Here are some suggestions that may help your baby (and you) sleep better at night

Getting Your Baby to Sleep What's the best way to get my child to go to sleep? Babies Babies do not have regular sleep cycles until about 6 months of ...
Author: Milo Horton
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Getting Your Baby to Sleep What's the best way to get my child to go to sleep? Babies Babies do not have regular sleep cycles until about 6 months of age. While newborns sleep about 16 to 17 hours per day, they may only sleep 1 or 2 hours at a time. As babies get older, they need less sleep. However, different babies have different sleep needs. It is normal for a 6-month-old to wake up during the night but go back to sleep after a few minutes. Here are some suggestions that may help your baby (and you) sleep better at night. Keep your baby calm and quiet when you feed or change her during the night. Try not to stimulate or wake her too much. Make daytime playtime. Talking and playing with your baby during the day will help lengthen her awake times. This will help her sleep for longer periods during the night. Put your baby to bed when drowsy but still awake. This will help your baby learn to fall asleep on her own in her own bed. Holding or rocking her until she is completely asleep may make it hard for her to go back to sleep if she wakes up during the night. Wait a few minutes before responding to your child’s fussing. See if she can fall back to sleep on her own. If she continues to cry, check on her, but don’t turn on the light, play with her, or pick her up. If she gets frantic or is unable to settle herself, consider what else might be bothering her. She may be hungry, wet or soiled, feverish, or otherwise not feeling well.

A Parent's Guide To Safe Sleep Did You Know? About one in five sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) deaths occur while an infant is in the care of someone other than a parent. Many of these deaths occur when babies who are used to sleeping on their backs at home are then placed to sleep on their tummies by another caregiver. We call this “unaccustomed tummy sleeping.” Unaccustomed tummy sleeping increases the risk of SIDS. Babies who are used to sleeping on their backs and are placed to sleep on their tummies are 18 times more likely to die from SIDS. You can reduce your baby’s risk of dying from SIDS by talking to those who care for your baby, including child care providers, babysitters, family, and friends, about placing your baby to sleep on his back during naps and at night. Who Is At Risk For SIDS? SIDS is the leading cause of death for infants between 1 month and 12 months of age. SIDS is most common among infants that are 1-4 months old. However, babies can die from SIDS until they are 1 year old. Know The Truth…SIDS Is Not Caused By: Immunizations Vomiting or choking

What Can I Do Before My Baby Is Born To Reduce The Risk of SIDS? Take care of yourself during pregnancy and after the birth of your baby. During pregnancy, before you even give birth, you can reduce the risk of your baby dying from SIDS! Don’t smoke or expose yourself to others’ smoke while you are pregnant and after the baby is born. Alcohol and drug use can also increase your baby’s risk for SIDS. Be sure to visit a physician for regular prenatal checkups to reduce your risk of having a low birth weight or premature baby. More Ways to Protect Your Baby Do your best to follow the guidelines on these pages. This way, you will know that you are doing all that you can to keep your baby healthy and safe. Breastfeed your baby. Experts recommend that mothers feed their children human milk for as long and as much as possible, and for at least the first 6 months of life, if possible. It is important for your baby to be up to date on her immunizations and well-baby checkups. Where Is The Safest Place For My Baby To Sleep? The safest place for your baby to sleep is in the room where you sleep, but not in your bed. Place the baby’s crib or bassinet near your bed (within arm’s reach). This makes it easier to breastfeed and to bond with your baby. The crib or bassinet should be free from toys, soft bedding, blankets, and pillows. Talk About Safe Sleep Practices With Everyone Who Cares For Your Baby! When looking for someone to take care of your baby, including a child care provider, a family member, or a friend, make sure that you talk with this person about safe sleep practices. If a caregiver does not know the best safe sleep practices, respectfully try to teach the caregiver what you have learned about safe sleep practices and the importance of following these rules when caring for infants. Before leaving your baby with anyone, be sure that person agrees that the safe sleep practices explained in this brochure will be followed all of the time. What Can I Do Reduce My Baby’s Risk Follow these easy and free steps to help you reduce your baby’s risk of dying from SIDS: Safe Sleep Practices Always place babies to sleep on their backs during naps and at nighttime. Because babies sleeping on their sides are more likely to accidentally roll onto their stomach, the side position is just as dangerous as the stomach position. Avoid letting the baby get too hot. The baby could be too hot if you notice sweating, damp hair, flushed cheeks, heat rash, and rapid breathing. Dress the baby lightly for sleep. Set the room temperature in a range that is comfortable for a lightly clothed adult. Consider using a pacifier at nap time and bed time. The pacifier should not have cords or clips that might be a strangulation risk. Safe Sleep Environment

Place your baby on a firm mattress, covered by a fitted sheet that meets current safety standards. For more about crib safety standards, visit the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov. Place the crib in an area that is always smoke free. Don’t place babies to sleep on adult beds, chairs, sofas, waterbeds, pillows, or cushions. Toys and other soft bedding, including fluffy blankets, comforters, pillows, stuffed animals, bumper pads, and wedges should not be placed in the crib with the baby. Loose bedding, such as sheets and blankets, should not be used as these items can impair the infant’s ability to breathe if they are close to his face. Sleep clothing, such as sleepers, sleep sacks, and wearable blankets are better alternatives to blankets. Is It Ever Safe To Have Babies On Their Tummies? Yes! You should talk to your child care provider about making tummy time a part of your baby’s daily activities. Your baby needs plenty of tummy time while supervised and awake to help build strong neck and shoulder muscles. Remember to make sure that your baby is having tummy time at home with you. Tummy To Play And Back To Sleep Place babies to sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of SIDS. Side sleeping is not as safe as back sleeping and is not advised. Babies sleep comfortably on their backs, and no special equipment or extra money is needed. “Tummy time” is playtime when infants are awake and placed on their tummies while someone is watching them. Have tummy time to allow babies to develop normally. What Can I Do To Help Spread The Word About Back To Sleep? Be aware of safe sleep practices and how they can be made a part of our everyday lives. When shopping in stores with crib displays that show heavy quilts, pillows, and stuffed animals, talk to the manager about safe sleep, and ask them not to display cribs in this way. Monitor the media. When you see an ad or a picture in the paper that shows a baby sleeping on her tummy, write a letter to the editor. If you know teenagers who take care of babies, talk with them. They may need help with following the proper safe sleep practices. Set a good example – realize that you may not have slept on your back as a baby, but we now know that this is the safest way for babies to sleep. When placing babies to sleep, be sure to always place them on their backs. If you have questions about the health and safety of your child, talk to your child’s pediatrician. If you have questions about safe sleep practices in the early education and child care settings, please contact Healthy Child Care America at the American Academy of Pediatrics at [email protected]. Last Updated 11/21/2015 Source A Parent's Guide to Safe Sleep (Copyright © American Academy of Pediatrics, Revised

4/2012) The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.

Good Night, Sleep Tight We’ll be the first to admit that going belly up doesn’t always seem to agree with all babies. While not true of all babies, we’ve found that quite a few are prone to startling themselves awake from peaceful slumber. That’s because all babies are at the whim of their own reflexes—which, by definition, they cannot control—and are born with one particularly inconvenient reflex (the startle, or Moro, reflex). This reflex causes infants to jerk suddenly, flail their arms and legs, and even cry out in response to being startled—hence the name. And yes, even when you’ve gone to great lengths to create a startle-free environment for your sleeping baby, he may just take matters into his own hands (and feet), startle himself awake, and then proceed to flail around like a bug stuck on his back until someone comes to his rescue. But don’t give up on uninterrupted sleep just yet, because there is something quick and easy you can do: a handy little technique we call the “burrito wrap.” The Burrito Wrap In other words, we suggest you wrap your baby up as snug as a bug in a baby blanket before putting him down to sleep. Hands down, the most talented people we’ve ever seen at this sleep-saving technique are the nurses in the newborn nursery. These baby-bundling experts take uncomfortably free and exposed newborns and almost effortlessly have them bundled in blissful, no-flailing-allowed slumber in the blink of an eye. If you have an opportunity, we highly recommend watching these professionals in action. For those of you who are already home and either missed out on the hospital demonstration or could use a little refresher course, we’ve laid out the details for you as best we can without actually being there to demonstrate in person. Lay a thin baby blanket out like a diamond in front of you. Fold the top corner of the blanket down a bit so that the folded corner almost reaches the middle of the blanket. Place your infant on his back, centered on the blanket with his arms at his sides and his head just above the folded edge and his shoulders just below it. Take one of the side corners of the blanket and fold it over your baby’s shoulder and across his body, making sure to tuck the corner underneath him on the opposite side. Then take the bottom corner of the blanket (below your baby’s feet) and fold it up over your baby. If the blanket is large enough that the bottom corner reaches up to (or over) your baby’s face, you can simply fold it back down until his face is no longer covered or bring it over one or the other shoulder and tuck it under him. Finally, take the only remaining corner and pull it over your baby’s other shoulder and across his body. Again, tuck this corner snugly under your baby’s opposite side. Once you have the general idea, remember that variations are perfectly acceptable. Feel free to play around with what works best for you and your baby.While the exact details and the

order in which you do them may not matter too much in the end, we will point out that there is a good reason why we recommend folding the bottom of the blanket up before flipping the last corner across (ie, step 5 always before step 6) and always tucking corners under your baby: Doing so helps to keep your handiwork from coming undone quite as easily. Hands-free Bundling Some of our esteemed parenting colleagues suggest doing whatever it takes (with regard to bundling, that is) to ensure that your baby’s arms and legs stay snugly secured in the blanket. Other equally convincing and respectable experts recommend never restricting your baby’s arms—focusing your bundling attention on just your baby’s legs while allowing her arms free rein. We personally have tried bundling both ways with good results. If you find that your baby seems unhappy having her arms “pinned down” by her sides instead of up next to her head, then just go ahead and burrito wrap her without placing her arms inside. One thing most child health experts do agree on, however, is that a baby's hips should not be bundled too tightly. Instead, they should be allowed to relax in their natural frog-leg positions to allow for proper growth and joint development. Author Laura A. Jana, MD, FAAP and Jennifer Shu, MD, FAAP Last Updated 11/21/2015 Source Heading Home With Your Newborn, 2nd Edition (Copyright © 2010 American Academy of Pediatrics) The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.

Reversing Day-Night Reversal Some babies, however, settle into the newborn sleep routine dreaded by many expectant parents—the so-called day-night reversal. As the description implies, newborns are known on occasion to mix up their days and nights. These temporarily backward-sleeping babies often begin to increase the amount of sleep they get each time they go to sleep according to plan, but simply do so more during the day while demanding to be fed, changed, and entertained throughout the night. As painfully exhausting as this upside-down approach to sleep may be for those of us accustomed to getting most if not all of our sleep at night, the assurance that this too shall pass once again comes to mind. We can all but guarantee you that hope is not far away. In most instances, the fact that your newborn is learning to replace lots of short little catnaps with longer stretches of sleep—whether they happen to fall during the day or at night—bodes well for a more “civilized” sleep routine in your not too distant future. Lights On, Lights Off If your baby seems determined to “play” during the night and sleep during the day there’s

really no quick fix, but there are some easy things you can do early on to set the stage for more acceptable sleep habits in the future. During your first few weeks at home with your baby, try to establish an atmosphere that clearly differentiates night from day. A good night’s rest may not result overnight, but this approach can help get you there sooner. Allow for active sleep. During the day, don't worry if your baby falls asleep in more "active" areas of the house - in rooms with light or music on, for example. Similarly, don't be afraid to run an occasional daytime errand, even if this means your newborn may not quite make it all the way home before falling asleep. Consistent contrast. Don’t spend much time worrying about background noises such as talking, telephones, or music during daylight hours. In contrast, try to make your nighttime interactions calm and quiet. Maintain focus. Whenever possible, take a more focused approach to your nighttime interactions—limiting them to feeding, burping, changing, and gentle soothing when necessary. Soft-spoken approach. Get in the habit of taking the aforementioned measures in a dark room using a soft voice whenever you want to signal to your newborn that it would be a fine time to sleep. Author Laura A. Jana, MD, FAAP and Jennifer Shu, MD, FAAP Last Updated 11/21/2015 Source Heading Home With Your Newborn, 2nd Edition (Copyright © 2010 American Academy of Pediatrics) The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.

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