Encouraging a good night’s sleep – by The Infant Sleep Consultants

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At Bubbaroo we understand the first few months of your new baby’s life can be a wonderful but also a very challenging time! In particular getting your baby naturally into a good sleep routine can be easier said than done.

We also recognise the importance of having quality advice and support when you need it and that is why we have teamed up with Katie, Annie and Helen from the Infant Sleep Consultants. They remain a fully independent source of information but are working with us to share their years of expertise when it comes to baby sleep. Each month our newsletter will bring you a blog post from the Infant Sleep Consultants on baby sleep so don’t forget to read and share. They will also be hosting a live Facebook chat on our brand new Bubbaroo UK Facebook page, so look out for the date soon – this is your chance to ask them anything and everything about baby sleep, so don’t miss out.

sleep-consultants

You can find out more about the Infant Sleep Consultants at www.infantsleepconsultant.co.uk.

‘Like’ our new UK Facebook page here to see everything we’re up to with our new experts.

Here is Infant Sleep Consultant’s first blog post- we hope you find it helpful – please visit our Facebook page to let us know your own experiences.

Encouraging a good night’s sleep

How wonderful would it be if when you had a baby, as well as all the information about feeding and nappies etc., you were also given a pot of sleepy dust! If you sprinkled a little on your baby, they would be guaranteed to sleep like a dream.  If you ran out of it, you could just pop down to the shop and get some more from the supermarket, sandwiched between the nappies and the baby food!

However, the reality can be that you have given birth to this wonderful little person who (although trying!) cannot tell you what he wants, doesn’t necessarily seem to have any kind of pattern and despite everyone telling you that babies need to sleep, your one seems to want to stay awake!

Here’s a secret – there is no magic behind sleep!  It’s about getting the body into the right state to want/need it and when you understand how it works it isn’t such a mystery.

We all sleep in cycles. For a baby and young child, these last about 30-45 minutes so you will often find that your baby is a bit of a power napper in the day (and unfortunately, sometimes night too). This is your child going through a cycle and coming out again.  The sleep lengthens as they figure out how to link these cycles.  During the night your baby naturally wakes about 10 times. They are going in and out of the sleep cycles and having periods of deep sleep and dream sleep. As adults we also do this but as we’ve learnt to settle, we hardly notice it.  If you have found that you need to help your baby to get to sleep, when they naturally wake, they will need you to do the same thing to resettle) If your baby falls asleep in your arms but wakes up in their cot, they will feel alarmed, wondering where you have gone. Similarly, if you fell asleep in your bed but awoke on the kitchen floor, you would wonder how you had got there!

Although we can’t produce sleepy dust we can give you some sleep tips to help improve your child’s sleep and encourage good habits that can last a lifetime:

  1. Wind down routine. Babies get over stimulated very easily and at the end of a day filled with new experiences, they need to wind down before they go to sleep. At the end of the day, reduce the noise in the house and the lighting. These prompts will help them to relax but also show them that at night time, it is dark, calm and quiet.
  2. Feeding. Try to make sure your baby is having structured feed times during the day and not snacking. If they take the right amount of calories in the day, they will start to do a stretch in the night. By contrast, if they snack in the day, they will snack in the night.
  3. Discomfort. Little ones can struggle to bring up wind and if they haven’t burped, it may make them uncomfortable. Try to spend some time after each feed winding your baby. If you find that when you put them in their cot, they start squirming, it might well mean that they still have trapped wind so try again.
  4. Once your baby has had a good feed and been winded, try to put them to bed drowsy but awake. We know how hard it can be so if you don’t have immediate success, keep trying but the more you show them how to settle themselves to sleep, the quicker they will master this invaluable tool.
  5. How you react to wake ups. In the early weeks, every little noise causes parents to jump out of bed. Sometimes they are showing us that they need something and sometimes, they are simply grumbling. Try not to respond too quickly because if they are just grumbling, they will probably settle back to sleep independently.
  6. Don’t expect it to change overnight. If you have had a tricky few nights, it will take a few nights to correct it all. When you are tired, you aren’t feeling resilient and can lose faith quickly but it’s important to keep the light at the end of the tunnel in sight. Show your baby that you are there, they are ok but it is time to go to sleep.
  7. Pressure from others. There are countless amounts of well meaning but often conflicting advice and this can be overwhelming to take in. Take it with a pinch of salt, you will retain the important bits and as for the rest of it, you know your baby best!
    Above all have faith in yourself.  You are the best parent your child could wish for. You are not meant to be perfect, you will make mistakes so don’t be too tough on yourself. You are doing a great job!

Get more help and advice at www.infantsleepconsultant.co.uk and see our latest products to help aid your baby’s sleep at www.bubbaroo.co.uk.

Nicole Cassey

written by

Nicole Cassey

Nicole Cassey, Mum to Jacob and Emily, founder and general dog’s body at Bubbaroo. Nicole was inspired to create Bubbaroo and Australia’s first swaddle after the personal experience she had with her first child, Jacob.

Nicole explains "It is such a steep learning curve becoming a parent. Getting to know the baby you created and finding your groove as a parent. You sometimes feel like you need to become a detective to try to interpret your baby's cues, personality, cries and behaviour. This is my passion to help parents on their journey, especially new parents as they transition to parenthood."

Nicole has a passion for sharing knowledge and community, regularly organising and presenting at various expectant parent and sleep workshops. Nicole ensures she is up to date with the latest evidence-based safe sleep and health research. Bubbaroo collaborates with experts in their field that share similar values and philosophies and have a passion for helping and supporting parents and expectant parents.

Nicole’s attention to detail with the creation of her premium quality baby, toddler and child sleepwear is exceptional. Nicole has been committed to ensure that Bubbaroo is not just a mass market brand producing products, Nicole’s focus is on helping your baby sleep safely in products that stand the test of time.