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You can’t always be 100% sure of what is causing your child to wake. If it is a sleep regression, the good news is that it’s usually temporary and your baby will start to sleep better again soon. However tired your baby is, if there are lots of stimulating toys around, noise or too much light, these may be contributing factors to why your baby simply can’t sleep. A 4 month sleep regression can happen anywhere between 3.5-5 months. This is a biological shift in how your child’s brain is organizing sleep, so like any milestone; sitting, crawling, talking, etc., this one tends to happen around a certain month, but will depend on your child’s development. Far from improving sleep, skipping naps and delaying bedtime are the quickest ways to push your baby into screaming meemies and poor sleep. This is especially the case for infants who are passionately curious. They blink, rub their ears, and fight to stay awake to watch you talking or their big brother clowning around. The first few months can be a bit of a blur with your little one up at all hours. It’s good to know what’s ahead and how their sleep needs change over time. As with any new skill, practice makes perfect when it comes to getting your baby to fall asleep after putting her to bed drowsy but awake. Soon enough, you’ll have shown your little one that she’s more than capable of self-soothing in the crib, and you can place her there every night with confidence.



If you put your baby in a swing every single time she cries for the first six weeks, she will expect you to put her in the swing each and every time she cries after six weeks. The baby cries, you put her in the swing. The baby cries, you put her in the swing. Over and over again, you repeat the same pattern. Soon the baby cries and she needs the swing. All babies should be in the room with you both day and night, babies under 6 months should not be left on their own to sleep. Feeding a baby day and night can be very tiring and fear of falling asleep is common for most parents. Ideally you should have a chair in the room that you use for feeding at night. Some babies cannot settle in synthetic sleepwear. A mother in our practice went through our whole checklist of night waking causes until she discovered her baby was sensitive to polyester sleepers. Once she changed to 100 percent cotton clothing, her baby slept better. Besides being restless, some babies show skin allergies. A rash may appear due to new clothing, detergents, and fabric softeners. Develop a bedtime routine. Establish a consistent bedtime routine that includes calm and enjoyable activities that you can stick with as your baby gets older. Examples include a bath and bedtime stories. The activities occurring closest to “lights out” should occur in the room where your baby sleeps. Also, avoid making bedtime feedings part of the bedtime routine after 6 months. For gentle sleep training guidance it may be useful to enlist the services of a sleep consultant.

A nightcap fills your baby's tank before the night ahead. If he has any teeth, brush them (and wipe his gums) when you’re done. And if your baby tends to fall asleep during feedings, push up this part of the routine up to before the bath. You can start getting your baby used to going to sleep without you comforting them by putting them down before they fall asleep or when they've just finished a feed. It may be easier to do this once your baby starts to stay alert more frequently or for longer. For most new parents, it’s the eternal question: How to get baby to sleep? When it comes to putting baby down to sleep—and helping baby stay asleep—it can feel like mission impossible sometimes, especially in those first few days, weeks or even months with your newborn. White noise, a dark room to make the most of your child’s melatonin release can all prove helpful. It’s a myth that it can be helpful to get your baby used to napping in a brightly lit room. At first your new baby *will* nap anywhere, but as she begins to produce her own melatonin, it will be important for her biological systems that she naps in a dark room. Put baby in a cot, crib or Moses basket to sleep. Never fall asleep with baby on a sofa or chair; this can increase the risk of death by 50%. If you need guidance on sleep training then let a sleep consultant support you in unlocking your child's potential, with their gentle, empathetic approach to sleep.

Young babies can’t really stay awake for more than two hours: if you watch closely you’ll see them yawn and their eyes may glaze over. This is the time to take them out of a stimulating environment to a calmer one and let them sleep. If you miss the cues, they can get over-tired and seem hyper-alert when in fact they’re craving sleep. Babies need a lot of sleep during the first few months and parents who often inundated with well-meaning advice about how much shut-eye your baby should be getting and what is the safest way to place them down for their sleep. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the sudden and unexplained death of a baby, are thankfully rare, but there are steps parents can take to help reduce the risks. Many swings are safer to sleep in than car seats because they can fully recline so your baby’s head cannot accidentally slump forward. But only use these for babies who have difficulty sleeping without motion. Safer sleep rules for baby apply equally to a travel cot, which should have a rigid frame and base, and a firm, flat mattress, covered in a waterproof material. Travel cot mattresses are often thinner and feel harder than those in a permanent cot, but don’t be tempted to place folded blankets or a quilt under the baby to make them ‘more comfortable’. As long as your baby can drift off on her own, it's fine to go in to her if she wakes up at night. That doesn't mean you need to pick her up or nurse her, however. Once she's mastered the art of comforting herself, your voice and a gentle stroke should be enough to get her settled into sleep once more. Sleep consultants support hundreds of families every year, assisting with things such as ferber method using gentle, tailored methods.

A newborn baby will sleep anywhere from 14 to 17 out of every 24 hours, give or take. And there's not much of a pattern to his sleep schedule. Your little one will probably only be awake for 30 minutes to an hour at a time, and will nap anywhere from 15 minutes to three hours at a stretch. Newborn humans are programmed to cry whenever someone puts them down, because being left alone is dangerous when you cannot move to escape danger, and are reliant on your caregiver’s proximity for your very survival. Even their control over their heart rates and breathing is reliant upon being in the arms of a caregiver, whose own heartbeat and breathing stimulates that of the newborn’s. Some babies learn how to fall back asleep on their own, while others may need some nudging with the help of sleep training. This could happen at any age past 4 months. There are many different sleep training methods, but parents should refrain from picking baby up to soothe them and then putting them back to bed. As the months pass, your infant is getting more and more interested in the world. And that nosiness means that she’s much more likely to pop awake from any little distraction (outside sounds, bright light from the hallway, teething discomfort, a little gas, etc.). And if her room is totally quiet, she’ll fill that silence with a yell for you to come cuddle her or to play. These middle-of-the-night wakings are especially common after you take away the comforting snuggle of the swaddling blanket. Don’t worry about keeping the house silent while your baby sleeps during the day. It is good for them to get used to sleeping with a certain amount of noise and will help to teach them the difference between day and night If you're looking for a compassionate, effective and evidence-based approach to sleep or just advice on one thing like 4 month sleep regression then a baby sleep specialist will be able to help you.

Don't go over the top to get your baby to sleep. Rocking, pushing your baby around in a stroller and other things may help at first. But the risk is that your baby will learn to need these things to sleep. If this happens, they won't go to sleep without them. Symptoms of some conditions like postnatal depression can feel similar to extreme tiredness, so if you’re really struggling, or think that your feelings could be down to more than just lack of sleep, it’s a good idea to talk things through with your GP or health visitor to work out a way forward. Establishing a good child sleep routine is necessary for promoting happy, healthy sleep in children. Whether that’s including some relaxation time before bed, feeding them well or setting up the ideal sleep environment, sticking to good child sleep habits is a great way to ensure your little one sleeps peacefully. That means, where possible, doing the same thing at the same time each night. The amount of sleep that your child needs will also change as they grow, so it’s important that you stay in the know. Night sleep develops first, so typically the first portion of the night is the longest stretch of sleep. Experts recommend implementing a relaxing routine, such as taking a warm bath or reading a few pages of a book before bed, plus turning off electronics at least 1 to 2 hours before bedtime. There’s no badge of honor for powering through sleeplessness on your own. Whenever possible, accept help — or go ahead and ask for assistance from family and friends. Babies typically sleep in short spurts over a 24-hour period, so allowing others to assist you with watching, feeding, or changing the baby is critical. Even if all you can manage is a quick afternoon nap while a friend cares for your baby, every little bit helps you catch up on nighttime losses. Whether its something specific like sleep regression or really anything baby sleep related, a baby sleep consultant can guide you to find a sleep solution as individual as your baby is.

For an overtired older child, remove all stimulants including TVs and other screens. Encourage some quiet time and offer comfort like a bedtime story and a cuddle. Keep your voice calm and soothing, no matter how grizzly or woeful they become. Avoid sleep-inducing activities, if at all possible, during the day. Don’t fight your baby’s need to sleep. But if you can keep them out of the car seat for a bit, that extra time awake will help them later. Be guided by your baby and watch out for signs that they are tired (crying, rubbing eyes or showing faint dark circles under the eyes). Use these signs to gauge when to put your baby down for a nap. Things will get easier once your baby settles into their own routine and you get used to their rhythms. One can unearth extra intel relating to Sleep Consultancies on this NHS page.

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