Parent Tips | Your Child's Journey

10 Ways to Help Newborns Sleep Better

July 13, 2018 by Diane Constantine

Part 2 of “Parents of Newborns Say. . . ” Series

“How can I get enough sleep . . .” You will not get enough sleep for the first few months after bringing a newborn home. But these tips will help baby sleep better and at better times. These are excerpts from Lauren Tamm at The Military Wife and Mom .com

Swaddle – Firmly wrapping baby keeps their startle reflex from wakening them frequently.
Dreamfeed -this is a feeding right before you go to bed, to help prevent the baby from waking up just after you finally drift off to sleep.
Limit the length of naps during the day. If the baby sleeps past the 2 – 2.5 hour mark, wake the baby up, feed him, keep him a wake for a bit, and then lay him down for another nap. Think: More daytime feeds = less nighttime feeds.
Use white noise – Baby will hear a soft regular sound nearby and will be less disturbed by noises from another part of the house.
Follow the eat, wake, sleep cycle. The baby wakes from sleep and immediately eats. Then the baby is awake for a while to play. Then the baby goes back to sleep….

This cycle has several purposes. First, it encourages full feedings by allowing the baby to eat immediately after waking. The baby will have the most energy immediately after waking, making him more inclined to take a full feeding and go longer between feedings. Also, by feeding the baby after sleep rather than before sleep, the cycle prevents the baby from associating food with sleep or using food as a sleep prop. When using this cycle, a feeding before bedtime is typically the only feeding before sleep.

Use a pre-nap and bedtime routines. It is well known that babies thrive on routine, structure, and predictability. Creating consistent routines for your baby will help bring order to a very chaotic world. Choose a pre-nap routine that works for you. A pre-nap routine may include taking the baby to his room, close the blinds or curtains, place the baby in his sleep sack or wearable blanket, turn on the white noise, sing a quick song (e.g. Twinkle, twinkle), give a few cuddles, and say your sleepy words “I love you. I hope you have a good sleep.”

A bedtime routine would typically be a little longer and may include a bath, a massage, reading a story, offering a feeding, placing the baby in a wearable blanket or swaddle, turning on the white noise, a few cuddles, and saying your sleepy words. Following the same exact routine as consistently as possible cues the baby for sleep, and over time the baby will learn that sleep immediately follows the nap and bedtime routines.

Change your baby’s diaper strategically – Changing the diaper before a middle of the night feeding prevents the baby from waking up too much after a feeding is finished.
Understand how a baby sleeps. Encourage lots of naps AND feedings during the day following the eat, wake, sleep cycle. Keeping a baby awake in hopes of tiring him out will actually result in over-stimulation, and he will experience both difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. It is very likely an over-tired baby will sleep shorter, not longer.
Don’t rush in… Give the baby some time and see if he will resettle himself. Avoid rushing in and disturbing this process in order to help your newborn baby sleep better.
Lay the baby down awake, but drowsy.

The most important way to encourage your baby to sleep well in the long run is to teach him to fall asleep independently, which is essentially the beginnings of teaching independent sleep.

To read the entire article and follow some additional links, click: The Military Wife and Mom .com

Newborn’s Sleep

July 11, 2018 by Diane Constantine

Watch Parent Tips for “Parents of Newborns Say. . .” This series of articles will cover things these parents claim that no one told them about before baby came.

“I had no idea newborns sleep so much but wake up so often!” The next few articles will help you understand why you are sleep deprived and some ways to try to get more sleep.

Let’s start with five things you probably didn’t know about newborn’s sleep.

BabyCenter.com has a great article about newborn baby’s sleep. Here are the highlights.

Many newborns have their nights and days reversed. They sleep for longer stretches in the daytime and are more alert at night. As the baby’s brain and nervous system mature, the sleep cycles will get longer and more sleep will occur at night. This usually takes a month or more.
Newborns typically sleep 12 -18 hours until they’re a month old. That’s the good part. The bad part is that they rarely sleep more than two to four hours at a time, day or night!
Babies do not need peace and quiet to sleep. The womb is a noisy place with heartbeat, digestion and so on. Noise doesn’t bother them. They will sleep anywhere and anytime they need to sleep.
Babies have their own sleep personalities. They come from the womb with their own temperament. Some are light sleepers and some heavy sleepers.
Babies are safer and sleep better with no blankets or pillows in their bed. Doctors recommend sleeping on their back on a firm, flat mattress with a tight fitting sheet. Keep them cozy with layered clothing or a one piece sleeper. (If you are going to co-sleep or have a family bed, please read this article, “Sleep Sharing.” Don’t worry, it isn’t against this practice, but does give some directions that could make this more successful.)

To read the whole article, see: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Newborn Sleep

Click here for a video on Baby Sleep Tips for Birth to 3 Months

Have You Played Today?

January 23, 2018 by Diane Constantine

There used to be a bumper sticker that said, “Have you hugged your kid today?

Maybe today we need one that says, “Have you played with your kid today?” I’m using the idea of play in a very general way. This play is not just a game with rules or a sport. But something both parent and child can especially enjoy together.

Have the only things you’ve said and done with your children all been about tasks and completion? Here are a few things to think about.

Have you taken the time to tell or hear a silly story?
Have you plopped down on the floor and wrestled with your children?
Have you hugged your little child and started to dance across the floor?
Have you made a game of a chore instead of just telling Little One to ‘get it done’?
Have you worked a puzzle or drawn a picture together?

I think you get the idea. All these things take a little time. We must relax a little and not be compulsive about the completion of a task. They all mean some smiles or laughs by both parent and child. In other words, “Have Fun!”

Don’t let a day go by where the only things you talk to your child about are tasks and time and duty. Take a deep breath. Lay down your phone or paper and focus on your child. Start singing a silly song. You might find there is a better atmosphere in your home for the whole evening.

Toys, Toys, Toys

December 26, 2017 by Diane Constantine

Do your kids ever say they are bored when their room is littered with toys? Maybe they have too many toys. It is not just the gifts you give your kids, but your extended family may give them way too many. Children get overwhelmed if there are too many toys to choose to play with. They also learn to be more grateful for the toys they have when they don’t see so many at one time.

Here are a few ideas to help with this ‘good’ problem:

Keep some of their gifts in reserve for another season when your children get fewer new things.
Sort their toys. Whichever ones they have out-grown, sell or give away. Children may even get involved in giving good, used toys to a children’s home. (Not all kids can tolerate seeing old favorites go out the door. Be sensitive to their feelings.)
Rotate their toys. Put some of their toys out of sight to rotate with the toys they are currently enjoying. When a toy reappears it is even more enjoyable.

Gift Giving

December 19, 2017 by Diane Constantine

Are you going into debt to give gifts? How long will the things you buy satisfy and please your children? What are your children learning through these gifts?

Consider these ideas about gift giving:

Don’t go into debt for gifts. They are much more fun to give when you don’t have to face credit card bills in the New Year.
Involve your children in buying gifts for each other and family members.
Include your children in sharing Christmas joy with those less fortunate.
Invite those who have no family of their own to share your holiday celebrations.
Make a memory instead of buying things. (Take your kids to some event or place and spend time together doing something they won’t forget.)

My most memorable childhood Christmases were when we brought an orphan girl to share a few days with us during the holiday season. We each made gifts for her as we did for each other. Other years we helped mom shop for food baskets to take to poor families who lived near-by. We often went as a family to visit older family members and took them homemade cookies or other treats we helped to make.