Soothing Ways to Get Baby to Sleep

Over years of getting our kids to sleep, mums often come up with a lot of interesting ways to get that kid asleep (and keep him that way). Here are some soothing methods you can use to gently lull your little baby into dreamland. Hopefully anyway!

When you’re doing any of these methods, remember that you can’t force your child to sleep. Just like eating, this is something he has to get used to on his own. The best possible thing is just creating a warm, safe environment where your baby can feel comfortable. This gives him the right attitude as well that sleep is pleasant and safe. Teach your child good sleeping practices at a very young age and he’ll have better sleep even when he’s older.

Consistent Naps

Babies, especially newborns, don’t sleep on the same schedule you do. They could sleep for up to 16 hours a day, but most of that is broken up into little blocks of an hour or less. Set a regular daytime schedule for sleeping and you’ll have more luck with the night time schedule as well. One thing you can do is pick the time when you’re tired yourself, like early afternoon, and lie with your baby for a week or two to get him used to the routine. This will give you some extra rest as well, which just makes life all that much better.

Wind Down to Bedtime

When it’s time to put your baby to sleep, start getting him in a relaxed mood with a lovely warm bath. Then, let him nurse or slowly rock him to sleep. This has the benefit of removing all the excitement from the day and letting him know that it’s time for sleep. During this time keep the television down low and try and keep calm and relaxed yourself (if you can!).  Once you work into this schedule, your baby should start falling asleep much more quickly, and usually he’ll stay asleep for longer as well. The problem is that when he wakes up in the night, he might be expecting the same treatment to get him to sleep again. You should try switching up the routine, using a cycle of different methods so that he understands there’s more than one way to fall asleep.

Another way to get baby used to a bedtime routine is music.  Find some lovely progressive and soothing music and start it when you place baby down in the cot.. eventually he will learn to associate the music with sleep time!

Feed Him During the Daytime

One of the most important lessons you can teach your baby is that food comes during the day, and sleep comes at night. Children who aren’t taught this tend to forget about food for most of the day while they’re playing, and then cry for it at night instead of sleeping. To make it stick, try to feed your baby every three hours or so in the daytime. If you get in the habit of breastfeeding at night when the baby wakes up, it can be hard to get out of the cycle. This if course is for older babies, not newborns that need that night time feed!

Fathering

You can’t do this yourself, but get your partner to do it instead. Nestle the baby against his chest with his chin on the top of the baby’s head, and have him start speaking softly. The vibrations in his throat will relax and soothe the baby, pushing him towards sleep. You can do this either standing up or lying down, whatever is easier.  Best of all – Dad can take bubs off your hands for a bit so you can catch some ZZZ’s.

Invest in a Cot Rocker or Swing

The marvels of modern technology.  I must admit that when my baby screamed for 13 hours a day – paying the $250 for a cot rocker seemed like nothing if it actually worked.  And it did for me!  The rocker comes with four ‘cups’ that fit securely under the legs of the cot – the Lullabub has four settings and even a remote control!!!

Swings are of course a lot more common and they are equally as fabulous.  There are hundreds on the market and they are all pretty good!

Sometimes They Just Want Mum

Sometimes I think babies just miss their Mummy when they are in their cot all alone.  Perhaps wear a t-shirt all day and then place the t-shirt (smelling nicely of YOU) into the cot.  Be careful where you place it though – you don’t want bub to get it caught over his face or around his neck.

Do you have any other tried or true methods to get your baby to sleep? Let us know!