Contents
Before Your Baby Is Born
Baby Gear
Your Baby’s First Days at Home
How to Lift and Hold Your Baby
How to Change and Dress Your Baby
How to Bathe Your Baby
Breastfeeding
Bottle Feeding
The Transition to Solid Foods
How to Burp Your Baby
Naps and Sleeping
Infant Health
How to Babyproof Your Home
Infant Development
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Naps and Sleeping
During the first four to five months of life, your baby won’t sleep through the night, since she will need to be fed every few hours. After six months, some babies sleep through the night regularly, though most experience periods of night waking after six months as well. If your baby is not yet sleeping through the night, the following steps may help.
Develop a Nap Schedule
Infants who sleep through the night at six months tend to have a regular napping schedule of two 1 1/2- to 2-hour naps. If your baby isn’t taking regular naps on her own, you can offer encouragement by:
- Making it dark and quiet: Putting your baby in a quiet room with the shades drawn at naptime helps prevent distractions and can initiate naps.
- Creating a ritual: Familiar rituals, such as a diaper change followed by some gentle rocking, can help signal naptime.
- Putting your baby in the crib while she is still awake: Your baby will learn to fall asleep without needing you.
Develop a Nighttime Routine
As with daytime naps, establish a nighttime routine that leads toward bedtime: for instance, feeding your baby, then reading a story. As with napping, try to put your baby in the crib while drowsy but still awake.
Sleeping Controversies
Though a lot has been written on the subject, experts still don’t agree about what to do should your baby wake up crying during the night. There’s controversy among experts about whether you should let your baby cry itself back to sleep or go soothe him.
- Crying it out: A method in which you refrain from visiting your crying baby, to teach him to fall asleep on his own. This method can be upsetting and difficult for parents to endure, though it pays off when some babies quickly learn to fall asleep on their own. However, some experts claim that crying it out is unnecessarily cruel and that it even increases the likelihood of learning and behavioral issues.
- Soothing your baby: The opposite of letting your baby cry it out is to go to him every time he cries and soothe him back to sleep. Though many experts recommend soothing, others believe it teaches your baby to be dependent and makes your baby unable to fall asleep on his own.
Probably the best method for teaching your baby to sleep through the night is not to rely on any one method. Instead, work with your pediatrician to develop a particular plan for helping your baby sleep through the night based on his specific behavior.
Co-Sleeping
Co-sleeping, the practice of sharing a bed with your baby at night, is another controversial infant care issue. Though co-sleeping makes nighttime feeding easier, and many experts agree that it can help build a bond between parents and children, other experts advise against it, arguing that co-sleeping significantly increases the risk of suffocating or injuring your baby. If you want to co-sleep with your baby, talk with your doctor first to explore the issues involved and assess your options more fully.
One close alternative to co-sleeping is to buy a crib with a slide-down side and place the crib next to your bed. Slide the side down when your baby cries or needs to be fed. Always lift the side back up when your baby is sleeping in the crib.
| Acknowledgments & Disclaimer |
