Parents are sometimes blessed with a very well-behaved baby that rarely makes any noise and sleeps well, rarely waking up, too. Well, for the rest of us parents who aren’t quite so lucky and have to deal with screaming and crying coming from the cot at two in the morning, things don’t look quite so bright.
It doesn’t have to be this way. If you’re tearing your hair out about getting good night’s sleep with your boisterous kid around, there are a lot of things you could try. Read the following to see if any of these methods might work for you and if you’d like to attempt any.
Follow a routine
A lot of parents tend to miss this out, despite its being a near fool-proof method of putting babies to bed without later disruption. Of course, for higher success rates, you should have started getting your toddler used to a routine right from the start.
The routine should involve something the kid can get used to. Start off with a bath, perhaps, and then go on to some feeding, followed by a story. You should turn some music on in the background while reading the story to your child, as this will allow for a smooth transition to sleep for when the story is finished.
Let the baby learn how to sleep
When he or she is sleepy but still awake, maybe about fifteen to twenty minutes before the usual time he or she falls asleep, put the baby down so they can learn how to drift off without your help.
The routine outlined above is good, but you shouldn’t stick to it religiously. Change things up once in a while to get the kid used to putting itself to sleep.
Let the baby go back to sleep
If you hear the baby wake up in the middle of the night, try and ignore it for a while to see what happens. Unless the nappy needs changing, you should try and get the baby used to falling back asleep.
Of course, you should try and soothe it as best you can without picking it up. Make soothing noises, stroke its forehead, etc.
For the parent
This section applies mostly to the parents. If getting sleep is becoming a real problem for you, start knocking caffeine and nicotine out of your system as they stimulate the nervous system and will make it harder for you to fall asleep at night.
Try installing blackout curtains in the bedroom and have access to snacks nearby if you wake up. Bananas, turkey and spinach all have nutrients and minerals in them that aid sleep.
