Understand the sleep needs of babies
It is astonishing to note that about fifteen million children going to school in USA suffer from inadequate sleep related behavioral and health problems, making it imperative to note that sleep plays a vital role in the life of babies from when they are toddlers; most toddlers require 14 hours of quality sleep with at least 11 hours at night. This pattern continues with the sleep reduced gradually with every child having at least 1 afternoon nap at the age of 4 to 5 years.
The transition though tough largely depends on the quality sleep that babies have at night with putting your baby to bed an hour earlier helping greatly in the transition process.
It is a common observed fact that babies with good sleep patterns develop into children and adults later with good sleep patterns. So it is best for you as a parent to start good sleeping habits right from the cradle that starts with cultivating a routine of putting your baby to sleep whenever he/she is drowsy. Giving a warm bath at bedtime with reading or narrating a good bedtime story helps as a good signal to tell babies it is time to sleep. Continue to practice the strategies and make new changes from time to time to tackle the problem of bedtime resistance in children.
Developing healthy sleep habits for babies
1.You as a parent need to realize that your baby needs at least 14 hours of sleep unto 2 years, with 11 hours being at night. Sleep gives rest to the body and
mind and it would be in your babys interest to instill healthy sleep habits for babies from the time he/she is 2 months old. Creating positive sleep associations for sleeping helps, with some babies building up habits to sleep in your arms or while watching television. It would be best to create a routine of story times, a warm bath or massage as a signal for your baby to go off to sleep.
2.It would be best to develop healthy sleeping habits in babies to put your baby to sleep when he/she feels drowsy or is irritated and tired. It would be in the
interest of babies to let them learn/soothe themselves to sleep, as this would help them to have lesser sleep problems when they are grown up. Pampering your baby with rocking, singing, humming or nursing would make it difficult for the child to go back to sleep if he/she wakes up in the night.
3.Setting up fixed times for nap and bed and sticking to it right from birth would help, and this is best done with watching out for times when he/she rubs
ones eyes and pulls ones ears. Setting naptimes and bedtimes later and sticking to it helps regulate a babys sleep pattern without making it difficult for one to sleep when overtired. Putting babies and young children to bed earlier would make them easily manageable when exhausted and cranky and also give you quality time with your husband and older children. It is worthwhile noting that a baby that eats, naps, and plays at the same time daily sleeps soundly at night too.
4.Start off with a bedtime routine that sets the calm mood to go off to sleep. Giving babies massages, bath, playing a quiet happy game or reading out a
bedtime story or two, kissing children goodnight or playing a lullaby could be just some ways to provide consistency to bedtimes. A regular bedtime ritual helps from infancy to wind up and get ready for sleep. Some babies may enjoy some physical activity as running about or doing a pillow fight before settling down to sleep routines. It is right to say that toddlers love consistency as they love the secured feeling of knowing what to do when and are generally better in control.
Thats to developing healthy sleep habits in babies.