3 hours after a hearty feed.

My aunt who used to be a midwife showed us a good way of wrapping baby for getting baby to sleep. With our older daughter we were showed to wrap baby with her hands sort of across her stomach, but this new way babies hands are up by her shoulders. Wrapping baby gives them a feel of protection just like the were when still in the womb.