When we talk about the many hours of sleep that babies spend, there are many different topics we can discuss. One idea we've already emphasised here on the blog is that sleep is one of the main factors in a baby's growth and development. In these precious hours of quiet, it allows the different systems to become mature and prepared.
However, we mustn't forget that it's a great time for little ones to recover their energy and be ready for the day ahead.
These are some of the ideas we've been talking about here, but today we want to bring up a topic that has to do with the hours of sleep a baby gets during the night. Or more precisely, to try to understand how parents can calm their little one at a time when the baby may wake up during the night and the parents want to understand why and how they can get him to calm down.
At first sight, it seems unlikely that we'll be able to figure out right away what it might be or need. Well, we realise that it can be frustrating for parents, as they want to see their baby well and completely rested. Is it because they don't feel well? Are they hungry? Is it too hot or too cold? Does he need something else?
There are many questions and we want to try to help a little. So we've been trying to figure out what small practices we can put into action when we want our little one to calm down during their night's sleep.
We know that after a few months of being at home, the baby starts to have longer and longer nights of sleep and his feeding times start to be less frequent than in the first few weeks.
Baby crying can happen for different reasons. Feeding may not always be the reason why the baby is crying, especially when the little one has just finished breastfeeding. So we've done a bit of research and we believe we should make a checklist. Yes, a list of the main situations that could be the reason for your baby waking up during the night. In this way, we can ask a number of questions:
- Does he need a nappy change?
- Is he too hot or too cold?
- Does he need to burp?
- Is he in pain in any part of his body?
- Did he have a bad dream?
Well, these are just a few examples that we can include on the list. Once we've answered this checklist, we can carry out some practices that can calm the baby down:
- A relaxing back massage can help relax your baby;
- Giving gentle pats, for burping or even as a way of lulling the little one;
- Singing a song in a calm, low tone to help reassure the baby;
- Avoid giving the so-called "comfort feed" until the baby falls asleep, if the little one doesn't show any signs of being hungry; it may be the easiest solution to come up with in your head, but if you get the little one used to eating every time he wakes up, the frequency with which he wakes up in the middle of the night will increase.
One piece of advice that came out of our research was that we should help our baby to calm down. If your little one is hungry, a breastfeeding session could be an option. If they're waking up regularly or for another reason that's not on your checklist, they can start trying to soothe themselves until they fall asleep again.
Waking up once or several times a day can affect a baby's proper and enough rest time. Therefore, creating good sleep habits will benefit future moments of rest, growth and development.
Today, we wanted to bring up this topic because we believe that there are many parents out there who are going through this moment. It's normal and we believe that your little ones will start to have increasingly restful nights of sleep and, even if they wake up, they will start to be able to calm down and go back to sleep.
What about you? We want to know who on this side is at this stage? Any tips or reasons you'd like to add to the checklist we've shared with you? What was the main reason your little one woke up? We want to know your experience. We want to know your opinion.
