Baby’s home! And life is just about to begin. Now that we have a new baby in our lives, it is true that the first few months will require a fair amount of adjustments on the new parents’ part; some days may be more stressful and tiring than the other days, but the good news is, these are all part and parcel of growing up and it is normal.
Soon both parents and baby will be able to establish a rhythm and groove harmoniously together. All it takes is a little understanding and a little patience. You and your new little one will come out of this getting-to-know-each-other phase in no time.
The Newborn Sleep Pattern
Generally, newborns sleep much of the day and night – an average of 16 hours a day – waking up only for feeding time every couple of hours. Why does a newborn wake up so often to feed? That’s because they have small stomachs and they take in very little during every feed. Hence, the need to be fed frequently. Newborns sleep in short bouts, too—typically between 20 minutes and 4 hours each time.
Most babies don’t start sleeping through the night until around 3 months of age, but this varies from baby to baby. Some would be able to adjust and slowly lengthen their sleeping hours at night; some would still wake up every 2–4 hours until 1, 2, or even 3 years old.
A Little Nudge To Quality Sleep
Most newborns do not have an understanding of “day” and “night” and that their sleep pattern – if any – seems erratic and tires the new parents out. New moms will notice that their sweet baby would sleep a lot in the daytime but wakes up way more at night. While that may drive us absolutely bonkers, it actually makes sense when we consider that our babies have spent the first 9 months of their lives in our cozy, dark womb, where they get to sleep and wake at will.
At this point, if you are still asking, “will I ever get to have a full night’s sleep, ever again?” the answer is a resounding YES! Your baby will learn the difference between day and night over time, and adjust to your work/sleep rhythm.
To get to that stage, there are a few things we can do to help our babies regulate and adapt:
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Let Her Nap
As we all know by now, babies and children need sleep – a lot of sleep – to grow; so never for a minute think to let your baby skip naps during these early stages of her life, where she is growing rapidly in every aspect.
Going on long stretches without eye-shuts can make a baby feel over-tired, resulting in a cranky baby—and an even longer restless night not just for the baby, but for the parents, too! Daytime naps are important, so let your baby sleep.
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Silence Is Only For Night
Don’t worry about making noises during the daytime when you have a newborn at home. For the most part, newborns really do not care about noises surrounding them as they are used to the muffled white noises when they were inside the womb and these noises are what soothe them.
Just be sure not to startle them with any sudden loud noise. When there are constant activities and noises going on in the daytime, and total silence at night, they will soon be able to grasp the idea of ‘day is for play, night is for sleep’.
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Let There Be Light
During daytime, don’t hesitate to pull back the curtains and let the sun in even if your little one is napping. This will help them to distinguish between day and night.
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Routine Sets The Night
Babies thrives on consistency. Create a simple routine and keep to it, your baby will take a little while to get accustomed it. Activities you can include in the routine are:
– a warm bath and a good feed
– dim the bedroom lights
– read a story or sing a lullaby while gently rocking the baby
– put him down before he falls asleep and gently bids goodnight
Once he gets used to the pattern, he’ll naturally doze off by the time you put him down.
While a bedtime routine should be calming and frills-free, it can be made more engaging too without over-stimulating the baby with the help of tools such as the Fisher-Price® Settle & Sleep™ Projection Soother .
Featuring 30 minutes of soothing music and nature sounds, enchanting overhead light projection, and an extra-large window with colourful lights and cute animal pals, this soother is the perfect addition to your baby’s bedtime routine.
Plus, the specially designed Ready, Settle, Sleep™ playlist is inspired by sleep and child development experts to help your baby fall asleep faster and for longer periods, too! The soother fits in most cribs and can transition to tabletop-use to continue helping your little one self-soothe to dreamland.
Blissful Sleep for Baby, Peace of Mind for Mommy
Play and mental stimulation are important to the physical and mental development of your baby. Therefore it is important to chose products and toys wisely – ones that are verified safe for babies and are age-appropriate to promote physical and cognitive development.
Fisher-Price® products are powered by PlayLab – an onsite R&D lab – that are dedicated to designing and creating the best and most practical solutions to meet the growing up needs of babies of all stages.
Tried and tested by the best experts (children and their parents, of course!), every year, Fisher-Price® PlayLab has seen thousands of children and parents participating in its parent’s talks and toy-testing sessions! And that is why you can be sure of getting the best quality for your babies throughout the Best 100 Days of your life with Fisher-Price®.
Visit Motherhood.com.my to get your favourite Fisher-Price® products today, and stay tuned for more tips in our next article!