Karitane helped us to get baby to sleep
The week mother and baby spent at Karitane has been most helpful. When first enrolled it was easy to see the difficulty we had in getting baby to sleep. This was done by charting babies sleep pattern. Red ink was used to indicate where baby was unsettled ans the first day was full of red. By the end of the week baby managed to sleep 4 hours without requiring resettling.
On returning home, however she has only managed to sleep a maximum of 3 hour at one time. It might be that she need some time to get used to the new environment as we have moved her to her own room.
Interesting to note that the room where baby sleeps at Karitane is in total darkness, so to get the same effect we have bought a thick curtain to make the room dark during the day.
The most important thing we learned is to develop a routine. It does not haev to be a stricked routine where things have to be done at a specific time of day, but in general baby should be up for 1 to 1½ hours during the day . This includes feeding and play time. Baby should then be put to sleep, sleeping from 2 ½ to 3 hours. The times will vary depending on the age of the baby.
At night there should be no play time. Nappy should also be changed at each feed. Once you develop a successful routine you’ll find it easier in getting baby to sleep.