6 Baby Sleep Tips for the Sleep Deprived Mom
Hi there, sleepy momma, rocking your baby who is wide awake as your frantically search Google and Pinterest for ways to get your sweet little bundle to close their eyes and go to sleep already. You are not alone. I believe scouring the internet for answers to your baby’s sleep problems with giant bags under your eyes is a rite of passage for new moms. Hopefully these six baby sleep tips lead you in the right direction.
Get Baby’s Days and Nights Straight
When our babies are brand new, they often have their days and nights mixed up. I’ve heard it’s because they slept in the womb while we were in motion during the day (basically rocked to sleep in our bellies) and then they’d be up all night kicking while we slept. The best way to get baby’s days and night’s straight is to keep it extra bright during the day, and extra dark at night. When Weston would wake up in the morning, I would immediately turn on all the lights and open the curtains. When it was time to wind down and get ready for bed in the evenings, I would dim all the lights and turn the tv down low. Make sure their room is dark during nap time and bedtime. Room darkening shades are a great way to keep out the light during the day. Even though you want it to be dark, it’s nice to have a small night light or soothing machine. It’s comforting for baby, and also helps you avoid turning on the lights during a midnight diaper change (which will completely pull your little one out of their slumber and start you back at square one).
Routine
I can’t say enough about having a sleep routine. I think I’ve already written about it in two other posts, but our bedtime routine has been such a success. We started the routine when Weston was four months old and officially sleeping in his own room. I was like you, searching the internet for baby sleep tips and kept seeing the sentence “put your baby in their crib drowsy, but awake.” To be honest, it really started to piss me off. How was I going to put him to sleep “drowsy but awake” without him screaming his lungs off when I left the room? So, we started doing the same thing every night, hoping that he would make positive sleep associations and know that this routine meant it was time to go to bed. It worked (pretty quickly, too)! I nursed Weston, fed him a bowl of cereal (we cut this part out once he started eating table food), then Sam would take him to his nursery, change his diaper, put on his pajamas, read him a book, sing him a song, and lay him down. Your routine can include a bath, a massage, a special lotion, whatever. Just make sure you’re being consistent and doing the same thing each night. You can have a similar routine for nap times, or even an entirely different routine. For naps, I usually just read a book, and lay him down. Quick and easy.
Dreamfeed
A dreamfeed is when you feed your baby, while their still mostly asleep, right before you go to bed at night. Say you put your baby down for bed at 7pm, and you typically go to bed at 11pm (you party animal). Right before you lay down, scoop baby up, fill up their belly, and put them back in their crib. Obviously, this little trick doesn’t work for every baby, but it’s worth a try. I devoted an entire post to the dreamfeed. You can read it here!
Naps – The 2, 3, 4 Schedule
Once you get a good bedtime routine going, it’s helpful to get your baby on a schedule. It helps baby know what to expect on a daily basis. The 2, 3, 4 schedule is extremely popular and has worked great for us. Here’s how it works. Baby takes their first nap two hours after they wake up in the morning. Then, they take their second nap three hours after they wake up from their first nap. Then, they go to sleep for the night approximately four hours after they wake up from their second nap. We pretty much follow this schedule, except he always goes to bed at 7pm, regardless of when he woke up from his last nap. Obviously, this schedule will change as your baby gets older and drops the second nap, but it’s a great foundation for getting your child to nap consistently and routinely.
If you’re struggling with daytime sleep, I highly suggest the Baby Sleep Made Simple Nap Program. It teaches you everything you need to know about how to get your baby to go down easily and take solid naps during the day. While Weston was a solid napper, I really struggled with Elliott and this program made a world of difference!
Give it a Minute
Don’t immediately run to your baby the moment they make a whimper. Sometimes they will cry for only a minute before falling asleep, and sometimes they might whimper in their sleep during the night. If you give it just a minute, your baby might fall easily fall asleep rather than you running in, waking them up, and creating bad sleep habits.
Helpful Products
There are tons of products on the market that are wildly successful and helping babies sleep better and longer. Here are some of the top picks from my best friend, Amazon!
Baby Shusher – The Soothing Sleep Miracle for Babies
Hatch Baby Night Light and Sound Machine
Little Twig Lavender Baby Wash
Good luck, momma. I know it’s hard to believe right now, but soon you’ll be sleeping for longer and longer stretches, and all of these restless days and nights will seem like a distant memory. If any of these tips or products work for you, or you come up with your own sleep solutions, please come back and comment below!
If you’re truly struggling with your baby’s sleep, it might be time to call in the professionals. I highly recommend Baby Sleep Made Simple. This program was created by a pediatric nurse and mom who knows a thing or two about getting babies to sleep. Her 21 day program offers four different pathways to sleep for you and your family to chose from and a 30 day money back guarantee. You can read more about Jilly and her amazing program here!
DISCLOSURE: Coffee and Coos is not intended to replace the advice of a medical professional. Always consult your doctor for medical advice.
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