Helping your Baby to Sleep!

As any new mother knows their newborn sleeps many hours during a 24 hour period. Their wakeful time is somewhat limited to feeding, bathing, changing, being held or in an infant swing or bassinet.
The mom's daytime hours are filled with trying to balance the baby's feeding schedule which is usually a demand feeding schedule...simply meaning that when the baby is hungry and crying he gets fed, with trying to take care of herself, other siblings and all the things that go along with being a mom. This can be an exhausting time particularly when at night the cutest infant can become almost nightmarish.

Night time is a special time for babies and parents and can actually be wonderful if the parents do not have high expectations of having their baby sleep through the night too early on. As the evening approaches the infant may sometimes have a long period of crying...this can also occur during the daytime as well. Many times this happens because infants have no other way to release tension except by crying. When an infant has had enough stimulation from the mother, father, grandparents, siblings or just his surroundings he will divert his eyes and look away signaling that he is done with interacting, he might quietly fall asleep or start howling. This can sometimes be referred to as a colicky baby if this crying lasts for an extended period of time particularly at night.

The term "colic"can be somewhat confusing because it is associated with several mixed definitions. It  can be associated with a baby who is experiencing gas, who may actually need a change of formula or perhaps  a baby who is experiencing reflux after a feeding and needs a sleeping wedge in his bassinet or crib to keep the reflux under control. These are questions for his pediatrician to answer and offer advice.

During the first few weeks after birth the newborn and parents are getting to know each other. The mom and dad and other caregivers are getting to know the different newborn signals that let you know when he is tired and needs to  be put down to rest and hopefully sleep. This is an exceptionally important time to become "tuned" in to him and how he "talks" to you and expresses his needs.

Enjoying this time as a "getting to know you phase is so important. It will help parents learn to look forward to the hours that they spend with their child tending to his many needs as he grows and develops before their eyes.

This is not the time for "sleep training". It is too early for baby! But it is a good time to learn his signals so that sleep habits will be easier to establish when he is ready.