The New Mother’s Manual To Getting Some Sleep

While you were carrying your little one, slumber may have proven elusive. Sleeping through the night required getting comfortable, and as your body grew, comfort was fleeting. You may have imagined that the birth of your baby finally signaled an end to the sleepless nights. Unfortunately, new moms often find getting to sleep just as difficult during the initial months of motherhood as during their third trimester.

Over time, a lack of rest will impair your ability to function throughout the day. This can cause problems for you, your partner, and of course, your baby. This article will provide a solution. We’ll offer several tips that will help you get the rest you need to stay healthy and available for your little one.

Scheduling Time For Slumber

The reason new moms have difficulty sleeping is because they remain at the beck and call of their babies. When their infants cry, many new mothers respond instinctively by feeding them. This poses a few problems. First, babies cry for many reasons; hunger is only one of them. Thus, feeding may neglect the real trigger.

Second, by responding each time, an infant learns that she only needs to cry to attract the attention she craves. This leads to a third issue: new moms are forever responding to the cries of their babies, sacrificing their own sleep in the process.

The most effective way to address these circumstances is to establish a defined sleep schedule. Encourage your little one to wake, play, feed, nap, and sleep at the same times each day. Her internal clock will eventually take over. She’ll become predictably sleepy according to the schedule you create.

Modify Your Sleep Routine

The schedule you create to encourage your baby to sleep at specific times may require you to change your own schedule. For example, if you used to go to bed at 11:00 p.m., you might need to start doing so at 8:00 p.m. to prepare for the first feeding of the night. If you used to wake at 5:00 a.m. to head to the office, shift your routine to accommodate your little one’s schedule. This might mean waking to feed her in the early morning, then going back to sleep for two or three hours.

Be open to changing your schedule, even if doing so means you’ll miss out on experiences you once enjoyed (e.g. late night television). The priority is to get some peaceful rest.

A Little Help From Friends And Family

You might be surprised by how willing your friends and loved ones are to help. If you’re fatigued from lack of rest, and in desperate need of a few hours of sleep, ask a friend to watch your little one. Chances are, she would love to spend time with your baby while giving you a chance to catch up on your slumber.

You’ll also find small networks of new moms who take turns watching each other’s infants. This type of network may prove invaluable during times when you need a few hours of peaceful rest to catch your breath.

Knowing When Enough Is Enough

You may be tempted to sacrifice slumber because you’re convinced you can handle it. In reality, experts claim that going night after night with less than five hours of sleep will impair your ability to function. It is similar to being intoxicated. Not only will you feel mentally and physically sluggish, but you may make decisions that might otherwise seem inappropriate. It is critical that you are able to identify the signs of exhaustion. Once you reach your breaking point, you become much less capable of caring for your infant.

Sleeping peacefully after giving birth to your baby will be difficult. But do everything you can to avoid depriving your mind and body of rest over an extended period.

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Training Your Baby To Sleep Peacefully

If your little one is a newborn, or even a few months old, plan to wake up at odd hours to cater to her needs. She may be afraid, hungry, or uncomfortable and needs you to soothe her back to sleep. If she’s a little older, there’s a good chance she may have grown used to having you there to soothe her. It’s time to train her to fall back asleep on her own.

There are many approaches to helping your baby get a good night’s slumber without waking at night. In this article, we’ll provide a few tactics that have worked for millions of parents. Fair warning: not all of them will be easy and each tactic has both proponents and critics.

Tough Love

This is likely to be tougher on you than it will be on her. The goal is to allow your baby to cry without consoling her when she wakes up. You’ll naturally want to rush into her room and pick her up from her crib. But, if you can withstand her crying for four or five days, she’ll eventually learn to fall back asleep without your help.

One of the reasons this strategy seems to work is because by the time babies reach six months, they have realized that crying brings mom or dad. So, they cry. By allowing them to wail without addressing their call, you’ll eventually teach them that crying is no longer a reliable tactic for them to use.

Scheduling Her Slumber

Babies often wake up during the night because their internal sleeping clock is off. They might be overly-tired, which can actually hamper their ability to sleep peacefully. Or, they might not be sleepy because of several naps they’ve taken during the day. Moms and dads can “fix” their baby’s clock by establishing a slumber schedule. The key is to stick to it as closely as possible.

Keep in mind every infant’s sleeping needs is a little different. Your little one might need four hours during the day and twelve hours at night. Other babies may need more. You’ll need to watch her throughout the day to identify when she gets tired. Before long, her internal clock will take over and help her sleep peacefully until morning.

Wean Her From Your Current Routine

Parents often train their babies to have poor sleeping habits. For example, moms and dads will grow accustomed to giving their little ones a bottle before going to bed. Or, they might read to them or hold them until they fall asleep. The more you do these things, the more your baby will expect them. She’ll eventually be unable to fall asleep without them. Gradually wean her from relying upon these activities. Start by doing them with her an hour prior to her normal bedtime.

The ease with which your little one falls asleep – and remains asleep until morning – is largely in your hands. While the strategies above may be difficult in the beginning, they will help your infant learn how to soothe herself into slumber.

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