Daytime naps are so important. People would say to us, oh don't let him fall asleep now, he won't sleep at night when in fact it was the opposite. An overtired baby does not sleep well at all.
I also found having a white noise machine to be really helpful, especially in the first 6 months when your little one is in next to you. Before we started using, our baby would wake even with the sound of us turning in bed.
A super simple bedtime routine you can stick to will be so helpful along with bedtimes.
Finally, don't worry if you need to do things different to the guidance. I grew to quickly loathe the phrase, you're making a rod for your own back. Our baby still falls asleep taking a bottle in our arms and then goes down in his cot no problem x
Routine is the key! My little one always has milk and then go upstairs, do teeth, read a book then sleep time, its always the same time every night as well.
I wish I had used more white noise earlier on and also made less fuss over them, so they could have learnt to self settle earlier. Any little noise I would be checking on them.
White noise on youtube - rain noises, hairdryers, TV fuzz are all soothing at a low volume - you just need to remember to turn it off once they are asleep or you will be looking where the noise is coming from all evening
Cuddle your baby as much as you can! My baby hated being put down, she could not sleep unless she was being held, so I held her all night, She was so content I would wake her up for nappy changes and feeds, my partner booked lots of time off work so he’d go bed at like 8pm and wake up at 5am to take over so I could go to bed. Not only did Me and my partner sleep better (actual solid sleep) put little one (now over two and a half) has slept 12 hours a night from 6 weeks old!
Encourage your baby to indulge in a little physical activity before bedtime. In the same way as a puppy, for example this will help them to get off to sleep and sleep will be longer and deeper - it's nature's way to help the body recover. Don't fight nature in favour of some fad.
I realised quite quickly that people will comment on your baby's bedtime / routine but you just have to do what works best for you and your baby - so put the baby down when / where works best for you as the parent if you know that your baby will sleep better and ignore any outside comments that don't affect anyone but you and your baby.
We found one way of getting our baby to sleep was allowing her to settle with a dummy and when they were finally asleep we would stealthily and slowly pop it out of their mouth.
I wished I learnt this tip when it came to moving my daughter to her cot without waking her up. I would of had to watch her eyes and if her eyes were darting under her eyelids that meant she was in a deep sleep, I would then need to wait until her muscles were relaxed and she was breathing deeply, Then try out the floppy-arm test which was to Lift up one of her arms and drop it and If she didn’t stirred then I was good to go
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I also found having a white noise machine to be really helpful, especially in the first 6 months when your little one is in next to you. Before we started using, our baby would wake even with the sound of us turning in bed.
A super simple bedtime routine you can stick to will be so helpful along with bedtimes.
Finally, don't worry if you need to do things different to the guidance. I grew to quickly loathe the phrase, you're making a rod for your own back. Our baby still falls asleep taking a bottle in our arms and then goes down in his cot no problem x
My little one always has milk and then go upstairs, do teeth, read a book then sleep time, its always the same time every night as well.
Thank you for the giveaway 😊