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Tell MAM the best baby sleep tips you wished you’d have known: £200 Amazon voucher prize!

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  • That it is okay to cuddle them to sleep and that the sleepless nights will pass. Do not worry about routine so much, do what gets you through because it doesn't last forever. Baby will not be cuddled to sleep forever. Also, patting them on the bum rhythmically, mimics Mum's heart beat which they were so used to while in the womb.
  • Awake windows!! Our baby girl didn't often give sleepy cues because she was so interested and alert from a young age so learning about awake windows was really helpful and really benefitted our routine! Also not to hesitate about using a dummy/pacifier, we held off for 8 weeks but she would never like being put down for naps, now she is 7 months and only has her dummy for sleeping but she sleeps really well ☺️
  • Having a bedtime routine. Gentle music or talking on the radio in the bedroom and a night light. I do jobs upstairs like putting away washing as hearing someone around helps when first put in bed. Avoid car trips late afternoon as that's when even a short sleep can disrupt the usual bedtime routine. 
  • I have three kids and white noise has been a god send with them all. My eldest is 7 and still has her sheep on at bedtime.
  • Have multiple areas to put them down— pram, reclining high chair, basket, crib, nest (under supervision). You’ll appreciate the break and they’re guaranteed to love sleeping in one if not more of the locations.
  • To just be relaxed about sleep .Babies change all the time .They may sleep through the night for a while and then wake several times a night. Also don't listen to other smug parents whose children sleep like angels.
  • I wish I’d known it was TOTALLY okay if breastfeeding didn’t work and I wish I’d known beforehand how much my baby would thrive on formula and just got on with it as soon as possible
  • Routine, routine, routine, and the confidence to follow your instincts. A regular nap in the day I found helped with sleeping well of a night.
  • My first born woke at least every two hours but frequently more often and I wish that I had known and understood the importance of melatonin and how it impacts on babies sleep.

    Most importantly that breat milk produced at night contains a lot more melatonin than milk produced during the day and that while it is produced naturally in response to darkness it is also suppressed by even a realtively dim light, such as my phone or laptop.

    I wonder now how much this could have impacted her sleep cycle.
  • Always recreate the same sleep conditions: dark room, white noise, same bedtime routine and sleeping bag. 
  • The routine of the three Bs (bath, bottle, bed) with the addition of a low-wattage lamp in the bedroom such as a Lumie to avoid the jarring difference between lights on and lights off.  
  • A side by sleeping crib and taking about 3 boxes of the MAM dummies to bed with us. Drop a dummy and have another readily sterilised on hand! 
  • i wished that i'd have known that routine does matter.. bath before bed.. my daughter hated the bath it was an awful time, i wish i'd stuck with it. bath bottle bed is wonderful
  • We had a baby with acid reflux and a milk allergy. If your baby is uncomfortable, waking up upset repeatedly and fussing lots on the bottle then get them checked by your GP. It is more common that you think!
  • You must have a routine ours was bath, fed and changed into pyjamas and lights dimmed low and my husbands german nursery rhyme Sleep baby sleep
  • Swaddling , the best way to keep my youngest asleep was to keep her wrapped up .

  • I have three children, 10 and 13 years old and a 2 year old! 
    When I had my first two children I wish I had known to stick to a bed time routine as early as possible with a baby, I would stay up as late as I could to give my first two their "bedtime bottle" this would often result on me getting to bed at 1am! 
    With my youngest I gave her her bottle in the early evening around about 7pm and then I would pop her in her cot, this worked miracles and I actually got a fantastic sleep.

    I wish i had also known not to use heavy blankets, a sleep bag is perfect. 

    Bath and quiet time is also another important tip that worked for my youngest that I wish I had known back when my first two were little. It is definitely key to a more relaxed sleep.
  • Sleep tip 1 - Floppy arm test. My newborn baby would wake as soon as I put her in her crib after holding her to sleep. Found that by using the floppy arm test she wouldn't wake as easily ( lifting arm and then dropping it so if there was little resistance then baby would more likely stay asleep when transferring to crib).
    Sleep tip 2 - when baby had a cold I'd put a pan of hot water in her room with a few drops of olbas oil in it so that baby could breathe better at night.
  • i always found that playing cats the musical helped all my children have a good sleep,i also used to take my babies out for a long drive in the car ,rocking and singing is also a good one
  • The best advice I can give as a new mum, is try whatever you feel is best. When my son was born, I had lost a lot of blood and ended up fainting, and the midwife had to look after him (my partner had to go home). I was told, when I came too, that he wasn't sleeping properly while flat on his back because of all the mucus that was trapped, so she placed blankets under his head so he was propped up a little and he slept. Unfortunately now it seems he can't sleep without them. I tried my hardest and fought with him over getting him to sleep flat on his back, as the health visitor told me to, but it was night after night of him fighting sleep and constant exhaustion for us, but now he sleeps and only wakes up once throughout the night for a feed, simply because he sleeps propped up slightly, with a folded blanket under his head or mattress.
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