Newborn Sleep Tips
Eat. Play. Sleep. If you read pretty much any sleep book that is what they tell you over and over and over again. Although, when it came to getting my three kids to sleep, it took a little more than that. Now I am no expert, but I have read at least a dozen books on the subject and have used a sleep consultant where I learned a ton. So today, I am sharing what we are doing with baby number 3 to get him sleeping like a champ. When we first brought home our newest edition he had his nights and days confused, so we had the task of getting that worked out which meant getting him on a schedule right away. In all honesty, I didn’t love this. It is hard to stick to a schedule when you have two other kids to chase after, but we made it work and now, just one month in to it, I am so happy we did!
Newborn Schedule Example:
Wake for 1 hour. Nap for 2 hours.
7:00AM Wake Up & Feed
7:30-8:00AM Playtime - which consists of just trying to keep the babe awake
8:00-10:00AM Nap in Crib
10:00AM Wake and wait a few minutes before feeding, so they don’t associate waking with eating.
10:30-11:00AM Playtime
11:00AM-1:00PM Nap
And so on….
6:30PM Start night time routine, feed, put in crib awake. They can be drowsy, but not sleeping.
Night Time Routine Example:
**Consistency is key here, so make the routine something you can do every single night.
We start by turning on some soft music and dimming the lights.
Bath or “sponge bath” followed by a massage
In to pyjamas and swaddled up
Feed
Story and/or Song
Into bed awake
Night Time Waking:
The biggest thing I don’t follow the rules with is changing the baby with every feed. When Liv was a newborn, she would wake every two hours to feed and I would change her diaper. It would totally wake her up and the diapers were always barely wet. It didn’t take long for me to decide that it was a huge waste of time and I went down to changing her just once during the night. Fast forward to baby number three and I do not do any nighttime diaper changes, unless of course we are dealing with a diaper rash or I think that there may be more than just pee in there.
There are other tips that I find helpful when making night time feedings all business, no fun. Keep lights dim, do not make eye contact, and absolutely no playing or engaging with the baby. Feed. Burp. Back to Bed.
Don’t react to every sound the baby makes. Many babies may fuss or even cry a little and still be totally asleep. Do not rush to them, you may end up actually waking them up! When they are newborn I only let a few seconds go of them fussing before I run to their side, but as they get older you can push this a little longer and a lot of the time you will find the baby fusses for a minute and then quiets down and resumes their sleep.
Sleep props - this is a big one I learned a lot about when I used WeeSleep (sleep consulting company I used with Millie). Things like the pacifier, nursing or anything you use as a clutch to get baby to sleep should be avoided. You want to avoid these things from the beginning if you can. I won’t go to in to detail, but if you think about it, it is easier not to create the habit at all and then try to break it later.
Other Things to Consider:
Swaddle that baby up! Weesleep suggests keeping them swaddled with both arms up to three months then transiting them to having one arm out and so on. I have said it many times, but Carey and I swear by Numpfer baby swaddles. They are really great for a number of reasons, but what makes them really great is that they have just a small amount of stretch to them and this makes it easier to get a tight swaddle on the babe. This can make all the difference if you have a little escape artist on your hands. I would also highly recommend the Happiest baby swaddles to keep those arms down during the night.
The Snoo. If you follow me on Instagram, then you know we have been using the Snoo for baby Lincoln. If you are unfamiliar with the Snoo, you can get details on it here. I do not think this is at all necessary to get the baby to sleep through the night, but it does help. It is not cheap, not by a long shot. If it is too much of an investment I would recommend trying it out in a normal crib and if you are having troubles, reaching out to a sleep consultant for a portion of the price of the Snoo. However, if it is in your budget it is great!
Pacifier. We are trying not to make this a sleep aid, but we are using one. We are only using it when he is fussy and always try to put him down for sleep without it, only giving it to him if he is really fighting sleep.
White noise and Blackout Curtains. I think these things are both necessary, but not quite yet. We will incorporate these things in when we move him into his own room.
While this is setting your baby up nicely for sleep and naturally cutting out nighttime feedings, sometimes it isn’t enough and you might have to sleep train, which most professionals recommends starting at around 3 months. There are quite a few different ways to sleep train, we used the Ferber method with Liv, but found using WeeSleeps method with Millie works better and is a little less harsh.
I hope this helps you mamas who are looking for some extra Z’s!
Much Love,
