How to put your newborn to bed after eating. Hard or soft? Sleepy rituals will help

Young children grow while they are awake and during sleep, so for many mothers the question of how to put their baby to sleep remains relevant. Infants sleep much more than adults and even more than children three to four years older. At this stage of development, the child’s main job is to grow and develop, and this requires a lot of strength and proper rest.

If your baby does not get enough sleep, this can have a detrimental effect on the development of the nervous system. Problems with the nervous system affect other systems of the body.

A child’s healthy sleep is the key to future family relationships and the opportunity to fully devote oneself to the child during his waking hours.

As a rule, it is not difficult for an infant to fall asleep. Newborn children receive many impressions from the new, bright world around them; their perception of reality is very different from how adults perceive the world, so after eating and walking, babies calmly fall asleep.

On average, an infant sleeps about eighteen hours a day, waking up due to physiological needs. If the baby's sleep is much shorter, the child wakes up and often screams - there may be other causes of discomfort.

The most common causes of discomfort are:

  • the air temperature in the nursery is too high or too low;
  • under the age of three months, colic is a common cause of sleep disturbance;
  • allergic nasal congestion or chronic rhinitis (chronic rhinitis can be cured);
  • presence of blood-sucking insects in the room;
  • the child began to have headaches;
  • onset of an infectious disease, high body temperature;
  • lack of parental attention, feeling of insecurity;
  • the child is hungry or thirsty;
  • the child’s clothing is uncomfortable, chafes or is made of materials that irritate the skin;
  • the child has wet or soiled the diaper or diapers (coldness and irritation).

On average, a newborn child under the age of three months sleeps seventeen to eighteen hours a day; from three months to six months, sleep continues up to fifteen hours a day. The older the child, the more time he is awake, but for a long time he still needs daytime sleep.

How to put a baby to bed so that the baby falls asleep quickly and peacefully? In order to put your baby to sleep, there are time-tested factors that have a good effect on young children.

Most often, experienced mothers advise:

You should swaddle your baby very carefully so as not to pull it too tightly. Before the age of three months, babies often wake themselves up in their sleep, so diapers that gently restrain movement help them fall asleep. Not all parents agree with the benefits of this method, but this is why there are alternative ways to put a baby to sleep.

Prolonged motion sickness should not be too strenuous either. If the child gets very used to being rocked in his arms (and his weight continues to grow), after a short time he will have to be weaned. Nevertheless, there is nothing wrong or contraindicated in falling asleep on the mother's chest. This has a good effect on strengthening the connection between the child and mother and develops the baby’s vestibular apparatus.

Rituals, as constant actions, explain to the baby what exactly the mother will do next. Rituals calm not only small children, but also adults and even the elderly.

If the same actions are repeated day after day before going to bed (such as eating, then bathing, a fairy tale or song, and then sleep), the baby will be confident in what will happen next. In addition, this is how the daily routine is formed.

Some mothers put their babies to sleep with them and believe that this way the child will sleep much more soundly. This method can be explained by the fact that during intrauterine development the child gets used to the proximity of the mother’s heart and its rhythm, which after birth calms and creates an effect of security.

During daytime sleep, the baby can sleep in the crib, but for a long night's sleep he is transferred to his parents' bed. After six months, it is advisable that the baby gets used to falling asleep on his own both day and night.

A baby gets tired much faster than an adult or even older children; bright and new events are constantly happening in his life, from which he needs a rest.

After an intense experience with walks, communication with parents and a difficult day, the baby needs a full night's sleep. If the baby is not sick, then if you follow some recommendations, he will calmly fall asleep, which will give him and his parents strength for the next full day.

If the baby has no health problems, he is not bothered by colic or colds, then if these simple rules are followed, he will quickly fall asleep.

It is worth noting that boys (most often) ask to go to the toilet much more often, this is normal. The need for changing a diaper and going to the potty depends on the size of the bladder and is an individual feature. If there is no discomfort or pain when urinating, then there is no need to worry.

At an early age, the baby needs mother's milk, but falling asleep during feeding will have to be weaned over time. This does not mean that the baby needs to be completely taken off the breast. Breastfeeding best promotes the growth and development of the child and has a good effect on the formation of the baby’s correct bite and jaw development (pacifiers and nipples, on the contrary, have a bad effect on the bite, since the baby uses almost no effort during sucking).

Experienced mothers advise paying attention to several factors when weaning a newborn to fall asleep during feeding:

As a rule, weaning off the breast and rocking to sleep goes away quite quickly, within a week, if you are adamant.

Mom should be prepared for the fact that the baby will be capricious at first and demand what he usually received before bed.

If the baby does not fall asleep and screams a lot, you need to seek help from a pediatrician.

Instructions

Teach the difference between day and night. It's okay that he sleeps almost all the time. During the day, put him to sleep in a bright room or outside. In the evening it is necessary to keep the curtains closed. The baby, of course, will not yet understand why you are doing this, but he will get used to the fact that it is light during the day and dark. Of course, the light should not be too bright during the day.

Get used to certain procedures. In the evening they bathe him, feed him, and sing him a song. Exactly how the baby looks is up to you. Some parents rock him to sleep, others put him in bed with them, others leave him alone in the room so that he can throw out his emotions and scream properly. The best option for both mother and baby- when he calmly falls asleep in his crib, and his mother sits next to a book or with needlework. The child is calm, he feels protected because his mother is nearby. At the same time, mom is not angry, she also feels calm and peaceful. All other methods have their advantages. Constantly motion sickness baby, you are forming a not very good reflex in him. The baby is unlikely to want to fall asleep without rocking. If suddenly you are not at home one day, other family members simply will not cope with the task assigned to them.

Before going to bed, ventilate the room well. Prepare your bed. The baby's crib must be perfectly clean, and linen must be changed every day. By the way, this is why it is not very recommended to lay baby sleep with parents. If you do this, make sure your baby has his own sheet.

Turn down the TV volume. It is not necessary to turn it off completely if you do not want your child to be able to sleep exclusively in complete silence. There may be some background noise, but there should not be any sharp or loud sounds in the apartment. By the way, this is also how night differs from day - during the day the child sleeps, when there is traffic outside the window, one of the neighbors has music playing quite loudly, and at night everything usually quiets down.

If a child perceives going to bed as a ritual, this makes the parents' task much easier. Do it in a specific order. An infant is fed immediately before bedtime, after bathing. Sometimes he even gets used to falling asleep in his mouth. Don't indulge this habit. Seeing that he is full and dozing, calmly remove the breast and put him in the crib. Otherwise, he will suck on everything in his sleep, and it will be difficult to wean him off.

Do not leave the room immediately after the child falls asleep. It may well be that he is not yet fast asleep, and any movement you make may wake him up. Sit for a while, minding your own business.

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note

If your baby doesn't fall asleep for a long time, try to determine the reason. He may be too excited, he may be in pain, he may be too hot or too cold. Do not scold the child, but try to eliminate the cause of his dissatisfaction.

Related article

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  • how to put a baby to bed

A newborn baby spends most of the day sleeping. And happy are those parents whose children do not have problems sleeping. But if a child sleeps poorly, often wakes up, and is capricious, this affects not only his well-being, but also the condition of his parents. How to style baby sleep and ensure healthy sleep for him and his mom and dad?

Instructions

Quite often, the child falls asleep next to you, in the parent's bed. And you don’t know how to transfer the baby to his own crib without him waking up. Being close to the mother, the child feels her soothing warmth. And if you transfer it to an unheated room, it will probably wake up due to the change in temperature. Warm the baby's crib with a heating pad and only then transfer it to it.

Take the baby in your arms and feed it. After the baby has eaten, do not rush to put him in. Rock it baby, quietly humming a song to him. Rhythmic rocking, the sound of yours, a quiet melody have a calming effect on the baby and help him stay strong. It’s great if the baby sleeps in the cradle: even if he is capricious, you can always calm him down by simply extending your hand and rocking the cradle.

The child continues to be capricious, and the mother rocks and shakes him harder. Everything seems to be alright, after all, baby. Children are capricious when they are very tired, and your shaking does not relax him, but only prevents him from crying. If you constantly shake your baby vigorously, he will get used to this method and will fall asleep only when he is very tired. And you will rock him longer each time, which ultimately will not benefit either you or him.

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Sources:

  • how to put a baby to sleep

With the birth of a child, the way of life in the family changes radically, this is especially felt in terms of sleep, since it is not always easy to put a newborn to bed. Many parents face this problem, but it is quite possible to solve it if you follow a clear daily routine.

You will need

  • - bathing product;
  • - diapers.

Instructions

Sleep takes up a large part, but if the child sleeps too much during the day, then difficulties may arise with going to bed in the evening. In order for the baby to fall asleep more easily in the evening, several hours must pass between bedtime and going to bed, otherwise the child simply will not have time to get tired. The older the baby, the longer this time period.

Try to stick to a strict routine, putting your child to bed at the same time every day. This allows him to get used to a certain way of life and know that there is a time for wakefulness and sleep.

Avoid bright lights and loud sounds before bed. The entire environment should prepare the child for sleep, and not further excite him.

note

Sometimes the problem with falling asleep is caused by pain in the tummy. If your baby is crying because of this, give him the appropriate remedy immediately during the last feeding. Then by bedtime he will not suffer from bloating.

Helpful advice

Some babies fall asleep comfortably in their own crib, while others require prolonged rocking, especially necessary in the first months of life. There are simply no universal recommendations on how to wean a child from this process. Therefore, for those parents who are faced with a similar problem, it is easier to purchase a bed with a pendulum or a special rocking chair than to spend their energy rocking the child with their arms every evening.

Sources:

  • put the newborn to bed

For an infant, the need for uninterrupted sleep is especially great. During rest, his nervous system, weak from birth, is restored, and the brain digests and consolidates everything that was heard, seen and touched. But in order for the baby to fall asleep smoothly, it is necessary to properly organize the daily routine and create an atmosphere conducive to sleep.

Instructions

Sleep depends on the daily routine, the emotions experienced, the climate in the room, nutrition, walks and much more. All these moments must be tirelessly monitored and adjusted until the baby develops a conditioned reflex to fall asleep independently and at certain hours.

Do not limit your baby's curiosity and mobility during the day. The more physical and emotional energy he expends, the more sound his sleep will be, and from fatigue it will come much faster.

Be sure to take your child for a walk. Fresh air has a positive effect on all body systems and promotes sound and quick sleep. Long walks before lunch and in the late afternoon are beneficial.

Do not allow active games with your child before bedtime and do not provoke him to strong emotions, for example, loud and prolonged laughter. Excessive excitement will delay the moment of falling asleep, and during the short phase of sleep the baby may wake up from the stormy impressions he has experienced.

Give your baby a bath 1-2 hours before bedtime. Water procedures accustom the child to cleanliness, cleanse the skin of perspiration formed during the day, and stabilize the nervous system, which is not sufficiently stable in young children.

Before going to bed, sing a lullaby or show your baby his favorite books; by the first year of life, they will certainly appear. List to him all the characters and their actions several times. This process will not only develop the baby, but also gradually put him to sleep.

Do not rock your baby in your arms, in a crib or stroller. Despite the fact that this option in some cases is the only way to put the baby to sleep, it is still not very useful, since it stupefies the baby and makes sleep difficult. Gradually you need to get rid of this habit.

If by the appointed hour and after all the evening procedures the child falls asleep for a long time, and so on every day, teach him to sleep with the lights off. Under the influence of darkness, the production of melatonin, a hormone responsible for sleep, increases.

When you have an infant, it is extremely rare to count on full, uninterrupted sleep. At the same time, lack of rest can make a young mother irritable, overly tired, and will also negatively affect breastfeeding. There is only one way out: use various opportunities to get enough sleep with your baby.

Co-sleeping in the first months

Co-sleeping is a common practice that causes a lot of controversy and conflicting opinions. The main criticism of this method is that the baby gets used to sleeping with you, and later it will be quite difficult to put him in a crib. In this case, it is important not to miss this moment: let the baby sleep with you until 3-4 months, when he is exclusively on the bed, and then you begin to move him. Co-sleeping will help you get enough sleep because your baby will feel your heartbeat and warmth, and, as a result, wake up less often.

Remember to keep your baby safe while co-sleeping. Buy special bumpers that will prevent your baby from rolling off and preventing you from crushing him in his sleep.

To keep your baby as safe as possible, use a carrycot. You can place it next to you in your bed, and after a few months move it further away, into a crib.

Practice short naps

Take every opportunity to sleep, even if it's just for a short time. Sleep during the day when your baby sleeps, at least during one of the periods. Free yourself from business by this time. Even if you are not used to sleeping during the day, it will soon become a habit and will give you a feeling of rest and relaxation. As a rule, at this time you will be alone at home, and no one will disturb you. However, try to wake up before sunset to avoid headaches and insomnia.

Learn a popular meditation technique called yoga nidra. Even 15 minutes of such practice is equal to 4 hours of full sleep and helps to significantly restore the entire body.

A child's sound sleep is your rest

In order for the mother to get enough sleep, the baby himself must sleep well. If a child is healthy, his sound and long sleep depends on his parents.

First of all, you need to enter a routine. Put your baby to bed for both daytime and nighttime sleep at the same time, with a difference of no more than 10 minutes. Create your own bedtime ritual: bathing, light stroking, feeding, certain music or a lullaby. In a few weeks, the baby will get used to the routine and will lie down without additional effort. Try to follow this routine yourself, and then the lack of sleep will not be felt so sharply.

A few minutes before bed, spray a mist with lavender essential oil into the nursery: this aroma will promote more comfortable sleep for both mother and baby.

Before going to bed, try to make yourself as tired as possible, but not overstimulated. Chat with him, sing songs to him, give him a light massage, walk, bathe - there can be many options. Try to keep him busy on his own: this will free up more time for you to do your own things, so that you can then sleep with your child.

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The debate over which position is best to place a baby never subsides. Each position has its pros and cons.

It is not recommended to place the baby on his back immediately after feeding. The most ideal option is to first hold the baby upright to allow air to be swallowed while eating. Then it is better to put him to sleep on his side. The baby himself, of course, will not be able to maintain this position. You need to put a cushion under your back. You can buy a special pillow for these purposes, or you can use a folded diaper. Make sure that the child sleeps alternately on different sides, then his muscular system will develop symmetrically.


The prone position is best avoided. The child does not yet know how to lift and turn his head, so he can easily bury his nose in the crib, which will make it difficult for him to breathe. In general, it is imperative to place the baby on his stomach: this enhances intestinal motility, which helps reduce colic. In addition, it is in the tummy position that the child learns to hold and turn his head. All this must be done while the baby is awake. It’s better not to put her to sleep on her tummy at first.


Swaddle– the choice of every mother. Before the birth of your own baby, you can be an ardent opponent of swaddling. But when he is born, it quickly becomes clear how he can sleep better. Some babies cannot calm down and fall asleep until they are swaddled tightly. And some sleep well in rompers and vests. Therefore, first of all, focus not on the advice of mothers and grandmothers, but on what is more convenient for you and your child.


The room where you are laying should be cool and humid. A baby's mucous membrane is very sensitive and is just getting ready to work in the air, so if the air in the bedroom is dry, babies easily develop a runny nose. Excessive mucus secretion in the baby’s nose is an attempt by his body to cope with dry air. You can purchase a special humidifier. But remember that it needs to be cleaned periodically, as bacteria multiply quickly in a humid environment. You can do without a humidifier by simply laying damp towels on the radiators. It is especially important to humidify the air when the heating is on: radiators dry out the air in the room. It is not recommended to place a crib next to a radiator. This can cause the child to overheat.


In the period immediately after birth, the baby’s body is in the so-called protective mode: Although the child hears sharp sounds (even in his sleep), he does not react to them. Over time, he will begin to sleep more lightly. Therefore, look for a middle ground in the noise level while your baby sleeps. On the one hand, there is no need to tiptoe around the apartment; you can go about your normal household chores. On the other hand, there is also no need to play loud music or make any special noise; this has a harmful effect on the nervous system of a child’s growing body. The baby must get used to the background noise that is always present in any apartment: the operation of a washing machine, for example.


Thus, it is better to place the baby to sleep on its side, placing a small cushion under the backrest. In a room where there should be an optimal noise level, the temperature in the room should not be high, and it is better to humidify the air.

Firstly, swaddling. No matter how old-fashioned it may sound, our grandmothers are right - swaddling helps the baby fall asleep faster. The baby’s movements are not yet voluntary; he wants to sleep, but his active legs and arms interfere with him. If you swaddle a child, he will not be able to move with the same activity and will soon get tired and fall asleep. Only, if you have never swaddled a baby before, he will resist and cry - he needs time to get used to this condition.

White noise or calm classical music. From the very first days, I turned on white noise for my child at night, and from about three months I was already playing more complex compositions - calm classical music. It calms his nervous system and has a beneficial effect on the general condition of the child. The first weeks of his life, we had white noise on all night - this helped us, parents, sleep sounder and more peacefully.


1. To ensure that your baby sleeps well during the night, try to wash him and put him to bed at the same time. Then the child will develop a routine.

2. Most often, babies fall asleep near their mother's breast. There is no need to panic, there is nothing wrong with this. Therefore, before going to bed, give your baby breastfeed more often. When breastfeeding, babies feel protected and safe.

3. Play a lot with your baby before bed. Try to maintain a wakefulness interval of 3-4 hours before going to bed all night. Don't let your baby sleep.

4. Many people are also afraid to rock their baby to sleep before bed. Of course, when the baby is already big, this is of no use, but while he is still an infant, you need to make as much physical contact as possible and be nearby.

5. For children, the most beneficial and sound sleep is outside. Therefore, do not forget to walk outdoors more often. During a walk, the baby regains proper breathing, which is very important and beneficial for a small body.

6. If you want your child to have a sound and restful sleep, then before going to bed, turn off the bright lights, turn down the TV, or even turn on calm music. It is better to choose either classical music or sounds of nature. You can also sing a song or tell a story yourself.

7. To make your child feel your warmth and care, kiss him before bed. Here are the simplest rules, or rather tips for young mothers.

The best American expert on infant behavior, Tracy Hogg, in her book “What Does Your Baby Want?” pays a lot of attention to the topic of sleep. How to put a child to sleep correctly? Does co-sleeping have a right to exist? What mistakes do parents make when teaching their baby to fall asleep in a crib? And can a child in the first weeks of life even learn to fall asleep on his own?

Co-sleeping or crying in the crib?

Everyone has their own opinion about the best way to put babies to sleep and what to do if they don't want to go to sleep. I will not touch on the ideas of previous decades, I will limit myself to fashion trends in 2000, when this book was written. Now the minds of parents are dominated by two “schools” that are radically different from each other.

The first includes co-sleeping adherents, no matter what it is called, be it “sleeping in your parents’ bed” or the Sears method. (Dr. William Sears, a California pediatrician, promotes the idea that infants should be allowed to sleep in their parents' bed until they are will ask so that they are provided with their own bed.)

This method is based on the idea that the child should develop a positive attitude towards sleep and going to bed (here I am both in favor) and that the most correct way to this goal is to carry him in your arms, nurse and stroke him while the baby will not fall asleep (to which I categorically object). Sears, the method's most influential promoter, wondered in an interview published in Child magazine in 1998: "How can a mother want to put her baby in a twig box and leave him alone in a dark room?"

Proponents of parent-baby co-sleeping often point to traditions in other cultures, such as Bali, where newborns are kept in their arms until they are three months old. (But we don’t live in Bali!) All this serves to “strengthen attachment” and create a “feeling of security”, so supporters of this point of view believe that it is quite possible for mom and dad to sacrifice their time, personal life and their own need for sleep .

At the other pole is delayed response method, often referred to as "Ferber" after Dr. Richard Ferber, director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Boston Children's Hospital. According to his theory, bad sleep habits are learned and therefore can be broken (which I wholeheartedly agree with). Accordingly, he recommends that parents put their baby in the crib while he is still awake and teach him to fall asleep on his own (I also agree with this).

If the child, instead of falling asleep, begins to cry, actually turning to the parents with an appeal: “Come, take me away from here!” - Ferber advises leaving crying unattended for increasingly longer periods of time: the first evening for five minutes, the second for 10, then 15, etc. (and here Dr. Ferber and I part ways). Dr. Ferber explains in Child magazine: “If a baby wants to play with a dangerous object, we say ‘no’ and set boundaries that may cause him to protest... The same thing happens when we explain to him that there are rules at night. . It's in his best interest to get a good night's sleep."

Both approaches don't work?

Perhaps you have already joined one or the other camp. If any of these two methods suits you and your child, and suits your lifestyle, do not hesitate to continue in the same spirit.

But the fact is that I often get calls from people who have already tried both of these approaches. Usually events develop as follows. One parent initially favors the idea of ​​co-sleeping with the baby and convinces their partner that this is the best thing to do. In the end, there really is something romantic in this - a kind of return “to the roots.” Yes, and night feedings cease to be a problem.

An enthusiastic couple decides not to buy a crib at all. But several months pass—sometimes quite a lot—and the idyll ends. If mom and dad are very afraid of pinning down the child, then they themselves may lose sleep due to constant fears, and someone develops painful sensitivity to the slightest sound made by the baby in his sleep.

What is a smart approach to sleep?

This is the middle way, denying any extremes. You will notice that my approach takes something from both principles described, but not all, since, in my opinion, the idea of ​​“let him cry and go to sleep” is not compatible with respectful attitude towards the child, and co-sleeping forces parents to sacrifice their interests. My principle takes into account the interests of the family as a whole, the needs of all its members.

On the one hand, the baby must be taught to fall asleep on his own - he must feel comfortable and safe in his own crib. On the other hand, he also needs our presence to calm down after stress. You cannot begin to solve the first problem until the second is solved. At the same time, parents also need good rest, time that they can devote to themselves and each other; their life should not revolve around the baby 24/7, but they should still devote some time, energy and attention to the baby.

These goals are not at all mutually exclusive. This is what a smart approach to sleep is based on.


Go where you want to go. If the idea of ​​co-sleeping appeals to you, explore it thoroughly. Is this how you would like to spend every night for three months? Six months? Longer? Remember, everything you do is teaching your child. So, if you help him fall asleep by holding him to your chest or rocking him to sleep for 40 minutes, you are essentially telling him, “This is how you should fall asleep.” When you decide to take this path, you must be prepared to stick with it for a long time.

Independence does not mean ignoring. When I tell the mother or father of a newborn baby: “We must help her become independent,” they look up at me in amazement: “Independent? But Tracy, she’s only a few hours old!” “When do you think we should start?” - I ask.

No one, not even scientists, can answer this question, because we do not know when exactly a baby begins to comprehend the world in the full sense of the word. “So start right now!” - I urge. But teaching independence does not mean giving up crying alone. This means meeting your baby's needs, including holding her when she cries - because by doing this she is trying to tell you something. But once her needs are met, she needs to be let go.

Observe without interfering. Whenever a child falls asleep, he goes through a sequence of certain phases. Parents should know this sequence well so as not to violate it. We should not interfere with the natural processes of the child’s life, but observe them, giving the baby the opportunity to fall asleep on his own.

Do not make your child dependent on crutches. I call a “crutch” any object or any action, without which the child experiences stress. There is no hope that the baby will learn to fall asleep on his own if you convince him that daddy’s hands, half an hour of rocking or mommy’s nipple in his mouth are always at his service. If we endlessly carry a baby in our arms, cradle and rock her to sleep, we actually make her dependent on the “crutch,” depriving her of the opportunity to develop self-soothing skills and learn to fall asleep without outside help.

Develop daytime and nighttime sleep rituals. Putting your child to bed during the day and evening should always be done routinely. I can't stress enough: babies are incredible traditionalists. They prefer to know what will happen next. Research has shown that even very young children, trained to expect certain stimuli, are able to anticipate them.

Learn your baby's sleep patterns. All “recipes” for putting a baby to sleep have a common drawback: there are no universal remedies. One thing suits one, another suits another. Yes, I offer parents a lot of general recommendations, but I always advise them to take a close look at their child, the one and only.

The best thing to do is keep a journal of your baby's sleep. In the morning, write down when he woke up, and add notes about each day's sleep. Note when he was put to bed in the evening and what time he woke up at night. Keep a journal for four days. This is enough to understand how your child’s sleep “works,” even if it seems that there is no system to it.

For example, Marcy was convinced that her eight-month-old Dylan's naps were completely random: “He never goes to sleep at the same time, Tracy.” But after four days of keeping an observation log, she noticed that although the time varies slightly, Dylan always falls asleep briefly between 9 and 10 a.m., sleeps another 40 minutes between 12:30 and 2 p.m., and by 5 p.m. he is always very cranky and cranky. irritated and switches off for about 20 minutes. This knowledge helped Marcy plan her day and, equally important, understand her baby’s behavior and mood. Taking into account Dylan's natural biorhythms, she streamlined his daily life, ensuring that he had the opportunity to fully rest. When he began to be capricious, she better understood what was going on and whether he wanted to sleep, and reacted faster.

Discussion

The article is not about anything. From birth I put my baby to sleep in my arms. He falls asleep in bed. But he is already 3 months old. How to lay it down? He is no longer comfortable in his arms. He's spinning. Together with us? He doesn't fall asleep. If you put it to us, toys begin. Crawl there, jump there. In your crib? If I put him there. No, he won't cry. He will jump around like a monkey. Fairy tale? Why does he need fairy tales? He likes to leaf through a book. Sing or tell it yourself? He will smile and giggle. He sees that I’m not sleeping, so he’s playing. Stroller? The same story we will jump on it. So what should I do? Let the child eat until he loses his pulse? Well, I do not. From birth we have a feeding and sleeping routine. As soon as I was born everything was according to the clock. And he took it well. Kst. He falls asleep easily when he takes a nap in his arms. So what should I do? How to lay it down?

01/01/2018 23:37:22, Ksenija148

Parents are often forced to co-sleep in the first months of a child’s life. When the baby wakes up every hour for a variety of reasons and constantly screams, closer to the morning the exhausted mother will put him next to him so as not to run to the crib every time. In general, children are all different, some fall asleep on their own, others need to read or sing, and others will suffer until 2 am, cry, rub their eyes, but will not fall asleep on their own, and even need to be rocked to sleep for hours. Everyone needs an individual approach, and I agree with the author on this.

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walk before bed. and insist - sleep, now we will sleep, as advised below. mine only goes to bed if I also lie down. By the way, beauty sleep before the Dream of a child 3 years old and older. How to put a child to sleep: the experience of a mother and a teacher. Print version. 4.1 5 (22 ratings)...

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Try to put her down in the evening for a couple of hours so that you have time to do your business and work out, and when daddy arrives she will wake up and talk to him a little, and then he will put her to bed. How to put your baby to sleep correctly: 6 tips.

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When a baby is brought home from the hospital, he is so defenseless, small and fragile that young parents are afraid to touch him again. And we need to feed him properly, dress him, treat him (if necessary) and, of course, put him to bed in such a way that he is comfortable and calm.

The world through the eyes of a baby

To understand their baby and realize what he needs, parents must learn to look at the world in a completely different way - through the eyes of their child.

The baby suddenly left his mother’s warm and comfortable tummy, in which he felt familiar and cramped. And suddenly, absolutely not expecting anything more, he feels that some incomprehensible force is pushing him somewhere where it is too light, cold and a lot of noise. Around the baby are incomprehensible huge creatures, which he cannot yet see, because visual acuity is absent at first. In this situation, everything is unclear to the baby, not as it was before. And the newborn becomes scared.

It’s good that by nature the baby has innate reflexes that can tell him what to do. And yet, in order for him to fall asleep easily, parents need to somehow calm him down, so that the baby screams less, and so that the parents waste as few nerve cells as possible.

There are several simple ways to make it easier for your little one to fall asleep. Of course, all this is a little average, because some kids may have their own “secrets”. But these methods will help most children.

1. Talk to me, mom

It is clear that any baby is soothed by the voice of mom and dad. True, when adults try to put him to sleep, he must speak in a quiet, even, monotonous voice. This way the baby will understand that the person closest to him is nearby, that everything is in order. Some parents are sure that the baby that has just been born does not understand anything. But this is not true: from the first moment the baby is already attached to his family and is able to recognize familiar voices.

2. We will do the same thing every day

Mom doesn’t have to constantly “reinvent the wheel” - put the baby on the sofa, in the crib, carry her in her arms... Babies are big conservatives, they need order and monotony. If the mother is sure that from the first days the child should sleep only in his own bed, then that’s what should be done. If the mother is sure that the baby will be best in her arms, she should be rocked to sleep in her arms.

3. Required air temperature

Parents should control the cool temperature (this should be the case in the room in which the baby sleeps), because thanks to the flow of air, the baby will not be capricious. The temperature should not exceed 22°C. The hotter the conditions, the worse it is for the baby’s immunity.

4. If the baby sleeps during the day but doesn’t want to at night

This happens in many families. The baby can sleep during the day, and at night he will be more active than ever. In this situation, it is the parents who must plan the entire daytime so that the little one receives the greatest number of impressions during the day, then by night he will get tired and fall asleep. The rule should apply: during the day - games and other fun (you can give the baby a massage, sing songs and tell him poems, change clothes more often, show different objects and books, walk, carry around the room), at night - a restful sleep.

5. Set a regular bedtime

A little person is also a self-sufficient person. And parents should remember this. Especially when they try to break his will and put him to bed strictly according to the clock. If the baby is really tired, you can understand it immediately.

6. Delicious milk

The most delicious and best food for a baby is his mother's milk. Firstly, his sucking reflex is instantly satisfied. Secondly, the baby wants to sleep after warm milk. Many doctors believe that the baby should not fall asleep at his mother’s breast, but understand that this is only food. But if the baby calmly falls asleep this way, that’s wonderful.

7. Pacifier - should we take it or not?

As a rule, toddlers treat the pacifier with interest, because it, like a mother’s breast, provides an opportunity to satisfy the need for sucking and helps babies calm down. If you also carry the baby in your arms, rocking the baby's foot, he falls asleep very quickly. Moreover, it is better to buy the most ordinary, classic nipples, without succumbing to advertising about “orthodontic” nipples, which are designed to help the formation of a correct bite from birth.

8. Should we swaddle tighter or should we not?

Modern parents are sure that tight swaddling is an unnecessary relic of the past. But they are wrong. While the baby is in the mother's tummy, he is used to some tightness, it is so comfortable for him. Therefore, swaddling will be an incentive to calm him down and help him fall asleep soundly. When the baby grows a little and learns to fall asleep on his own, swaddling can be postponed.

Important! If the diapers are pulled too tightly, problems with blood circulation and breathing may occur, and the delicate bones of the baby may be injured.

By the way, one of the reasons for hip dysplasia may be a mother’s excessive zeal when wrapping her baby.

9. Fun swimming

Before putting your baby to bed in the evening, you need to give him a bath. The first days he may cry, not understanding what is being done to him. But then he will get used to it and he will really like bathing. To make it easier for your baby to fall asleep, you can add only one drop of lavender oil to the bath (the work of your baby’s nervous system will slow down a little and he will start yawning).

10. Oh, these colics!

In almost 80% of babies, colic becomes a huge problem. A child may scream and cry only because he is in pain. To rid him of this condition, you need to put something warm on his belly, or even better, when the mother presses the baby to her stomach. You can carry the baby, who is in an upright position, so that unnecessary air is “burped” from the ventricle. You can give your little one a sweet Bobotik solution, after which he will quickly calm down.

Important! Such events are intended only to alleviate the condition of the baby. It is unrealistic to completely get rid of them, because colic occurs due to the fact that the baby’s intestines and stomach are not yet perfect. The colic itself will go away after three months.

11. The best sleep is with mom!

If the family is tired of the constant nightly crying of children, then the ideal solution to this problem would be for mother and newborn to sleep together. This way the baby will calm down very quickly and he will have no reason to cry. A cry is just a child’s desire to see his parents or tell them something, and not to anger them at all. And so, when mom is nearby all night, the baby is calm.

How to put a newborn to sleep correctly?

If the baby can fall asleep without rocking, then you shouldn’t accustom him to it. Mom can sit next to the crib for a few minutes until he falls asleep. As a rule, babies, until they reach the age of seven to ten months, fall asleep exclusively in their arms. This is completely normal. You should not deny this to your child, because during this wonderful period of the newborn, which will never happen again, he so desperately needs his mother.

Many pediatricians are against the mother putting the newborn to sleep next to her, citing the fact that, having fallen asleep, the mother can simply crush the little one without noticing. Therefore, they advise mothers not to risk the lives of their children. You should put your baby to bed as far as possible from radiators, stoves and other heating devices. And the point is not only that, spreading out his arms and legs, he can get seriously burned, but also because due to overheating and a feeling of discomfort before falling asleep, the baby can be capricious.

Putting newborn babies to bed. What sleeping positions should you choose?

It is very important in what position the baby will sleep, because for now he spends most of his life sleeping. What will be most convenient for the baby?

1. On the side

This is the most “non-scary” position that doctors in maternity hospitals and pediatricians insist on. Since after feeding the baby can burp profusely, it is better that at least for the first time he sleeps in this way so as not to choke.

2. Half-sided

This pose is even better than the first one. It is useful for those toddlers who often have colic or often burp. And so - the gas will flow much better. The baby should be periodically turned from side to side to prevent torticollis.

3. On the back

This position is both useful (it is natural for the baby) and dangerous (in a dream, the baby can choke on the masses that he regurgitates). Therefore, if the baby likes to fall asleep this way, the head should be slightly turned to the side and secured with a small cushion made from a diaper or towel. If your baby has been diagnosed with hip dysplasia, if he has frequent colic or muscle hypertonicity, pediatricians do not recommend this sleeping position.

4. On the tummy

This pose is preventive: the digestive system works better, gases are eliminated better; protects against infant mortality syndrome (one of the reasons for which is the same possible danger of choking after regurgitation). At the same time, if the baby sleeps this way, his muscles, bones in his neck and back gradually become stronger. After a while, it will be much easier for him than his peers to hold his head up.

If such a position seems comfortable for a toddler, parents must follow some safety rules:

— the mattress should be hard, and ideally orthopedic;

- do not cover the crib with oilcloth sheets;

- the baby should sleep without a pillow;

— it would be better to hang the toys the baby needs above his crib.

But even if you follow all safety rules, it is better to keep an eye on your baby when he sleeps on his tummy.

5. Fetal position

Mom can pay attention to the fact that the baby sleeps for 4-5 weeks in a row, pulling his legs to his tummy and pressing his arms to his chest. This may indicate the presence of hypertonicity (muscle overstrain). But if the baby then easily straightens up and sleeps in any other positions, there is no need to worry.

Important information for parents! No matter what position the baby falls asleep in, it must be turned over to the other side or the position of its body changed in order to avoid tissue swelling, compression of muscles and veins, and some deformation of the bone skeleton, which has not yet become stable.


If it is impossible to put a child to sleep at 1 or 5 months, then it is best to consult a pediatrician. But if there are no serious reasons for concern, you can use one of the methods for quickly falling asleep or listen to popular advice from experienced specialists.

The question of how to properly put a newborn or a slightly older child to sleep does not have a clear answer. Causes of insomnia can include intestinal colic, teething, and poor health.

There are some rules and age-specific features that will allow you to get to know your baby better and understand how to put a newborn to sleep at night.

Many doctors are convinced that it is not so important for a baby to follow a special regime, since until the child is one year old, biological rhythms have not yet been fully established. In addition, the quality and duration of sleep are also influenced by temperament and characteristics of the nervous system.

Popular styling methods

How to put a child to sleep without any problems? There are many effective methods known since ancient times - the so-called grandmother's advice.

For example, many people still use lullabies, since the soothing mother’s voice cannot be replaced by any modern technology. Moreover, what is important to the baby is not the aesthetics of the song, but the emotional mood and soothing rhythm. How else to put your baby to sleep?

This method should take into account the age and characteristics of the child’s nervous system. In this case, a ritual is understood as some action that is repeated every day at a certain time, and it does not matter whether it is summer or winter.

For children under 6 months of age, being in a familiar environment will help calm them down. But a violation of the ritual can create problems with falling asleep - changing the crib, room, pajamas, mother’s hairstyle, the appearance of strangers in the room, etc.

If the child is already 6 months old, it is necessary to create his own ritual that the baby would associate with falling asleep. The most important rule is that this “rite” should be associated exclusively with positive emotions.

An example of such “sleepy” actions are:

  • "farewell to the sun" Mom takes the baby in her arms, brings it to the window and says that the sun, as well as all the animals, have already fallen asleep, therefore, it’s also time for little children to “baby”. Then the curtains are drawn, the lights are turned off, and the baby is placed in the crib;
  • reading fairy tales, poems, viewing colorful pictures;
  • a child hugging his favorite teddy bear;
  • humming a lullaby;
  • observation of aquarium fish, etc.

Such ritual actions usually make it possible to put a child to sleep without any problems, who already understands their meaning. However, when the baby gets sick, even this method does not always work.

Contrary to the fears of many mothers, you can, of course, rock your baby to sleep if there are no medical contraindications. On the contrary, some doctors are convinced that moderate motion sickness can benefit the child’s body.

Rhythmic rocking, repeating the heartbeat, stabilizes the baby's biological rhythms.

It is only important to remember that babies have an imperfect vestibular apparatus, so the question of how to rock a baby correctly is really relevant.

The main thing is to act extremely carefully, slowly rocking the baby back and forth while being held in your arms.

Such monotonous movements act on the human body like a sleeping pill.

On the other hand, by constantly rocking a child to sleep, parents risk turning this habit into a kind of psychological dependence.

Therefore, if there is an opportunity to do without motion sickness, then you should take advantage of it. In such a situation, you won’t have to wean your baby off the habit of falling asleep from constant rocking and only if he is in his mother’s arms.

Babies at both 2 and 4 months have developed a sucking reflex, which they strive to satisfy in all available ways. If you can’t put your child to sleep, you can offer him a pacifier, which will help him calm down and fall asleep.

After the child falls asleep, it is better to take out the pacifier. Otherwise, there is a risk of developing a new unwanted habit - pacifier sucking.

At five or six months the sucking reflex begins to fade. And when the baby turns one year old, it is better to abandon the silicone assistant altogether and find other methods that allow the child to calm down before falling asleep.

Musical works

You can put your baby to bed either in silence or with appropriate musical accompaniment. You need to choose calming melodies to fall asleep. The noise of the ocean, raindrops, singing birds, etc. will perfectly cope with this role.

By the way, pediatricians do not recommend putting a baby to bed in absolute silence. If the parents behave quietly, the child will react to any rustle. However, it is also undesirable to teach your baby to fall asleep with the TV on.

Swaddling

This method works both for falling asleep as quickly as possible and for quickly calming a newborn baby. The baby, especially if he is less than 4 months old, often tosses and turns in his sleep, spreading his arms and thereby disturbing his own sleep.

If you don't know how to put a 2-month-old baby to sleep, try swaddling him, quite tightly, but not too tightly. The tightness of the diaper creates an association in the baby with the mother's womb, so it rather soothes and lulls it to sleep.

In order to quickly and easily put your baby to sleep, it is necessary to create a strong association with him: the bed is a place for falling asleep and sweet dreams, and not for play activities or regular rest.

Imagine if the mother puts the baby in bed almost all day, with the exception of time for walking and feeding. In this case, the child will not have the necessary connection, signaling that it is time to close his eyes when going to bed.

Of course, sometimes it turns out that the child falls asleep wherever he has to: in a car seat, a stroller, on his mother’s arms or in a high chair. However, it is necessary to accustom him to the crib, which becomes an ideal place to sleep.

For more detailed information on how to train a child, read the article by a child psychologist. From this material you can learn the pros and cons of co-sleeping, as well as possible training mistakes.

"Exit - Entrance"

A rather ambiguous method, its meaning is that the child needs to be put in a crib and immediately left for five to seven minutes, without waiting for the little reluctant one to fall asleep.

If during this period the baby still does not fall asleep, then the mother needs to return, try to calm him down, lull him to sleep and leave the room again so that the baby can fall asleep on his own.

Usually, after a few days, the child understands that he needs to fall asleep “on his own.” Therefore, this method is more suitable for babies 2 years old or slightly younger, but not for newborns.

Caress and hugs

You can calm the child with gentle stroking when he is already settled in bed. Some children like to have their eyebrows, ears, and palms stroked. Others calm down from gentle touches on the back or tummy.

This feature is typical for children under 6 months of age, whose tactile sensations are quite developed. Therefore, the question of how to quickly put a child to sleep can be answered simply: touch the baby more often or hold him close to you.

Self-soothing

If not a single method has worked and the problem of how to put the baby to sleep during the day or at night has not been solved, the mother needs to calm down, first of all. A woman trying to put her child to sleep tries too hard, as a result the baby feels tension and cries even more.

Therefore, the mother needs to give up excessive efforts and simply try to distract the baby in any way: show something bright, turn on unfamiliar music, dance with him. After the tension is relieved, the child will begin to calm down and fall asleep faster.

Pediatricians recommend understanding the background of childhood insomnia and eliminating it. Therefore, parents need to make sure that the child is not sick, is fed, and is not bothered by too high or low air temperature in the room.

Author's methods

The question of how to properly put a child to sleep is asked not only by parents, but also by specialists - somnologists or pediatricians. They offer their own methods, which involve either the baby quickly falling asleep on his own, or the mother performing certain sequential actions.

For several decades now, the method of the American pediatrician Karp has been used in practice by parents all over the world. It consists of 5 effective techniques:

All of these steps can be used in combination or individually. Some people manage to send their baby to a nap during the day or put him to bed at night after motion sickness; other parents note that the child instantly calms down when hissing over his ear (“white noise”).

This method of the Spanish pediatrician is more suitable for children over one and a half years old, who already understand a little of the words spoken by their parents. This method of placement is unacceptable for newborns.

Dr. Estiville's method of falling asleep independently is that the mother regularly tells the baby during daylight hours that he is sleeping today in his own crib without rocking or reminding.

In the evening, the mother puts the baby to bed, wishes him pleasant dreams and says that she will come in to check on him in a minute. She then leaves the room and locks the door. These 60 seconds must be endured, although the baby will cry loudly.

During the week, the duration of the child’s solitude increases. At the same time, the mother does not need to feel sorry for him, but explain in the same words why he is now sleeping in his crib. The pediatrician even developed a special sign for the intervals through which the baby is examined.

This method of falling asleep has both followers and opponents. Therefore, you should focus not on the opinions of other parents on the Internet, but on your own child.

Nathan Dylo Method

Is it possible to put a baby to sleep in a minute? It turns out that this is possible if you approach the matter with a certain imagination. Thus, a young father from Australia showed on video how he put his two-month-old son into a restful sleep in 40 seconds by rubbing a paper napkin over his face.

As experts explain, there is nothing extraordinary about this, since many newborn children react in a similar way to the touch of a soft object on their face or ears. Touching your fingernails or toenails is also often triggered.

Naturally, it is not easy to find a guaranteed way to lull a baby or older child to sleep. What works for one child may not work for another. The trial and error method will help you find the most suitable option.

Popular TV doctor Evgeny Komarovsky identifies 10 basic recommendations, the implementation of which will help ensure healthy sleep for your baby and other household members.

  1. Set your priorities. The first point, in other words, is that all family members should rest. Newborns require the mother to be calm, happy and well-rested.
  2. Determine your sleep pattern. The sleep and wakefulness routine must necessarily take into account the peculiarities of the parents' daily routine, as well as the baby's biorhythms. Moreover, you need to observe the time of falling asleep every day.
  3. Decide where the baby will sleep. Komarovsky believes that a baby should sleep alone in a separate crib. In this situation, adults will get enough sleep, and at 1 year the bed can be moved to another room. However, the mother can place the baby next to her.
  4. Don't be afraid to wake your baby. Often the question of how to put a child to sleep during the day smoothly flows into the problem of his reluctance to sleep at night. So adjust your nap time.
  5. Optimize feeding. Observe how your child reacts to food. If he feels sleepy after eating, feed him heavily in the evening. If the situation is the opposite and the baby wants to play after milk, on the contrary, reduce the amount of food.
  6. Increase your activity during the day. Make your waking hours more active: walk outside, communicate with people and animals, observe the world around you, play. This will increase the length of your night's sleep.
  7. Provide fresh air. If the room is stuffy, the baby simply will not fall asleep. Low air humidity also does not contribute to healthy sleep. Bring these parameters to optimal values.
  8. Give the baby a bath. Warm water will relieve fatigue, improve mood, and also relax the little bather.
  9. Prepare the crib. Komarovsky advises to monitor every time whether the sleeping place is organized correctly. It is important to purchase only high-quality sheets, mattresses and diapers.
  10. Don't forget the diaper. A high-quality disposable diaper will allow the baby to sleep and the mother to rest. Therefore, do not be afraid to use these hygiene products.

As a conclusion

The question of how to put a child to sleep in 5 minutes will probably never lose its relevance. In order for your baby to fall asleep quickly and without tears, you will have to try many methods and use a variety of recommendations.

It’s just important not to forget about yourself and your mental health. Agree that an exhausted mother and a tired father will in no way help the child fall asleep quickly. Therefore, remain calm and solve the problem without unnecessary nerves.