Are you tired of having disturbed nights because your child wakes up a lot in the middle of the night?
Don’t worry we are here to help!
This is something that affects almost all parents. So, we have compiled a few useful tips that will surely help you with this.
Ever since a child is born till at least he/she reaches two to three years, it is always a challenge for the parents to catch some good sleep at night.
“The night is the hardest time to be alive as the real tests of parenthood often comes at night.”
But, by putting in little effort in planning your child’s routine you could easily sail through this difficult time.
How to Make Baby Sleep Better
There are numerous factors which contribute towards making your baby wake up a lot at night.
Kids are often very sensitive even towards the slightest change in their surroundings.
Here are a few pointers which will help you to identify the reason behind your child waking up at nights:
Traffic Noise or neighbor’s porch light hitting in the room:
Problem:
Your child probably stays awake at night due to some kind of light disturbance in the room or he/she could get disturbed due to the traffic noise from the nearby road.
Solution:
Putting on thicker curtains and closing the windows shut before bedtime to stop light and sound from coming inside the room is often the best remedy.
We as adults don’t understand this but kids are way more sensitive to such intrusions than adults.
Temperature:
Problem:
Children are extremely sensitive to temperature changes.
They may wake up even if they feel just a little cold or too hot.
Solution:
See that your child is covered and dressed properly through the night.
So, you need to ensure that they are well covered and dressed appropriately depending on the temperatures and weather outside.
Note:
If it is cold, you can put him to bed and tuck his bed clothes around him. But if it is warm weather keep the room cool, sit with him and talk to him, tell or read a story. If he still has a problem, a cup of warm milk should do the trick as it is a soporific.
A warm cozy bed will always invite a good quality sleep for your little one and in turn mean that you’ll sleep well too.
Check for cold and fever:
Problem:
A child suffering from nasal congestion will always havedisturbed sleep in the nights due to difficulty in breathing.
Cold and fever are often the biggest enemies to your child’s sound sleep.
Solution:
In such cases, you need to check the child frequently for temperatures and nasal blockages and would have to provide immediate medication as per prescription of your physician.
Place a favorite toy:
Problem:
Some children get scared and wake up in the middle of the night.
Solution:
Just placing your child’s favorite toy next to him/her might provide your child with the sense of safety and security and will help him/her to go back to sleep without fear.
Note: – Placing too many toys near the bed at night might some times over stimulate your child and this may lead to your child not sleeping on time and an all-nighter for you as parents.
Feed him well:
Problem:
Most of the children wake up in the middle of the night as they get hungry and want to be fed.
Solution:
This can be avoided by feeding the baby with some solid food such as rice or chapatti with some vegetable and dal as per your child’s age and preference an hour or so before putting him/her to sleep.
Note: Never send your child hungry to bed. The little “rats” in his stomach will trouble him and keep him awake. So he should be given his dinner an hour before his bed time. Sleeping directly after a meal is not good .
A well fed baby will always sleep better than otherwise.
Set a night routine:
Problem:
You baby is new to the whole concept of sleeping at night and staying awake in daytime.
Hence, you as a parent need to communicate to your baby that night time is for sleeping and resting.
Solution:
You can do this by setting a routine.
A light warm oil massage with a prompt luke-warm water bath is a good way to do it.
Put them in their night wear, cuddle the baby and may be sing a lullaby or read them a story in soft voice at the same time every day will help in communicating that this is the time to rest and sleep to your baby.
This will indirectly communicate to your baby that night time is for sleep and once this habit is formed putting your baby to sleep will be very easy.
Note:
Set a regular bed- time and stick to it. Any time between 7.30 and 9.00 pm would be reasonable.
Remember that it is very important to relax your baby’s body and mind before sleep for him/her to get sound sleep.
At the end of the day,
If your baby still wakes up in the middle of the night after you do everything you can, being patient till he/she gets used to sleeping full nights is your only option.
We suggest you to sleep when the baby sleeps and stay awake when they are awake, in the early months till your baby gets used to sleeping through the night.
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