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Sleep deprivation is often the single biggest problem new parents face. A newborn baby sleeps a lot, but soon she will be awake for longer stretches and need more help getting to sleep. The big challenge is teaching your baby the difference between night and day, and that night is time for sleeping.
A newborn baby will usually need to nurse or take a bottle at intervals of two to four hours throughout the day. Don’t expect the baby to sleep through the night until she’s at least two months old – for some reason, this was the magic age for my two. At that age, they wake because they need nutrition. When the baby is two or three months old, she may be ready to sleep for longer periods. Unless there are health concerns, don’t wake the baby to feed her. You may also need to revise your idea of “sleeping through the night” – five or six hours at a stretch, to new parents, is heaven.
When baby wakes at night for a feeding, try to make it as easy as possible. Breast feeding is the best method for getting adequate rest – it’s always available, at the right temperature. Nursing moms can just take the baby into bed with them and often fall asleep while the baby feeds. As long as safety precautions are met, the parents’ bed can be a very safe place. If breast feeding is not an option, try keeping prepared bottles in a cooler in the baby’s room and heating them up in a bottle warmer or under a hot water tap in the bathroom sink instead of making a trip to the kitchen. Some babies don’t mind drinking formula cold – it’s worth a try and advantageous to encourage it.
At a certain age, usually around two or three months, the baby will no longer need to wake at night for feeding, but will do so out of habit, because they simply don’t understand the difference between night and day. Give the baby lots of stimulation and play activity during the day. At night, when the baby wakes at inappropriate times, feed her but make the time rather boring and uneventful. Don’t interact with her any more than necessary. It’s time to initiate a schedule – during certain times, waking won’t be rewarded with play, songs, or chatting. When she wakes at the right time, greet her with smiles and praise.
Eventually, the baby will come to understand that waking at night isn’t much fun. When she is around six months old, bottle feeding parents should replace her night-time bottle of formula with a bottle of water. Begin this process by diluting the formula gradually more each night. If all she receives is a bottle of water by a quiet parent, she may decide it’s not worth waking for. Breast feeding mothers can feed expressed breast milk at night, which is useful for exchanging duties between parents, and dilute as needed to achieve this result. It may not be as much of an issue to breast feeding mothers, however, as a tired mom can usually nurse while sleeping and breast milk does not damage teeth. Breast feeding mothers, however, may wish to make the effort to reduce the amount of pleasure the baby finds in night-time nursing by getting out of bed – unless nursing in bed is not a problem.
There are several methods in practice for encouraging a baby aged six months and older to get to sleep and stay there through the night. All have their benefits, and parents should choose the right method according to their lifestyle, beliefs, need for adequate rest – and above all, according to the temperament of the child. None will work unless the parent is secure in believing that he or she is doing the right thing. Whether you choose to let your child “cry it out” and fall asleep on her own according to a set schedule, or choose to cuddle her for hours until she reaches dreamland, you have to be certain that you’re doing what’s best for everyone. Pick one, and stick with it. Often the choice will depend on how important a full night’s sleep is to the parent, and how well the mother is sleeping despite the interruptions.
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