HAPPY DREAMS; Follow your baby’s sleep pattern

Molfix Contents Advisor:
Dr. Berna Elkabes, Pediatrics Specialist

The happiness your baby displays on waking up in the morning is a sign of how well he/she sleeps and continues to develop and grow happily. By providing a healthy sleep routine you can ensure that he/she always wakes up happily smiling and continues to grow up healthily and happily.

At this/her point we have a useful recommendation to make: To follow your baby’s sleep routine. When you take into consideration how effective uninterrupted sleep is in the potential brain development of children under the age of 3, the significance of an orderly sleep routine becomes clearer. To be able to provide the healthiest sleep habits to your baby, you must first map out his/her present sleep patterns, and according to the deficiencies in this/her map, you can seek out solutions that would provide optimal benefits.

After taking a print-out of the following Baby Sleep Schedule (or after creating the same template on your PC or on a piece of paper) you can determine your baby’s sleep patterns in just a few days by coloring in the small boxes on the schedule corresponding to the hours that your baby sleeps every day.

How much sleep does my baby need?

The 15-18 hours daily sleep requirement of your new-born baby is reduced down to 12-14 hours after her first 6 months. The day time sleep of this/her age babies is usually 2-3 hours long, taken in twice-daily naps around noon and in the afternoon. As the number of times you breastfeed your baby during the night decreases, the nighttime sleep becomes longer and less interrupted.

If your baby wakes up more than once during the night in spite of the fact that you do not breastfeed, you are not alone. Almost half of babies aged 6-12 months wake up at night. Leaving a toy sleep buddy with your baby, and leaving her door ajar to let her hear your voice could lead to feelings of security and ensure that she sleeps peacefully.

Golden Spots to Happy Dreams

Your baby sleeps much better when his/her bottom is dry and clean. That being said, if you choose a high quality and comfortable diaper, you can ensure that he/she sleeps deeply and happily. If you are sure that he/she is not hungry and is burped, you can start getting ready to settle in for sleep.

Many mothers establish bedtime routines to create a sense of order around their baby’s night and daytime sleep patterns. You can first determine the time interval during which your baby is sleeping and establish a routine to start half an hour before the beginning of this/her interval. Bathing your baby, giving him/her a bottle of milk or breastfeeding him/her, reading a book and singing to him/her could be a part of your bedtime routine. The key to success is to repeat the same actions every day at the same time. Consequently your baby will recognise this/her time to be his/her bedtime and peacefully fall asleep.

Content provided by: ZNN Network www.znnnetwork.com

Tags: Sleep